Milford chronicle., 1907-06-07
A ROYAL Weaver.

one of the most tedious Of tasks, yet II
was looked upon by all true women
as one of the nOblest of occupations.
No true princess, no true queen in a
royal palace, was too high or too rich
TO perform this duty for her men folks
In the last chapter of Proverbs an
oriental queen gives a description of
a perfect woman. l have always be-
lieved that description was a filial pic
ture of her own mother. What does
the royal author say? "She seeketh
wool and fax and worketh diligently
with her hands" This means that the
queen and her women made the gar
ments that her husband wore to battle
and to his kngly receptions. And she
was not the only royal parsonage who
boasted that the women who Wore the
royal purple were the same women
who wove their royal garments Alex
ander the Great never put a coat about
his shoulders that was not made by
his own mother. With pride he showed
the Persian princes who came to visit
his court the many beautiful robes
which were the results of the skill of
Olympias, who was the daughter of
chieftain, the wife Of a sovereign and
the mother of a conquerOr. When the
Egyptian queen desired to make a
present to the Spartan princess Helen,
on whose account the Trojan war was
waged, she sent to her a piece of her
own embroidery. All, do not tell me
T,,A - crAv 4
a spinner a weaver. has not royal
occupation. If the queens and prin-
cesses of old, with all the wealth of
the royal palaces, thought it not be-
meath their dignity to work with their
fingers for their loved ones, surely it
is as royal an occupation for the wives
and mothers and daughters and sisters
of today to care for the temporal
wants of their dear ones in the modern
homes.
I wish that the royal occupations of
Queen Olympias might be in vogue
among our women of today. I would
that the needle might continue to be
one of the scepters of female influence,
because it is the type of female in
dustry, like the spinning wheel and the
ancient distaff and spindle. would
that the wives and the mothers and the
daughters of our present generation
might not feel that their intellectual
advancement raises them above the
duty of looking after the temporal vel
fare of their homes. Our picture gal
leries and popular books contain pOr-
traits of women in gorgeous attire, but
think that If we had an artist to
paint the portrait that is dearest to our
memory we would not ask him to find
the most fiaring colOrs he had, but to
paint the quiet dull dress that was
worn in our nurseries in which mother
used to put us to bed. We can see her
now as she sat by a table on which
was placed a lamp. In her hand would
be a needle and a darning gOurd and a
with big hole in it, By our
mothers side would be a big pile of
clothes which she was mending, and
as we would look at that familiar pic
ture we would say: "Yes, she was al
ways sewing for US. She was always
working for us. She was always liv
ing for us" May God continue to make
our wives and our daughters like our
and grandmothers of old,
queens of the home, with the royal
scepter of a needle.
An Example of Industry.
But the spiders are more than mere
weavers. They not only set the exam
pie of industry to man and woman and |
child. but they are to be recorded |
among the greatest benefactors Of the |
human race. They are the greatest Of
all destrOyers of insect life. They are |
the mortal foe of the fly, the locust |
and the grasshopper. If it were not |
for the destroying work Of the spider |
in all probability most of the labOrs of |
the farmer and the husbandman would |
go for naught. Then the plaques Of |
EgvDt would be here. The locusts and |
the grasshoppers would literally de- !
stroy all the crops. The work Of check
Ing or keeping down the dangerous in
crease of insect life by the spider is
simply infinite in its Importance.
During the darkest days of Robert |
Bruce's life, after the king of Scotland !
had been defeated in five different
battles and deserted by all his follow
ers and while he himself was a fugi-
i've chased by the English soldiers, he
ay down one night to sleep in little
ave. You all remember the legendary
story as printed in your childhood
primer. During the night by the camp
Tres light the nOblest of all Scotch
men watched a little spider spin his
web over the mouth of that cave.
When morning came pursuing squad
# English soldiers passed that way.
They were hunting for the fugitive
ling. When one of the soldiers came
ID to the entrance of that cave and
vas about to enter another soldier.
,alled: 'No need of going In there.
Don't you see a spider has spun his
web over the entrance to that cave?
No man would go in there without
breaking it down" Thus Robert
3ruce's life was saved by a spiders
yeb. But want to tell you that the
ipider is just as much the savior and