Father! to God himself we cannot give A holier name! then lightly do not bear Both names conjoined, but of thy spiritual care Be duly mindful: still more sensitive Do Thou, in truth a second Mother, strive[293] 5 Against disheartening custom, that by Thee Watched, and with love and pious industry[294] Tended at need, the adopted Plant may thrive For everlasting bloom. Benign and pure[295] This Ordinance, whether loss it would supply, 10 Prevent omission, help deficiency, Or seek to make assurance doubly sure.[296][297] Shame if the consecrated Vow be found An idle form, the Word an empty sound![298][299] FOOTNOTES: [293] 1832. ... yet more sensitive, More faithful, thou, a second Mother, MS. W. W., Dec. 7, 1827. [294] 1832. Watched at all seasons, and with industry MS. W. W., Dec. 7, 1827. [295] 1832. ... Benign must be. MS. W. W., Dec. 7, 1827. [296] Compare _Macbeth_, act IV. scene i. l. 83.--ED. [297] 1832. ... "Assurance doubly sure." MS. W. W., Dec. 7, 1827. [298] 1832. ... the Name an empty sound. MS. W. W., Dec. 7, 1827. [299] This Sonnet was sent by Wordsworth in holograph MS. to Orton Hall in the form indicated in the footnotes, dated Dec. 7, 1827.--ED. XXII CATECHISING From Little down to Least, in due degree, Around the Pastor, each in new-wrought vest, Each with a vernal posy at his breast, We stood, a trembling, earnest Company! With low soft murmur, like a distant bee, 5 Some spake, by thought-perplexing fears betrayed; And some a bold unerring answer made: How fluttered then thy anxious heart for me, Belovèd Mother! Thou whose happy hand Had bound the flowers I wore, with faithful tie:[300] 10 Sweet flowers! at whose inaudible command Her countenance, phantom-like, doth re-appear: O lost too early for the frequent tear, And ill requited by this heartfelt sigh! FOOTNOTES: [300] See Wordsworth's reference to his Mother in his _Autobiographical Memoranda_.--ED. XXIII CONFIRMATION Published 1827