The following text is from Charles Chesnutt’s 1905 novel The Colonel’s Dream.
Mr. Morton and Mr. Hale work together. Mr. Morton, the senior partner, who sat opposite Hale, was an older man—a safe guess would have placed him somewhere in the debatable ground between forty and fifty; of a good height, as could be seen even from the seated figure, the upper part of which was held erect with the unconscious ease which one associates with military training.
Mr. Morton and Mr. Hale work together. Mr. Morton, the senior partner, who sat opposite Hale, was an older man—a safe guess would have placed him somewhere in the debatable ground between forty and fifty; of a good height, as could be seen even from the seated figure, the upper part of which was held erect with the unconscious ease which one associates with military training.