The engines of her pain, [30] the tools That shaped her sorrow, rocks and pools, And airs that gently stir The vernal leaves--she loved them still; 220 Nor ever taxed them with the ill Which had been done to her. A Barn her _winter_ bed supplies; But, till the warmth of summer skies And summer days is gone, 225 (And all do in this tale agree) [31] She sleeps beneath the greenwood tree, And other home hath none. An innocent life, yet far astray! And Ruth will, long before her day, [32] 230 Be broken down and old: Sore aches she needs must have! but less Of mind, than body's wretchedness, From damp, and rain, and cold. [33] If she is prest by want of food, 235 She from her dwelling in the wood Repairs to a road-side; And there she begs at one steep place Where up and down with easy pace The horsemen-travellers ride. 240 That oaten pipe of hers is mute, Or thrown away; but with a flute Her loneliness she cheers: This flute, made of a hemlock stalk, At evening in his homeward walk 245 The Quantock woodman hears. I, too, have passed her on the hills Setting her little water-mills By spouts and fountains wild-- Such small machinery as she turned 250 Ere she had wept, ere she had mourned, A young and happy Child! Farewell! and when thy days are told, Ill-fated Ruth, in hallowed mould Thy corpse shall buried be, 255 For thee a funeral bell shall ring, And all the congregation sing A Christian psalm for thee. The following extract from Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal gives the date of the stanzas added to 'Ruth' in subsequent editions: "Sunday, March 8th, 1802.--I stitched up 'The Pedlar,' wrote out 'Ruth', read it with the alterations.... William brought two new stanzas of 'Ruth'." The transpositions of stanzas, and their omission from certain editions and their subsequent re-introduction, in altered form, in later ones, make it extremely difficult to give the textual history of 'Ruth' in footnotes. They are even more bewildering than the changes introduced into 'Simon Lee'.--Ed. * * * * * VARIANTS ON THE TEXT [Variant 1: 1802. And so, not seven years old, The slighted Child ... 1800.] [Variant 2: 1836. And from that oaten pipe could draw All sounds ... 1800.] [Variant 3: This stanza was added in the edition of 1802.] [Variant 4: 1827. She pass'd her time; and in this way Grew up to Woman's height. 1802.] [Variant 5: 1836. Ah no! ... 1800.] [Variant 6: 1805. ... bare ... 1800.] [Variant 7: 1836. He spake of plants divine and strange That ev'ry day their blossoms change, Ten thousand lovely hues! 1800. ... every hour ... 1802.] [Variant 8: