With that they parted from their boy, and lived
Longing between his holidays, and time
Sped; he grew on till he had eighteen years. 
His father loved him, wished to make of him
Another parson; but the farmer’s wife
Murmured at that:  “No, no, they learned bad ways,
They ran in debt at college; she had heard
That many rued the day they sent their boys
To college”; and between the two broke in
His grandsire:  “Find a sober, honest man,
A scholar, for our lad should see the world
While he is young, that he may marry young. 
He will not settle and be satisfied
Till he has run about the world awhile. 
Good lack, I longed to travel in my youth,
And had no chance to do it.  Send him off,
A sober man being found to trust him with,
One with the fear of God before his eyes.” 
And he prevailed; the careful father chose
A tutor, young,—­the worthy matron thought,—­
In truth, not ten years older than her boy,
And glad as he to range, and keen for snows,
Desert, and ocean.  And they made strange choice
Of where to go, left the sweet day behind,
And pushed up north in whaling ships, to feel
What cold was, see the blowing whale come up,
And Arctic creatures, while a scarlet sun
Went round and round, crowd on the clear blue berg.

Then did the trappers have them; and they heard
Nightly the whistling calls of forest-men
That mocked the forest wonners; and they saw
Over the open, raging up like doom,
The dangerous dust-cloud, that was full of eyes,—­
The bisons.  So were three years gone like one;
And the old cities drew them for a while,
Great mothers, by the Tiber and the Seine;
They have hid many sons hard by their seats,
But all the air is stirring with them still,
The waters murmur of them, skies at eve
Are stained with their rich blood, and every sound
Means men. 
           At last, the fourth year running out,
The youth came home.  And all the cheerful house
Was decked in fresher colors, and the dame
Was full of joy.  But in the father’s heart
Abode a painful doubt.  “It is not well;
He cannot spend his life with dog and gun. 
I do not care that my one son should sleep
Merely for keeping him in breath, and wake
Only to ride to cover.” 
                        Not the less
The grandsire pondered.  “Ay, the boy must WORK
Or SPEND; and I must let him spend; just stay
Awhile with us, and then from time to time
Have leave to be away with those fine folk
With whom, these many years, at school, and now,
During his sojourn in the foreign towns,
He has been made familiar.”  Thus a month
Went by.  They liked the stirring ways of youth,
The quick elastic step, and joyous mind,
Ever expectant of it knew not what,
But something higher than has e’er been born
Of easy slumber and sweet competence. 
And as for him,—­the while they thought