POETRY. A MAIDEN'S DREAMS. SOMETIME. BEYOND. A Spider's Wedding.

Te Aroha News, Issue 166, 21 August 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

POETRY.

A MAIDEN'S DREAMS.

SOMETIME.

BEYOND.

A Spider's Wedding.

No footfall wakens the mansion Asleep in The sun's warm rays, The Lady Cl«re is aweary Of sllenoe and lonely days; Love's magio ot late has stolen The charm from her life's still wars* She turns from her hook and rises To gaze through the casement low, The langrous lily perfumes Towards her on sotc airs blowWhite lilies! Ah, onco she loved them : She gathers red roses now. Ob, when will the noon be sunset? And over the green hillside, And up through the beeohes' shadows The lover she looks for, ride 1 And wheo will this life bo ended, And bring the bright life untried ? While thus she waits in impatience, Naught guess© h the Lady Clare, That sweet as are Love's red roses Full often a thorn they bear, And the new life that seems so joyous May bring with it weight of care. Perhaps in the yean that follow. When cares press heavily. And the thorns have piero; d through the roses. Then, all their dreaming will be Of toe old life 'mid the lilies. In maidenhood blythe and free. -Kate Thompson Sizbr, in " Cassell's Family Magazine " for July.

Sometime you'll think of these summer clays, Dreamily fading in purple haze. Sometime, with a thrill of passionate pain. You 11 long for their sweetness orer again. Sometime you'll listen, in silence lone, .For a girlish voice that was all your own. You will watch for a gleaming figure fair. "White-robed and noiseless, -with falling hair. Sometime in your dreaming a little hand Will linger in yours at lore's sweet demand ; And, gazing deep in the luminous eves That made for your llg^t its paradise, The light, the music andodorous calm Of this golden-crowned summer will linger like balm, Till, starting, I wake to clasp but air. And list to a Heeling footstep there. Sometime you'd give all the wise world's praise 3Tor one of these vanishing summer days; For ju&t one leaf from the sway ing boughSometime you'd clasp it ; ah ! why not now. Ere the lingering light of the perfect days Has faded, for over, in mystic haze? "Boston Transcript."

When a child, in the sunny days of yore, I loved to wander alone by the shore, And as I scanned the horiaon's verge, TFo the point where the heavens in waves did merga, A feeling of longing arose In my mind— Ai ardent feeling of longing to find What was hidden bejond the far distant blue. How happy, I thought, if only I knew ! Ann I wi°- ltd or the seagull's pinions to fly, Par awa- to ♦'.« meeting of sea and skySoaring .• bo\ the clouds on high11l search of the great Beyond. Yeara have flown (Oh ! how quick they take wine:) Since those thoughtful moments of life's budding spring. Now, each click of the clock doth seem to say, ** Your Bummer-t'me is fast gliding away." I stand as a mm where I sto ;d as a child. Before me Life's ocean tempestuous and wild ; And far away in tbe distance I see Toe point where Time touches Eternity. The waves are singing their saddest eons?. While thoughts within me they throb and throng; And in awe, in wonder, in doubt I long For a elimnse of the crreat Bevonrl.

Autumn is the time of year to take notes on the courtship of the common spider. On their own garden walks now awaits— all •who care to investigate the subject — such an episode of patience, love and tragedy as is only to be found in Spider-land. The bridegroom may be found lurking somewhere near the object of his devotion, and is distinguished from the bride-elect by the comparative smallness of his body. Now, I Lave never seen a male spider weaving a fly-net, though he possesses the essential viscious fluid, and spins his single lines ; but I have seen him helping himself to the Btores of his lady-love when her -web has secured more prey than she could look after at the moment. The patience of the observer will be tried, perhaps, by reason of the length of the courtship. The affection is solely on the side of the gentleman. He has to use the utmost caution, not only in the manner in which he presents his petition, but in providing a safe and rapid retreat should his suit be rejected. He selects a branch, hold ing one of the main lines of the lady's web ; lie attaches a cord of his own spinning to the! branch, and then, Blondin-like, he walks the tight-rope of his lady-love. Generally he is able to reach the spiral work of her abode before she is aware of bis per senee. If she moves towards him he drops, and is seen dangling at the end of his thread, »p which he nimbly runs, to repeat the performance perhaps many times. But as the importunity of love-making creates an interest toward the wooer he succeeds at last, like some of the observers, in gaining audience. Miss Spider confronts the intruder ; his best diplomatic powers are now called into play. Generally the interview is in favour of the suitor, yet you may TritDess his ignominious retreat, in which case it will be managed by his escape line ; the pursued in his fall describes the arc of a quadrant, whilst the pursuer would have to traverse to two radii to capture him. If his proposal is entertained, he proceeds by some mystic art of voice and touch to throw a spell of mesmerism over his bride, and by skilful manipulation of his fresh-spun web ie binds her eight limbs tightly to her sides. His triumph is of short duration ; soon retribution overtakes him. She awakes from the spell, he is within her very claws, the *»ext instant lie is enwrapped by the deadly folds of her web. The wedding breakfast is spread, and the lone brid, like Gray's SheWolf of France,- with unrelenting fangs feasts on the writhing body of her devoted husband. • • .