Book 2-Lesson 01

LESSON 1
THE SPIDER
DO you see the spider in the picture? He has just got his web done; and
there he sits in the very middle of it, ready to pounce upon a fly.
The spider loves work. He begins to work as soon as he begins to live.
Every spider is born a weaver. Even the youngest spider knows how to weave
his web just as well as the oldest.
The spider never has to go to school to learn his task. So, the little duck can
swim as soon as it is hatched. And the little bird can build its nest, and the bee
can make the honey-comb, without any teaching.
God has given these creatures the power to do their work. And that is why
they never make any blunders. Not all the weavers and spinners in the world
could beat the spider in the work that he does.
The spider is never in a hurry. He always takes care to make every thread
fast. He takes a pride in doing his work well.
All spiders have not the same kind of work to do. But they all do it in the
very best way.
Some spiders are masons. These build houses, the size of a big thimble.
They make doors to them, which they shut when they go in. It is even said that
they are able to fasten the door of the house inside, so that no robber can get in.
The garden spider lets its threads float in the air till they happen to take
hold of plants or branches of trees. It then uses these threads as the roads or
bridges by which it crosses from place to place.
A strange story is told of a spider saving his life by this means. He was put
upon the end of a stick which stood a foot or two out of water. He was on a little
island in the midst of a little sea.
What did he do? He walked down the stick to the edge of the water. He
went round and round it; but he could find no way to get off.
He then went once more to the top of the stick, and kept still for a while. He
seemed to say to himself, "Well, I am in a nice fix now; what am I to do?"
He soon made up his mind. For he at once began to spin a long thread. He
made one end of it fast to the top of the stick; and let the thread float away in the
wind till it caught a tree on the shore. He then slid along the line, and got safely
to dry land at last!