4th stanza: What does “in vacant mood”
mean? “In pensive mood?” “Inward
eye?”
How does this inward eye make bliss for us in solitude?
What feelings did the thought of what he saw awaken
in the heart of the poet?
What changed the wanderer’s loneliness, as told
at the beginning of the poem, to gayety, as told towards
the end?
Commit the poem to memory.
[Illustration:]
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60
hos’ tile en dowed’ tu’ mult
ac’ o lyte ep’ i taph grav’ i ty
com’ bat ants pref’ er ence a maz’
ed ly ath let’ ic Vi at’ i cum in her’
it ance cem’ e ter y re tal’ i ate un
flinch’ ing ly ir re sist’ i ble un vi’
o la ted con temp’ tu ous ly
At the time our story opens, a bloody persecution
of the Church was going on, and all the prisons of
Rome were filled with Christians condemned to death
for the Faith. Some were to die on the morrow,
and to these it was necessary to send the Holy Viaticum
to strengthen their souls for the battle before them.
On this day, when the hostile passions of heathen
Rome were unusually excited by the coming slaughter
of so many Christian victims, it was a work of more
than common danger to discharge this duty.
The Sacred Bread was prepared, and the priest turned
round from the altar on which it was placed, to see
who would be its safest bearer. Before any other
could step forward, the young acolyte Tarcisius knelt
at his feet. With his hands extended before him,
ready to receive the sacred deposit, with a countenance
beautiful in its lovely innocence as an angel’s,
he seemed to entreat for preference, and even to claim
it.
“Thou art too young, my child,” said the
kind priest, filled with admiration of the picture
before him.
“My youth, holy father, will be my best protection.
Oh! do not refuse me this great honor.”
The tears stood in the boy’s eyes, and his cheeks
glowed with a modest emotion, as he spoke these words.
He stretched forth his hands eagerly, and his entreaty
was so full of fervor and courage, that the plea was
irresistible. The priest took the Divine Mysteries,
wrapped up carefully in a linen cloth, then in an outer
covering, and put them on his palms, saying—
“Remember, Tarcisius, what a treasure is intrusted
to thy feeble care. Avoid public places as thou
goest along; and remember that holy things must not
be delivered to dogs, nor pearls be cast before swine.
Thou wilt keep safely God’s sacred gifts?”
“I will die rather than betray them,”
answered the holy youth, as he folded the heavenly
trust in the bosom of his tunic, and with cheerful
reverence started on his journey. There was a
gravity beyond the usual expression of his years stamped
upon his countenance, as he tripped lightly along
the streets, avoiding equally the more public, and
the too low, thoroughfares.
