THE FISHER'S COTTAGE. 253 The mother glancing often at her babe, Now when the dead man come to life beheld His wife his wife no more, and saw the babe Staggered and shook, holding the branch, and feared To send abroad a shrill and terrible cry, Which in one moment, like the blast of doom, Would shatter all the happiness of the hearth. He therefore turning softly like a thief, Lest the harsh shingle should grate underfoot, And feeling all along the garden-wall, Lest he should swoon and tumble and be found, Crept to the gate, and opened it, and closed, As lightly as a sick man's chamber-door, Behind him, and came out upon the waste. And there he would have knelt, but that his knees Because things seen are mightier than things Were feeble, so that falling prone he dug His fingers into the wet earth, and prayed. heard, |