Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/333

307 —The desolate Father raised his head, and looked

On the wide world in hope. Within these walls,

In course of time was solemnized the vow

Whereby a virtuous Woman, of grave years

And of prudential habits, undertook

The sacred office of a wife to him,

Of Mother to his helpless family.

—Nor did she fail, in nothing did she fail,

Through various exercise of twice ten years,

Save in some partial fondness for that Child

Which at the birth she had received, the Babe

Whose heart had known no Mother but herself.

—By mutual efforts; by united hopes;

By daily-growing help of boy and girl,

Trained early to participate that zeal

Of industry, which runs before the day

And lingers after it; by strong restraint

Of an economy which did not check

The heart's more generous motions tow'rds themselves

Or to their neighbours; and by trust in God;

This Pair insensibly subdued the fears

And troubles that beset their life: and thus