No man like him the horn could sound, And hill and valley rang with glee When Echo bandied, round and round, In those proud days, he little cared To blither tasks did Simon rouse The sleepers of the village. He all the country could outrun, Could leave both man and horse behind; And often, ere the chase was done, He reeled and was stone-blind. And still there's something in the world At which his heart rejoices; For when the chiming hounds are out, He dearly loves their voices! But he is lean and he is sick, His body, dwindled and awry, His legs are thin and dry. One prop he has, and only one, His wife, an aged woman, Lives with him, near the waterfall, Upon the village Common. Beside their moss-grown hut of clay, This scrap of land he from the heath "But what," saith he, " avails the land, Which I can till no longer?" Oft, working by her Husband's side, For she, with scanty cause for pride, And, though you with your utmost skill Alas! 'tis very little- all Which they can do between them. Few months of life has he in store, As he to you will tell, For still, the more he works, the more Do his weak ancles swell. My gentle Reader, I perceive And now I fear that you expect O Reader! had you in your mind What more I have to say is short, think, One summer-day I chanced to see The mattock tottered in his hand; That at the root of the old tree "You're overtasked, good Simon Lee, I struck, and with a single blow At which the poor Old Man so long The tears into his eyes were brought, And thanks and praises seemed to run They never would have done. -I've heard of hearts unkind, kind deeds With coldness still returning, Alas! the gratitude of men Hath oftener left me mourning. XII. INCIDENT CHARACTERISTIC OF A FAVOURITE DOG. ON his morning rounds the Master He hath comrades in his walk; Four dogs, each pair of different breed, Distinguished two for scent, and two for speed. See a hare before him started! Off they fly in earnest chase; Every dog is eager-hearted, Hath an instinct what to do ; Her hope is near: no turn she makes; But, like an arrow, to the river takes. |