THE SPIDER'S SONG.

What shall we do?—where must we go?'
'Croak, croak!' says the carrion crow.
Now ye who read this story through
Heed well the moral-'tis for you-
Strife brings forth strife: be meek and kind;
See all things with a loving mind;

Nor e'er by passion be misled

Jack by himself was punished.

THE SPIDER'S SONG.

1.

Look upon my web so fine,

See how threads with threads entwine;
If the evening wind alone

Breathe upon it, all is gone.

Thus within the darkest place

Creative Wisdom thou mayest trace;

Feeble though the insect be,

Allah speaks through that to thee.

2.

As within the moonbeam I,

God in glory sits on high,

Sits where countless planets roll,

And from thence controls the whole :

There, with threads of thousand dyes,
Life's bewildering web He plies,
And the Hand that holds them all,
Lets not even the feeblest fall.

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'SWEET Ellen More,' said I, 'come forth Beneath the sunny sky;

Why stand you musing all alone,

With such an anxious eye? What is it, child, that aileth you?'

And thus she made reply:

2.

'The fields are green, the skies are bright,

The leaves are on the tree,

And 'mong the sweet flowers of the thyme

Far flies the honey-bee;

And the lark hath sung since morning prime, And merrily singeth he.

ELLEN MORE.

3.

'Yet not for this shall I go forth
On the open hills to play,

There's not a bird that singeth now
Would tempt me hence to stray;
I would not leave our cottage-door
For a thousand flowers to-day!'

4.

'And why?' said I; 'what is there here

Beside your cottage-door,

To make a merry girl like you

Thus idly stand to pore?

There is a mystery in this thing—
Now tell me, Ellen More!'

5.

The fair girl looked into my face,
With her dark and serious eye;
Silently awhile she looked,

Then heaved a quiet sigh;
And, with a half-reluctant will,

Again she made reply:

6.

'Three years ago, unknown to us,
When nuts were on the tree,
Even in the pleasant harvest-time,
My brother went to sea-
Unknown to us to sea he went,

And a woful house were we.

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7.

'That winter was a weary time,

A long dark time of woe;

For we knew not in what ship he sailed, And vainly sought to know;

And day and night the loud, wild winds Seemed evermore to blow.

8.

'My mother lay upon her bed, Her spirit sorely tossed

With dismal thoughts of storm and wreck

Upon some savage coast;

But morn and eve we prayed to Heaven

That he might not be lost.

9.

'And when the pleasant spring came on

And fields again were green,

He sent a letter full of news,

Of the wonders he had seen;

Praying us to think him dutiful
As he afore had been.

10.

'The tidings that came next were from

A sailor old and gray,
Who saw his ship at anchor lie

In the harbour at Bombay;

But he said my brother pined for home,

And wished he were away.

ELLEN MORE.

11.

'Again he wrote a letter long,
Without a word of gloom;

And soon, and very soon, he said,
He should again come home :
I watched, as now, beside the door,
And yet he did not come.

12.

'I watched and watched, but I knew not then

It would be all in vain ;

For very sick he lay the while,
In a hospital in Spain.

Ah, me! I fear my brother dear
Will ne'er come home again.

13.

'And now I watch-for we have heard

That he is on his way,

And the letter said, in very truth,

He would be here to-day.

Oh! there's no bird that singeth now

Could tempt me hence away!

14.

That self-same eve I wandered down

Unto the busy strand,

Just as a little boat came in

With people to the land;

And 'mongst them was a sailor-boy
Who leaped upon the sand.

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