Proudly I'm borne o'er the billowy sea,
And far-distant nations have trembled at me;
Yet my office at times is so mean and so low
I am subject to many an insult and blow.
By the side of the mill-stream I fearlessly rest,
And gracefully bend o'er the lake's glassy breast;
Yet the glory of England I bear far and wide,
And under me thousands have fought and have died.
Though 'tis true that, whene'er I appear in the street,
I am trampled in scorn by the crowd's busy feet,
I am often exalted in station and place,
And to strike me has ever been held a disgrace!
How often I claim your attention and care,
And repay you with smiles in your blooming parterre!
Then what can I be, who am known near and far,
And so gentle in peace, and so fearful in war?
* * * * *
=A Musical Spider.=--His appreciation of music may have been a
compensation for what we may fairly suppose must have been considered in
the spider world a deformity. He had but seven legs. This gave us an
excuse for calling him Seven-foot. Evening after evening he would come
creeping out of his hole the minute the Doctor struck up a waltz. It was
really curious to watch the long-legged thing come scurrying up for his
evening concert. For half one winter, perhaps, he did this, taking up
his post on top of the piano as regularly as the Doctor sat down to
play. It is said that all spiders have a decided taste and liking for
music. If this is true, this creature must have been the Mendelssohn of
his race. Finally, however, to the regret of all who used to watch for
his coming, Seven-foot failed to appear. Whether he had got a surfeit of
music, or whether Louise, in wielding her dust-brush, had unwittingly
brought him to an untimely end, nobody was ever able to discover. I only
know he vanished as suddenly as he came, leaving a large circle of
acquaintances behind him to mourn his departure.
[Illustration: "RIDE A COCK-HORSE TO BANBURY CROSS."]
[Illustration: KITE-TIME.
"Now, then, Jimmy, stop squirmin' so, an' if the string don't break,
it'll be just as good as a balloon ascension for you."]