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world over-mankind wreath them with flowers, embroider them with gold, and load them with jewels." "I sympathize with you deeply," said the Spider ; for I too am the victim of envy and injustice. Look at my web extended across the window-pane? Did the Silk-Worm ever do any thing to equal its delicate transparency? Yet in all probability to-morrow's sun will see it swept away by the unfeeling housemaid. Alas, my sister! genius and merit are always pursued by envy."

"Foolish creatures," exclaimed a gentleman, who overheard their complaints. "You, Mrs. Caterpillar, who boast of your rapid performances, let me ask you, what is their value? Do they not contain the eggs that will hereafter develope themselves, and destroy blossom and fruit?-even as the hasty and selfish writer winds into his pages principles wherewithal to poison the young heart's purity and peace?

"As for you, Mrs. Spider, you are hardly worthy of a rebuke. Your transparent web is broken by a dew-drop, as some pretty poetry is marred by the weight of a single idea. Like other framers of flimsy snares, you will catch a few silly little flies, and soon be swept away-the ephemera* of an hour. But rail not at productions, which ye cannot understand! How can such as you estimate the labours of the Silk-Worm? Like genius expiring in the intensity of its own fires, she clothes the world in the beauty she dies in creating.”

* è-fêm-èr-á.

THE SILKWORM'S WILL.

On a plain rush hurdle a Silkworm lay, When a proud young princess came that way, The haughty child of a human king

Threw a sidelong glance at the humble thing,
That took with a silent gratitude

From the mulberry-leaf her simple food-
And shrunk, half scorn and half disgust,
Away from her sister child of dust;
Declaring she never yet could see
Why a reptile form like this should be,

And that she was not made with nerves so firm,
As, calmly to stand by a "crawling worm !"

With mute forbearance the Silkworm took
The taunting words and the spurning look.
Alike a stranger to self and pride,
She'd no disquiet from aught beside

And lived of a meekness and peace possessed,
Which these debar from the human breast.
She only wished, for the harsh abuse,
To find some way to become of use
To the haughty daughter of lordly man.
And thus did she lay a noble plan,
To teach her wisdom and make it plain
That the humble worm was not made in vain ;
A plan so generous, deep and high,

That to carry it out she must even die!

"No more," said she, "will I drink or eat! I'll spin and weave me a winding sheet, To wrap me up from the sun's clear light, And hide my form from her wounded sight.

In secret then till my end draws nigh,
I'll toil for her; and when I die,

I'll leave behind, as a farewell boon,

To the proud young princess, my whole cocoon,
To be reeled and wove to a shining lace,

And hung in a veil o'er her scornful face!

And when she can calmly draw her breath

Through the very threads that have caused my death;
When she finds, at length, she has nerves so firm
As to wear the shroud of a crawling worm,
May she bear in mind, that she walks with pride
In the winding-sheet where the Silkworm died!"

THE ADVENTURES OF A RAIN DROP.

WHEN I was first aware of existence, I found myself floating in the clouds, among millions of companions. I was weak and languid, and had indeed fainted entirely away, when a breeze from the north was kind enough to fan me, as it swept along toward the equator. The moment my strength was renewed, I felt an irresistible desire to travel. Thousands of neighbours were eager to join me; and our numerous caravan passed rapidly through immense deserts of air, and landed in the garden of Eden.

As it was a cloudy day, and the sun did not appear, I slipped from a rose leaf to the bottom of a superb arum, and went quietly to sleep. When I awoke, the sun was bright in the heavens, and birds were singing, and insects buzzing joyfully. A saucy humming bird was looking down upon me, thinking, no doubt, that he would drink me up; but a nightingale and scarlet lory both chanced to alight near him,

and the flower was weighed down, so that I fell to the ground. Immediately I felt myself drawn up, as if very small cords were fastened to me. It was the power of the sun, which forced me higher and higher, till I found myself in the clouds, in the same weak, misty state as before.

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Here I floated about, until a cold wind drove me into the Danube. The moment I entered this river, I was pushed forward by such a crowd of water drops, that, before I knew whither I was bound, I found myself at the bottom of the Black Sea. oyster soon drew me into his shell, where I tumbled over a pearl, large and beautiful enough to grace the snowy neck of Eve. I was well pleased with my situation, and should have remained a long time, had it been in my power; but an enormous whale came into our vicinity, and the poor oysters were rolled down his throat, with a mighty company of waves. I escaped from my pearl prison, and the next day the great fish threw me from his nostrils, in a cataract of foam. Many were the rivers, seas, and lakes, I visited. Sometimes I rode through the Pacific, on a dolphin's back; and, at others, I slept sweetly under the shade of fan coral,* in the Persian Gulf. One week I was a dew drop on the roses of Cashmere; and another, I moistened the stinted moss on cold Norwegian rocks.

Time rolled slowly on, and the world grew more wicked. I lived almost entirely in the clouds, or on the flowers; for mankind could offer no couch fit for the repose of innocence, save the babe's sinless lip. At last, excessive vice demanded punishment. The Almighty sent it in the form of rain; and in forty

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days the fair earth was overwhelmed. I was permitted to remain in the foggy atmosphere; and when the deluge ceased, I found myself arranged, with a multitude of rain drops, before the blazing pavilion of the sun. His seven coloured rays were separated in passing through us, and reflected on the opposite quarter of the heavens. Thus I had the honour to assist in forming the first rainbow ever seen by man.

THE DECLINE OF LIFE.

FRIEND after friend departs;
Who hath not lost a friend?
There is no union here of hearts
That finds not here an end;
Were this frail world our final rest,
Living or dying none were blest.

Beyond the flight of time,

Beyond the reign of death,-
There surely is some blessed clime
Where life is not a breath;
Nor life's affections, transient fire,
Whose sparks fly upward and expire.

There is a world above,

Where parting is unknown;
A long eternity of love,

Formed for the good alone;
And faith beholds the dying, here,
Translated to that glorious sphere!

Thus star by star declines,
Till all are passed away;

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