The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-06-04

threads Then she would stretch the
warp threads perpendicularly up and
down. Then with her own hands she
would put in the filings, winding
them horizontally in and out until the
cloth was made. Thus it was d weary,
tedious task to make a piece of cloth
in olden times. While the woman's
work would occupy days and weeks, 1t
would take a spider only few hours
to spin her web Thus King Solomon
was comparing the making Of a
spiders web to the old fashioned, prim-
tive ways in which the women Of his
time wove the garments for their hus-
bands and brothers and sons and IA
theirs.
A Royal Weaver.
But, though the weaving of the gar
ments In olden times was considered
one Of the most tedious of tasks, yet 1t
was looked upon by all true women
as one of the noblest Of occupations.
No true princess, no true queen in
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 description of
a perfect woman. | 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 kingly receptions. And she
was not the only royal parsonage who
boosted that the women who wore the
royal purple were the same women
who woye 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 a
chieftain, the wife of a sovereign and
the mother Of conqueror. When the
Egyptian queen desired to make
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
that the spider that is a strand maker
a spinner, weaver, has not a 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.
l wish that the royal occupations of
Queen Olympias might be in vogue
among our women of today. l would
that the needle might continue to be
one of the scepters of female influence.
because 1t is the type Of female In
dustry, like TIE spinning wheel and the
ancient distaf and spindle. l 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 well
fare of their homes. Our picture gal
leries and popular books contain por-
traits Of women In gorgeous attire, but
I think that IL we had an artist to
paint the portrait that Is dearest to our
memory we would not ask him to find
the most aaring 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 q table on which
was placed q lamp. In her hand would
be needle and darning gourd and
stocking with big hole In 1t. BY our
mothers side would be a big pile of
clothes which she was mending, and
as we would look at that familiar pie
ture we would say: Eyes, she was al
ways sewing for us. She was always
working for us. She was always liv-
Ing for u.s." May God continue to make
our wives and our daughters like our
mothers and grandmothers of old,
queens of the home, with the royal
scepter Of 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. II 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
Egypt would be here. The Iocusts 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 fugi-
tive chased by the English soldiers, he
n L - T.