FOR CHILDREN, 181

And tinged with light each shapeless beam
Which roofed the lowly shed ;
When, looking up with wistful! eye,
The Bruce beheld a spider try
His filmy thread to fling
From beam to beam of that rude cot ;
And well the insect’s toilsome lot
Taught Scotland’s future king.

Six times his gossamery* thread
The wary spider threw ;
In vain the filmy line was sped,
For powerless or untrue
Each aim appeared, and back recoiled
The patient insect, six times foiled,
And yet unconquered still ;
And soon the Bruce, with eager eye,
Saw him prepare once more to try
His courage, strength, and skill.

One effort more, his seventh and last !
The hero hailed the sign !

And on the wished-for beam hung fast
That slender, silken line ;

Slight as it was, his spirit caught

The more than omen, for his thought
The lesson well could trace,

Which even “he who runs may read,”

That Perseverance gains its meed,
And Patience wins the race.

Bernard Barton.

1 Wistful—attentive, full of thought.
? Gossamery—light, ftimey.
R