Bradford Academy - Chimes Yearbook (Haverhill, MA)

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ANNALS XKY.O1glSVg7O1'f,l'1 a time when he analyzed the motives and impulses ef the mint of man that he might come to some conclusion in regard to such con ra ictory actions. The precepts of Nature were forgotten whne his-mind groped blindly for a solution of this problem. This was the period of his soul's last and lowest ebbf' His sister Dorothy was the greatest help to him now, and through her tender love and sympathy she brought him out of his depression and turned his mind again to Nature. Here he found a counterpoise Which, when the spirit of evil reached its height, maintained fer him 3, secret happiness. lt was a different Nature now to him. It had perhaps lost some of the heavenly light with which he had surrounded it in his youthful imagination. This is best expressed in his own words For I have learned To look on nature, not as in the hours Of thoughtless youthg but hearing oftentimes The still sad music of humanity, Nor harsh, nor grating, though of ample power To chasten and subdue. And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Cf elevated thoughts, a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interfused, Xlihose dwelling is in the light of setting suns, And the round ocean, and the living air, And the blue sky, and the mind of many A motion and a spirit, that impels All thinking things, all objects of thought And rolls through all thingsf' These lines seem to explain the results of the gradual growth of d VVordsworth's soul better than any others. The spirit which he ha first ascribed to Nature alone, he now saw to be the spirit that had its dwelling also in the min common bond. In this gradual evolution of his mind u lYordsworth had formed his philosophy of life. From Nature JDO Nature's God is the essence of his philosophy. In a few words' Nature was to him a living thing, always ready with its lessons, its inspirations, its sympathy, if we but open our hearts to receive it. lt lends a re- straining hand to the violence of human passions and calms the per- turbed heart. lt gives a delicate sensibility. From Natuyre ma? can attain bgth mefal and physical beauty. ln a word it is God s reve ation of himself to the human race and one must feel .this PGI'V3d1ng Spfflt before he can receive the wisdom and truth Wh1Ch Such Commumon d of man, in this way uniting the universe by a nder the iniiuence of Nature, - HELEN T. ELDER. imparts. 97 ,......,...--.---uw.,

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