Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/35

9 Espoused the Teacher of the Village School;

Who on her offspring zealously bestowed

Needful instruction; not alone in arts

Which to his humble duties appertained,

But in the lore of right and wrong, the rule

Of human kindness, in the peaceful ways

Of honesty, and holiness severe.

A virtuous Household though exceeding poor!

Pure Livers were they all, austere and grave,

And fearing God; the very Children taught

Stern self-respect, a reverence for God's word,

And an habitual piety, maintained

With strictness scarcely known on English ground.

From his sixth year, the Boy of whom I speak,

In summer, tended cattle on the Hills;

But, through the inclement and the perilous days

Of long-continuing winter, he repaired

To his Step-father's School, that stood alone,

Sole Building on a mountain's dreary edge,

Far from the sight of City spire, or sound

Of Minster clock! From that bleak Tenement

He, many an evening to his distant home