Read "Judge Selah Lively" by Edgar Lee Masters online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Suppose you stood just five feet two, / And had worked your way as a grocery clerk, / Studying law by candle light / Until you became an attorney at law?
And then suppose through your diligence, / And regular church attendance, / You became attorney for Thomas Rhodes, / Collecting notes and mortgages, / And representing all the widows / In the Probate Court? And through it all / They jeered at your size, and laughed at your clothes / And your polished boots? And then suppose / You became the County Judge?
And Jefferson Howard and Kinsey Keene, / And Harmon Whitney, and all the giants / Who had sneered at you, were forced to stand / Before the bar and say "Your Honor" --
Well, don't you think it was natural / That I made it hard for them?