"Why Don't You Speak for Yourself, John?"

John Rogers, born Salem, MA 1829-died New Canaan, CT 1904 · patented 1885

This group illustrates a line from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem The Courtship of Miles Standish. In the poem, Captain Miles Standish asks his friend John Alden to propose to Priscilla on his behalf. John goes to visit Priscilla and does as requested, even though he is in love with her himself. This sculpture shows the moment when Priscilla guesses John’s true feelings and declares, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”