Page:Lyrical ballads, Volume 2, Wordsworth, 1800.djvu/218

210 With iron, making it throughout in all

Due requisites a perfect Shepherd's Staff,

And gave it to the Boy; wherewith equipp'd

He as a Watchman oftentimes was plac'd

At gate or gap, to stem or turn the flock,

And to his office prematurely call'd

There stood the urchin, as you will divine,

Something between a hindrance and a help,

And for this cause not always, I believe,

Receiving from his Father hire of praise.