Even children followed with endearing wile,
  And plucked his gown to share the good man’s smile. 
  His ready smile a parent’s warmth expressed;
  Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distressed: 
  To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given,
  But all his serious thoughts had rest in Heaven. 
  As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
  Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,
  Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
  Eternal sunshine settles on its head.

  Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way,
  With blossomed furze unprofitably gay,
  There, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule,
  The village master taught his little school. 
  A man severe he was, and stern to view;
  I knew him well, and every truant knew;
  Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace
  The days’ disasters in his morning face;
  Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee
  At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;
  Full well the busy whisper circling round
  Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned. 
  Yet he was kind, or, if severe in aught,
  The love he bore to learning was in fault: 
  The village all declared how much he knew;
  ’Twas certain he could write, and cipher too;
  Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,
  And even the story ran that he could gauge;
  In arguing, too, the parson owned his skill,
  For, even though vanquished, he could argue still;
  While words of learned length and thundering sound
  Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around;
  And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,
  That one small head could carry all he knew.

  But past is all his fame.  The very spot
  Where many a time he triumphed is forgot. 
  Wear yonder thorn, that lifts its head on high,
  Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye,
  Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspired,
  Where graybeard mirth and smiling toil retired,
  Where village statesmen talked with looks profound,
  And news much older than their ale went round. 
  Imagination fondly stoops to trace
  The parlour splendours of that festive place: 
  The whitewashed wall, the nicely sanded floor,
  The varnished clock that clicked behind the door: 
  The chest contrived a double debt to pay,
  A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day;
  The pictures placed for ornament and use,
  The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose;
  The hearth, except when winter chilled the day,
  With aspen boughs and flowers and fennel gay;
  While broken tea-cups, wisely kept for show,
  Ranged o’er the chimney, glistened in a row.