On The Tree Top

<h4 class = "headline"><SPAN name="spider" id = "spider"> DAME SPIDER.</SPAN></h4> <h4 class = "extended">DAME SPIDER.</h4> <hr class = "micro"> <h6>BY MRS. CLARA DOTY BATES.</h6> <hr class = "micro"> <br> <ANTIMG src = "images/pic44a.png" width-OBS="205" height-OBS="162" alt = "Dame Spider in her web"> <p class = "stanza"> <span class = "smallcaps">Little</span> Dame Spider had finished her spinning,</p> <p>Just as the warm summer day was beginning,</p> <p>And the white threads of her beautiful curtain</p> <p>Tied she and glued she to make them more certain.</p> <p class = "stanza"> Dressed in her old-fashioned feathers and fringes,</p> <p>Then she sat down to wait; on silken hinges</p> <p>Swung the light fleece with a moonshiny glisten;</p> <p>Nothing for her but to watch and to listen.</p> <br> <p class = "stanza"> Presently, going off early to labor,&mdash;</p> <p>Bowing politely, as neighbor to neighbor,</p> <p>When he caught sight of this little old woman,&mdash;</p> <p>Sailed by a honey-bee, serge-clad and common.</p> <p class = "stanza"> “Are you so scornful because I am humble?</p> <p>Many a time your rich relatives, Bumble,</p> <p>Pause in their flying to chat for an hour!”</p> <p>She called out after him, half gay, half sour.</p> <ANTIMG src = "images/pic44b.png" width-OBS="171" height-OBS="149" alt = "bees flying toward web"> <br> <ANTIMG src = "images/pic44c.png" width-OBS="171" height-OBS="150" alt = "bees caught in web"> <p class = "stanza"> “O, no,” he cried. “I am off to discover</p> <p>What I can find fresh in the way of white clover;</p> <p>But since your window is cosy and shady,</p> <p>I <i>will</i> sit down half a minute, dear Lady.”</p> <p class = "stanza"> Little Dame Spider arose with a rustle,</p> <p>Welcomed him with ceremonious bustle;</p> <p>Quick as a flash threw her long arms around him,</p> <p>Heeded no buzzing, but held him and bound him;</p> <br> <p class = "stanza"> Tied knots so tight that he could not undo them;</p> <p>Wove snares so strong that he could not break through them;</p> <p>Then, with <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘are lish’">a relish</ins>, stood chuckling and grinning,</p> <p>“This is to pay me for my early spinning!”</p> <p class = "asterisk">·····</p> <p>At the home-hive the bees going and coming</p> <p>Kept up all day their industrious humming,</p> <p>Nor did it one of their busy heads bother</p> <p>That Madame Spider had dined off their brother.</p> <ANTIMG src = "images/pic44d.png" width-OBS="160" height-OBS="143" alt = "beehive"> <br> &nbsp; <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />