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His mind essays its early powers Beside his mother's knee.

When after-years of trouble come, Such as await man's prime, How will he think of that dear home, And childhood's lovely time!

And such should childhood ever be, The fairy well; to bring To life's worn, weary memory The freshness of its spring.

But here the order is reversed, And infancy, like age, Knows of existence but its worst, One dull and darkened page;—