好学文苑网:经典文学资源分享平台
学段:大学  学科:文学  发布:2022-05-06  ★★★收藏章节〗〖手机版

But next day,Want came to me pale and bare. Long after the little birds had left their nests; long after bees had e in the sweet prime of day to gather the heath honey before the dew was dried- when the long morning shadows were curtailed,and the sun filled earth and sky- I got up,and I looked round me.

What a still,hot,perfect day! What a golden desert this spreading moor! Everywhere sunshine. I wished I could live in it and on it. I saw a lizard run over the crag; I saw a bee busy among the sweet bilberries. I would fain at the moment have bee bee or lizard,that I might have found fitting nutriment,permanent shelter here. But I was a human being,and had a human being"s wants: I must not linger where there was nothing to supply them. I rose; I looked back at the bed I had left. Hopeless of the future,I wished but this- that my Maker had that night thought good to require my soul of me while I slept; and that this weary frame,absolved by death from further conflict with fate,had now but to decay quietly,and mingle in peace with the soil of this wilderness. Life,however,was yet in my possession,with all its requirements,and pains,and responsibilities. The burden must be carried; the want provided for; the suffering endured; the responsibility fulfilled. I set out.

Whitcross regained,I followed a road which led from the sun,now fervent and high. By no other circumstance had I will to decide my choice. I walked a long time,and when I thought I had nearly done enough,and might conscientiously yield to the fatigue that almost overpowered me- might relax this forced action,and,sitting down on a stone I saw near,submit resistlessly to the apathy that clogged heart and limb- I heard a bell chime- a church bell.

I turned in the direction of the sound,and there,amongst the romantic hills,whose changes and aspect I had ceased to note an hour ago,I saw a hamlet and a spire. All the valley at my right hand was full of pasture-fields,and cornfields,and wood; and a glittering stream ran zigzag through the varied shades of green,the mellowing grain,the sombre woodland,the clear and sunny lea.