Boyhood (1840-1856)
mental reservations one's experiences and moods might dictate.
The building-business of the father was prospering during these days. His stables were full of horses; his assignments for construction work and repair work kept him and his considerable corps of workmen busy. The elder Hardy was a man of some consequence in his own little community, assuredly. In the rambling, comfortable Hardy house, the village "quire" assembled every week to rehearse their dance tunes, rounds and carols; in this house also, the neighborly folk gathered to celebrate the recurring rural festivals; here, before the blazing hearth, they presented their traditional lyric-dramatic-choreographic bits, like the delightful O Jan! O Jan! O Jan!, the memory of which was to endure for at least fourscore years. The four-year-old child must have clapped his hands and stamped his feet with serious ecstasy at the infectious thumping strains of Nancy's Fancy. From the workmen and farm laborers and servants Hardy thus obtained impressions that no civilizing influence could ever efface—impressions that became strengthened and intensified by his daily walks along the Roman Road and by his wanderings through the unenclosed wilds.
For his mind was preternaturally active and retentive throughout his childhood years. It was like a dry sponge, which absorbed the warm, dripping color of the rustic life to which it was exposed. Nothing natural or spontaneous could escape its thirst, and nothing could fill it to the point of saturation.
With this eager, absorbent mental activity and reten-
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