Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 227, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1919 — ARACHNE [ARTICLE]

ARACHNE

I watch her In the corner there. As bold and unafraid, She slips and floats along the air TUI all her subtile house is made. Her home, her bed, her daily food, AU from the hidden store she draws; "She. fashions It and knows It good. By instinct’s strong and sacred laws. No tenuous threads to. weave her nest. She seeks and gathers, there or here; But spins it from her faithful breast. Renewing still, tiU leaves are sere. Then, worn with toil and tired of life, In vain her shining traps are set, Her frost hath hushed the insect strife And gilded flies her charm forget But swinging in the snares she spun, She .sways to every wintry wind; Her joys, her toll, her etrand done, Her course the sport of storms unkind. Poor sister of the spinster clan! I, too, from out my store within My daily life and living plan. My home, my rest, my pleasure spin. I know thy heart when heartless hands Sweep all thy hard earned web away; Destroy its pearled and glittering bands, And leave thee homeless by the way. I know thy peace When all is done. Each afochored thread, each tiny knot. Soft shining in the autumn sun; A sheltered silent tranquil lot. t know wfakt thou hast never known— Sad presage to a soul allowed— That not for life I spin, alone. Bat' day by day I spin my shroud. —Rose Terry Cooka.