THE EPEIRA'S BRIDGE 115 



"Oh, how simple !" cried Jules. "And yet not 

 one of us would have thought of it." 



Yes, my friend, it is very simple, but at the same 

 time very ingenious. It is thus with all work: sim- 

 plicity in the means employed is a sign of excellence. 

 To simplify is to have knowledge; to complicate is 

 to be ignorant. The epeira, in its kind of construc- 

 tion, is science perfected." 



"Where does it get that science, Uncle?" asked 

 Claire. ''Animals have not reason. Then who 

 t. -aches the epeira to build its suspension bridges?" 



* ' No one, my dear child ; it is born with this knowl- 

 edge. It has it by instinct, the infallible inspiration 

 of the Father of all things, who creates in the least 

 of His creatures, for their preservation, ways of 

 acting before which our reason is often confounded. 

 Win -11 the epeira, from the top of the willow, gets 

 ready to spin its web, what inspires it with the auda- 

 cious project of the bridge; what gives it patience 

 to wait for the floating end of the thread to entwine 

 in the branches of the other bank; what assures it 

 of the success of a labor that it is performing per- 

 haps for the first time, and has never seen done? 

 It is the universal Eeason that watches over crea- 

 tion, and takes among men the thrice-holy name of 

 Providence. ' ' 



Uncle Paul had won his case : in the eyes tff all, 

 \ < n of Mother Ambroisine, spiders were no longer 

 frightful creatures. 



