My thirst I slaked, and, from the cheerless spot Withdrawing, straightway to the shade returned Where sate the old Man on the cottage-bench; And, while, beside him, with uncovered head, I yet was standing, freely to respire,
And cool my temples in the fanning air, Thus did he speak. "I see around me here Things which you cannot see: we die, my Friend, Nor we alone, but that which each man loved And prized in his peculiar nook of earth Dies with him, or is changed; and very soon Even of the good is no memorial left.
-The Poets, in their elegies and songs Lamenting the departed, call the
They call upon the hills and streams to mourn, And senseless rocks; nor idly; for they speak, In these their invocations, with a voice Obedient to the strong creative power
Of human passion. Sympathies there are More tranquil, yet perhaps of kindred birth, That steal upon the meditative mind,
And grow with thought. Beside yon spring I stood, And eyed its waters till we seemed to feel One sadness, they and I. For them a bond Of brotherhood is broken: time has been When, every day, the touch of human hand Dislodged the natural sleep that binds them up In mortal stillness; and they ministered To human comfort. Stooping down to drink,
Upon the slimy foot-stone I espied
The useless fragment of a wooden bowl, Green with the moss of years, and subject only To the soft handling of the elements:
There let it lie-how foolish are such thoughts! Forgive them ;-never-never did my steps Approach this door but she who dwelt within A daughter's welcome gave me, and I loved her As my own child. (Oh, Sir! the good die first, And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust Burn to the socket) Many a passenger
Hath blessed poor Margaret for her gentle looks, When she upheld the cool refreshment drawn From that forsaken spring; and no one came But he was welcome; no one went away But that it seemed she loved him. She is dead, The light extinguished of her lonely hut, The hut itself abandoned to decay, And she forgotten in the quiet grave.
I speak," continued he, "of One whose stock Of virtues bloomed beneath this lowly roof. She was a Woman of a steady mind, Tender and deep in her excess of love;
Not speaking much, pleased rather with the joy Of her own thoughts by some especial care Her temper had been framed, as if to make A Being, who by adding love to peace Might live on earth a life of happiness.
Her wedded Partner lacked not on his side
The humble worth that satisfied her heart: Frugal, affectionate, sober, and withal
Keenly industrious. She with pride would tell That he was often seated at his loom,
In summer, ere the mower was abroad Among the dewy grass,-in early spring,
Ere the last star had vanished. They who passed At evening, from behind the garden fence Might hear his busy spade, which he would ply, After his daily work, until the light
Had failed, and every leaf and flower were lost In the dark hedges. So their days were spent In peace and comfort; and a pretty boy Was their best hope, next to the God in heaven.
Not twenty years ago, but you I think Can scarcely bear it now in mind, there came Two blighting seasons, when the fields were left With half a harvest. It pleased Heaven to add A worse affliction in the plague of war: This happy Land was stricken to the heart! A Wanderer then among the cottages,
I, with my freight of winter raiment, saw The hardships of that season: many rich Sank down, as in a dream, among the poor;
And of the poor did many cease to be,
And their place knew them not. Meanwhile, abridged Of daily comforts, gladly reconciled
To numerous self-denials, Margaret
Went struggling on through those calamitous years With cheerful hope, until the second autumn, When her life's Helpmate on a sick-bed lay, Smitten with perilous fever. In disease
He lingered long; and, when his strength returned, He found the little he had stored, to meet The hour of accident or crippling age, Was all consumed. A second infant now Was added to the troubles of a time Laden, for them and all of their degree, With care and sorrow: shoals of artisans From ill-requited labour turned adrift Sought daily bread from public charity, They, and their wives and children happier far Could they have lived as do the little birds That peck along the hedge-rows, or the kite That makes her dwelling on the mountain rocks
A sad reverse it was for him who long Had filled with plenty, and possessed in peace, This lonely Cottage. At the door he stood, And whistled many a snatch of
merry tunes That had no mirth in them; or with his knife Carved uncouth figures on the heads of sticks— Then, not less idly, sought, through every nook In house or garden, any casual work Of use or ornament, and with a strange, Amusing, yet uneasy, novelty,
He mingled, where he might, the various tasks. Of summer, autumn, winter, and of spring. But this endured not; his good humour soon Became a weight in which no pleasure was: And poverty brought on a petted mood And a sore temper: day by day he drooped, And he would leave his work-and to the town Would turn without an errand his slack steps; Or wander here and there among the fields. One while he would speak lightly of his babes, And with a cruel tongue: at other times He tossed them with a false unnatural joy : And 'twas a rueful thing to see the looks Of the poor innocent children. Every smile,' Said Margaret to me, here beneath these trees, 'Made my heart bleed.""
At this the Wanderer paused;
And, looking up to those enormous elms, He said, ""Tis now the hour of deepest noon. At this still season of repose and peace,
This hour when all things which are not at rest Are cheerful; while this multitude of flies Is filling all the air with melody;
Why should a tear be in an old Man's eye? Why should we thus, with an untoward mind, And in the weakness of humanity, From natural wisdom turn our hearts away; To natural comfort shut our eyes and ears;
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