JOHN 127 



As he neared the end, a look of weary 

 waiting, such as may be seen in the eyes 

 of a tired ox, appeared in John's face, and 

 remained there for days at a time. This 

 peculiar look, together with his broken 

 form and dragging movement, empha- 

 sized the mien of old age. How old he 

 really was I do not know; I could not 

 accept any of the flying statements ; but, 

 whatever his actual age, he certainly was, 

 at the last, the oldest-looking man I ever 

 saw. His aspect instantly brought to 

 mind Faber's pathetic "Old Laborer"; 

 or, even more fittingly, that stanza which 

 in the Negro song describes the debility 

 of old age with a touching realism worthy 

 of Paul Laurence Dunbar : 



"His fingers were long like the cane in the 



brake, 



His eyes were bad for to see, 

 He had no teeth for to eat the corn cake, 

 So he had to let the corn cake be." 



And yet it was precisely this decrepi- 

 tude which furnished an effective back- 



