p. 460 | The Home Circle by L. L.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 31, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 29.

The Home Circle.

By L. L.

THE RED SPIDER.

BEHOLD, this wondrous, living mite! This speck of animated clay, But just within the realm of sight, When viewed by clearest light of day. How strange to contemplate a form Endowed with functions so complete, With head and heart and pulses warm, And limbs for locomotion, mete; With brains and nerves and sinews, rife; With hearing, sight, and feeling too, And every part instinct with life, Yet scarce perceptible to view, Formed by that Power which made the world, The sun and moon, and heat and light, And through the firmament unfurled The jeweled canopy of night. That same strong hand that hurls the storm, Or holds the elements in thrall, Erected in a living form, This atom so minutely small. If God inspired this grain of earth, To live and move and breathe the air, Then, surely, man, of far more worth, Can trust his providential care. One whom would into being speak, Sustain and feed from day to day, Creatures so helpless, frail, and weak, Would no dependent turn away. Then let us kindly, gently deal With harmless creatures of his care,— All forms of life that pain can feel, As we are spared, so let us spare.