Then the Grasshopper came, with a jerk and a

spring,

Very long was his leg, though but short was his wing;

He took but three leaps, and was soon out of sight, Then chirped his own praises the rest of the night. With steps quite majestic, the Snail did advance, And promised the gazers a minuet [1] to dance; But they all laughed so loud, that he pulled in his head,

And went in his own little chamber to bed.

Then as evening gave way to the shadows of night, Their watchman, the Glowworm, came out with his light;

Then home let us hasten while yet we can see, For no watchman is waiting for you and for me. Roscoe.

9. THE BUTTERFLY'S FUNERAL. Oh ye! who so lately were blithesome and gay, At the Butterfly's banquet carousing away; Your feasts and your revels of pleasure are fled, For the chief of the banquet, the Butterfly's dead! No longer the Flies and the Emmets advance, To join with their friends in the Grasshopper's dance;

For see his fine form o'er the favourite bend,

And the Grasshopper mourns for the loss of his friend.

[1] Minuet

—an old-fashioned, slow, and stately dance.

And hark to the funeral dirge [1] of the Bee,
And the Beetle, who follows as solemn as he!
And see, where so mournful [2] the green rushes

wave,

The Mole is preparing the Butterfly's grave.

The Dormouse attended, but cold and forlorn, And the Gnat slowly winded his shrill little horn; And the Moth, being grieved at the loss of a sister, Bent over her body, and silently kissed her.

The corpse was embalm'd at the set of the sun, And enclosed in a case which the Silk-worm had spun;

By the help of the Hornet the coffin was laid,
On a bier [8], out of myrtle and jessamine made.
In weepers and scarfs [4] came the Butterflies all,
And six of their number supported the pall;
And the Spider came there, in his mourning so
black,

But the fire of the Glow-worm soon frightened him back.

The Grub left his nut-shell to join the sad throng, And slowly led with him the Book-worm along, Who wept his poor neighbour's unfortunate doom, And wrote these few lines, to be placed on his tomb:

[!] Dirge-a mournful song, proper for a funeral service. [:] Mournful-put for mournfully

[3] Bier-a frame used for carrying and supporting the dead.

[4] Weepers and Scarfs-articles of dress worn at

funerals.

EPITAPH.

At this solemn spot, where the green rushes wave,
In sadness we bent o'er the Butterfly's grave;
'Twas here the last tribute to beauty we paid,
As we wept o'er the mound which her ashes had
made.

And here shall the daisy and violet blow,
And the lily discover her bosom of snow;

While under the leaf, in the evenings of spring, Still mourning her friend, shall the Grasshopper sing.

10. THE TRUE STORY OF WEB-
SPINNER.

Web-Spinner was a miser old,
Who came of low degree;

His body was large, his legs were thin,
And he kept bad company;

And his visage had the evil look
Of a black felon grim;

To all the country he was known,
But none spoke well of him.

His house was seven stories high,
In a corner of the street,
And it always had a dirty look,

When other homes were neat;
Up in his garret dark he lived,

And from the windows high,
Looked out in the dusky evening
Upon the passers by.

Most people thought he lived alone,
Yet
many have averred,

That dismal cries from out his house

Were often loudly heard;
And that none living left his gate,
Although a few went in ;

For he seized the very beggar old,
And stripped him to the skin.

And though he prayed for mercy,
Yet mercy ne'er was shewn-
The miser cut his body up,

And picked him bone from bone.
Thus people said, and all believed
The dismal story true;

As it was told to me, in truth,
I tell it so to you.

There was an ancient widow-
One Madgy de la Moth,
A stranger to the man, or she

Had ne'er gone there, in troth; [1]
But she was poor, and wandered out
At night-fall [2] in the street,
To beg from rich men's tables
Dry scraps of broken meat.

So she knocked at old Web-Spinner's door,
With a modest tap, and low,

And down stairs came he speedily
Like an arrow from a bow.

[1] Troth-truth.

[2] Nightfall—the beginning of night.

C

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