Page:The Prelude, Wordsworth, 1850.djvu/55

 BOOK SECOND.

SCHOOL-TIME.—(.)

far, O Friend! have we, though leaving much

Unvisited, endeavoured to retrace

The simple ways in which my childhood walked;

Those chiefly that first led me to the love

Of rivers, woods, and fields. The passion yet

Was in its birth, sustained as might befal

By nourishment that came unsought; for still

From week to week, from month to month, we lived

A round of tumult. Duly were our games

Prolonged in summer till the day-light failed:

No chair remained before the doors; the bench

And threshold steps were empty; fast asleep

The labourer, and the old man who had sate

A later lingerer; yet the revelry

Continued and the loud uproar: at last,