The Spider's Laundry

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 291, 4 September 1937, Page 9 (Supplement)

The Spider's Laundry

I have never seen a spider With a laundry tub beside her, Doing out her dainty washing by a firefly lamp; have you? But I wouldn’t say I doubt it, For this much there is about it: I have often seen her laundry out quite early, wet with dew. Take it when the fog is lifting And the silver mist is sifting— Oh, it’s then the spider’s laundry is a lovely thing to see! Cobweb dresses light and airy, Only fit to clothe a fairy, Bits of lace and table linen hung on bush and brier' and tree.

Little napkins spread for drying, On the lawn grass softly lying, And such lovely, frilly doilies stretched upon the garden fence! Having no line at the minute, Mistress Spider has to spin it, And the way she goes about it shows a lot of common sense. But when all is said and done too. I believe she has her fun too, Living in the weeds and clover as thr summer days go by, Never dusting, never sweeping— But when other folks are sleeping. Hanging up her funny laundry on the little lilies to dry. —By Florence Boyce Davis,