OCTOBER. 169 



draw forth the thinking and reasoning powers of his 

 mind, we wandered through the leafy maze of some 

 old wood, or trod the grassy carpet of the breezy down, 

 — teaching him to observe and note for himself the 

 various changes in the objects around him, and thus 

 opening up to him a fund of instruction and amuse- 

 ment so vast that the longest life, or a series of lives, 

 would fail to exhaust it ; and this is within the com- 

 pass of the mind of the young. The poet Words- 

 worth tells us of a boy who from his sixth year had 

 been engaged in solitude in contemplating the starry 

 firmament and the scenery around him, and bears 

 witness to the good effect it had upon his mind. He 



"While yet a child, and long before his time, 

 He had perceived the presence and the power 

 Of greatness : and deep feeling had impressed 

 Great objects on his mind, with portraiture 

 And colour so distinct, that on his mind 

 They lay like substances, and almost seem'd 

 To haunt the bodily sense. He had receiv'd 

 A precious gift ; for as he grew in years, 

 With those impressions would he still compare 

 All his remembrances, thoughts, shapes and forms; 

 And being still unsatisfied with aught 

 Of dimmer character, he thence attained 

 An active power to fasten images 

 Upon his brain ; and on their pictur'd lines 

 Intensely brooded, e'en 'till they acquir'd 

 The liveliness of dreams." 



" If we wish rural walks to do our children any 

 good, we must give them a love for rural sights,— an 

 object in every walk. We must teach them— and we 



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