“Oh, send him down,” the Father soon replied;
Let me behold him, and my skill be tried:
If care and kindness lose their wonted use,
Some rougher medicine will the end produce.”
Stephen with grief and anger heard his doom -
“Go to the farmer? to the rustic’s home?
Curse the base threat’ning - ” “Nay, child, never curse;
Corrupted long, your case is growing worse.”
“I!” quoth the youth; “I challenge all mankind
To find a fault; what fault have you to find?