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And thus the old man spake to him:"My son,

To-morrow thou wilt leave me: with full heart

I look upon thee, for thou art the same
That wert a promise to me ere thy birth,
And all thy life hast been my daily joy. 335
I will relate to thee some little part
Of our two histories; 't will do thee good
When thou art from me, even if I should
touch

On things thou canst not know of.-After thou

First cam'st into the world-as oft befalls To new-born infants-thou didst sleep away

341

Two days, and blessings from thy father's tongue

A kind and a good father: and herein
I but repay a gift which I myself
Received at others' hands; for, though now
old

Beyond the common life of man, I still 365 Remember them who loved me in my youth.

Both of them sleep together: here they lived,

As all their forefathers had done; and when

At length their time was come, they were not loath

To give their bodies to the family mould. 370 I wished that thou should'st live the life they lived.

But 't is a long time to look back, my son, And see so little gain from threescore years.

These fields were burdened when they came to me;

Till I was forty years of age, not more

375

Then fell upon thee. Day by day passed Than half of my inheritance was mine. I toiled and toiled; God blessed me in my work,

on,

And still I loved thee with increasing love. Never to living ear came sweeter sounds Than when I heard thee by our own fireside 346

First uttering, without words, a natural

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Be thy companions, think of me, my son, And of this moment; hither turn thy thoughts,

And God will strengthen thee: amid all fear

And all temptation, Luke, I pray that thou May'st bear in mind the life thy fathers lived,

410

Who, being innocent, did for that cause
Bestir them in good deeds. Now, fare

thee well

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Luke began

To slacken in his duty; and at length
He in the dissolute city gave himself
To evil courses: ignominy and shame 445
Fell on him, so that he was driven at last

When thou return'st, thou in this place To seek a hiding-place beyond the seas.

wilt see

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There is a comfort in the strength of love;

'T will make a thing endurable, which else Would overset the brain, or break the

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Of an unusual strength. Among the rocks
He went, and still looked up to sun and
cloud

And listened to the wind; and as before
Performed all kinds of labor for his sheep,
And for the land his small inheritance.
And to that hollow dell from time to time
Did he repair, to build the fold of which 461
His flock had need. 'T is not forgotten yet
The pity which was then in every heart
For the old man-and 't is believed by all
That many and many a day he thither
went,

And never lifted up a single stone.

465

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He at the building of this sheepfold ....wrought,

And left the work unfinished when he died. Three years, or little more, did Isabel Survive her husband: at her death the estate

Was sold, and went into a stranger's hand. The cottage which was named The Evening Star 476

Is gone the ploughshare has been through the ground

On which it stood; great changes have been wrought

In all the neighborhood:-yet the oak is left

That grew beside their door; and the remains

480 Of the unfinished sheepfold may be seen Beside the boisterous brook of Greenhead Ghyll.

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The hare is running races in her mirth; And with her feet she from the plashy earth

Raises a mist, that, glittering in the sun, Runs with her all the way wherever she doth run.

I was a traveller then upon the moor; 15 I saw the hare that raced about with joy;

I heard the woods and distant waters roar,

Or heard them not, as happy as a boy:
The pleasant season did my heart employ:
My old remembrances went from me
wholly;

20

And all the ways of men so vain and melancholy.

MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I But, as it sometimes chanceth, from the

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His words came feebly, from a feeble chest,

But each in solemn order followed each, With something of a lofty utterance dressed;

Choice word, and measured phrase, above the reach

Of ordinary men; a stately speech; Such as grave Livers do in Scotland use,

95

Of rock or sand reposeth, there to sun it- Religious men, who give to God and man self;

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their dues.

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The old man still stood talking by my "God," said I, "be my help and stay side;

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secure;

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