Frozen by distance.”
Now in such an observation of Nature as this, so keen, so patient, so loving, so delicate, there is an immediate comfort for the troubled mind, a direct refuge and repose for the heart. To see and hear such things is peace and joy. It is a consolation and an education. Wordsworth himself has said this very distinctly.
“One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man
Of moral evil and of good
Than all the sages can.”
But the most perfect expression of his faith in the educating power of Nature is given in one of the little group of lyrics which are bound together by the name of Lucy,—love-songs so pure and simple that they seem almost mysterious in their ethereal passion.
“Three years she grew in sun and shower,
Then Nature said, ‘A lovelier flower
On earth was never sown;