LIFE AMONGST THE SPIDERS. 97 



Our Anglo-Saxon forefathers in summer brought home 

 the fleece to be spun into woollen cloth during the winter, 

 and the daughters of our Saxon kings and princes were so 

 employed long before the Norman conquest. Alfred the 

 Great, in his will, calls the female part of his family the 

 spindle side ; and it was a regularly received axiom with 

 our frugal ancestors, that no young woman was fit to be a 

 wife till she had spun for herself a set of body, table, and 

 bed linen. Hence the maiden was termed a " spinner," or 

 " spinster," and the married woman a " wife " (from the 

 Saxon " ii'if" to weave), that is, one who had been a spinner.* 

 How many lessons have others before us learned from 

 spiders ! You remember that passage in the poem of Job 

 the oldest perhaps in the world: "Ask now the beasts and 

 they shall teach thee," wisdom, that is. Kobert Bruce, 

 the brave Scotch king, did this in his extremity ; for, fail- 

 ing in his opposition to the King of England, it is said 

 that he owed a final victory to a spider, which, failing just 

 as many times as he had done in its endeavour to reach 

 its object, made one effort more and succeeded ; and from 

 this incident in Brace's history no one in Scotland of the 

 name of Bruce will ever kill a spider. The motto of a 

 spider is that which you and I would do well to take for 

 the motto of our lives in everything we do : " If at first 

 you don't succeed, try again." " Preliminary failure is 

 often necessary to ultimate success." These words were 

 spoken to me many years ago, and ever since I have made 

 it the business of my life to love a difficulty for the sake 

 of conquering it, finding that, with too many, boasted 

 strength is nothing but undeveloped weakness. 



Now, then, for a sketch of some few of our spiders ; 

 for I believe there are upwards of three hundred species 

 in Britain. 



* From The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," by Dr. Brewer. 



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