{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-veteran",
 "title": "The Veteran",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "book_slug": "black-beetles-in-amber",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 14,
 "container": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1892,
  "venue": "Black Beetles in Amber (1892)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "black-beetles-in-amber.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 16,
  "n_stanzas": 4,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 38,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "John Jackson, once a soldier bold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hath still a martial feeling;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So, when he sees a foe, behold!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He charges him⁠—with stealing.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He cares not how much ground to-day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He gives for men to doubt him;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He’s used to giving ground, they say,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who lately fought with⁠—out him.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When, for the battle to be won,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His gallantry was needed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They say each time a loaded gun",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Went off⁠—so, likewise, he did.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And when discharged (for war’s a sport",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So hot he had to leave it)",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He made a very loud report,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But no one did believe it.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}