Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/330

304 —But at the closing-in of night, then most

This Dwelling charms me. Covered by the gloom,

Then, in my walks, I oftentimes stop short,

(Who could refrain?) and feed by stealth my sight

With prospect of the Company within,

Laid open through the blazing window:—there

I see the eldest Daughter at her wheel

Spinning amain, as if to overtake

The never-halting time; or, in her turn,

Teaching some Novice of the Sisterhood

That skill in this, or other household work;

Which, from her Father's honoured hand, herself

While she was yet a little One, had learned.

—Mild Man! he is not gay, but they are gay;

And the whole House seems filled with gaiety.

—Thrice happy, then, the Mother may be deemed,

The Wife, who rests beneath that turf, from which

I turned, that ye in mind might witness where,

And how her Spirit yet survives on Earth.

The next three Ridges—those upon the left—

By close connexion with our present thoughts

Tempt me to add, in praise of humble worth,