Their rusty hats they trim: And thus, as happy as the day, Those Shepherds wear the time away. Along the river's stony marge A thousand lambs are on the rocks, That plaintive cry! which up the hill Said Walter, leaping from the ground, They leapt, they ran,—and when they came Right opposite to Dungeon-Ghyll, Seeing that he should lose the prize, 66 Stop!" to his comrade Walter cries. James stopped with no good will: "Cross, if you dare, where I shall cross, Come on, and tread where I shall tread." The other took him at his word, It was a spot which you may see If ever you to Langdale go; Into the chasm a mighty block Hath fallen, and made a bridge of rock : The gulf is deep below; And, in a basin black and small, Receives a lofty waterfall. With staff in hand across the cleft When list! he hears a piteous moan. His pulse is stopped, his breath is lost, He totters, pallid as a ghost, And, looking down, espies A lamb, that in the pool is pent The lamb had slipped into the stream, His dam had seen him when he fell, Sent forth a cry forlorn, The lamb, still swimming round and round, Made answer in that plaintive sound. When he had learnt what thing it was And there the helpless lamb he found He drew it from the troubled pool, And brought it forth into the light: The Shepherds met him with his charge, An unexpected sight! Into their arms the lamb they took, Whose life and limbs the flood had spared; Then up the steep ascent they hied, And placed him at his mother's side; Those idle shepherd-boys upbraid, And bade them better mind their trade. XII. ANECDOTE FOR FATHERS. "Retine vim istam, falsa enim dicam, si coges.". EUSEBIUS. I HAVE a boy of five years old; One morn we strolled on our dry walk, My thoughts on former pleasures ran; A day it was when I could bear The green earth echoed to the feet Of lambs that bounded through the glade, From sunshine back to shade. Birds warbled round me, and each trace Kilve, thought I, was a favored place, My boy beside me tripped, so slim "Now tell me, had you rather be," I said, and took him by the arm, “On Kilve's smooth shore, by the green sea, Or here at Liswyn farm?" In careless mood he looked at me, "Now, little Edward, say why so: "For here are woods, hills smooth and warm: There surely must some reason be Why you would change sweet Liswyn farm For Kilve by the green sea." |