AURELIA AND THE SPIDER.
The muslin torn, from tears of grief
In vain Aurelia sought relief;
In sighs and tears she passed the day,
The tattered robe neglected lay.
When, busy at his spinning trade,
A spider thus addressed the maid:
“Turn, little girl, behold in me
A stimulus to industry.
This morning, e’er you left your room,
The chambermaid’s relentless broom
In one sad moment had destroyed,
To build which, thousands were employ’d.
By constant work a day or more,
My little mansion may restore;
And, if each tear that you have shed
Had been a needleful of thread,
And every sigh of sad despair,
Had been a stitch with proper care,
Closed would have been the luckless rent,
Nor thus the day have been mispent.”