"Who trudge on foot when they might ride!"

The father with the hint complies:

Makes the boy mount. Now other cries

Assail their ears; by graybeards blam'd;

"Sirrah, you ought to be asham'd

To ride and let your father walk!"

Again he listened to their talk.

The sire got up, the youth got down;

When passing through a country town,

At every door the mothers said,