No single one I saw gave me the notion
He might have had a bent or finger-knack
For sandal-cobbling or for garment-stitching,
But in each mother’s son I thought I marked
That straight upon the Captain’s uttered word
He’d spit his very sire without a qualm,
—Just what this sprig of mine were ripe to do!
The worser else, for soldiering the better.
[2.] Insert:—
If this lad be not true to me, why then