Indulgent listener was he to the tongue
Of garrulous age; nor did the sick man's tale, To his fraternal sympathy addressed,
Obtain reluctant hearing.
Such as might suit a rustic Sire, prepared For Sabbath duties; yet he was a Man
Whom no one could have passed without remark. Active and nervous was his gait; his limbs And his whole figure breathed intelligence. Time had compressed the freshness of his cheek Into a narrower circle of deep red,
But had not tamed his eye; that, under brows Shaggy and gray, had meanings which it brought From years of youth; which, like a Being made Of many Beings, he had wondrous skill
To blend with knowledge of the years to come, Human, or such as lie beyond the grave.
So was He framed; and such his course of life, Who now, with no Appendage but a Staff, The prized memorial of relinquished toils, Upon that Cottage bench reposed his limbs, Screened from the sun. Supine the Wanderer lay, His eyes as if in drowsiness half shut,
The shadows of the breezy elms above Dappling his face. He had not heard the sound Of my approaching steps, and in the shade Unnoticed did I stand, some minutes' space. At length I hailed him, seeing that his hat Was moist with water-drops, as if the brim Had newly scooped a running stream. He rose,
And ere our lively greeting into peace
Had settled, ""Tis," said I, "a burning day; My lips are parched with thirst, but you, it seems, Have somewhere found relief." He, at the word, Pointing towards a sweet-briar, bade me climb The fence where that aspiring shrub looked out Upon the public way. It was a plot
Of garden ground run wild, its matted weeds Marked with the steps of those, whom, as they passed, The gooseberry trees that shot in long lank slips, Or currants, hanging from their leafless stems In scanty strings, had tempted to o'erleap The broken wall. I looked around, and there, Where two tall hedge-rows of thick alder boughs Joined in a cool, damp nook, espied a Well Shrouded with willow-flowers and plumy fern. 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 groves, 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 the relic lie fond thought — vain words! 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 labor turned adrift, Sought daily bread from public charity, They, and their wives and children - happier far Could they have liyed 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 his 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 blended, where he might, the various tasks Of summer, autumn, winter, and of spring. But this endured not; his good humor 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, Without an errand, would direct his steps,
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