The sun gone down. The crescent moon, Jupiter, and Venus. The sound of the sea distinctly heard on the tops of the hills, which we could never hear in summer. We attribute this partly to the bareness of the trees, but chiefly t o the absence of the singing of birds, the hum of insects, that noiseless noise which lives in the summer air. Besides recording observations of nature, her Grasmere journal entries often provided glimpses of displaced paupers who were passing through the Lake district, her household chores and the literary life of herself, William and others.
Beggars appear intermittently and their appearances and stories are described without embellishment.
She allows the readers to draw their own conclusions. This technique is evident in the following entry. We met near Skelleth a pretty little Boy with a wallet over his shoulder. He came from Hawkshead and was going to 'late a lock' of meal. He spoke gently and without complaint.