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To The Ant

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She placed at every turn that led

To her abode, a sign which read,

“Go to the Ant,” and hung beside

Her picture, highly magnified.

Said she, “At least that cannot fail

To bring a Turtle, Sloth, or Snail,

A Dormouse, or a Boy, to learn

Their livelihood (and mine) to earn!

“I’ll teach them, first of all, to see

The joyousness of industry;

And they, to grasp my meaning more,

Shall gather in my winter store.

“The Beauty of Abstemiousness

I’ll next endeavor to impress

Upon their minds at meals. (N. B.

That is—if they should board with me.)

“Then Architecture they shall try

(My present house is far from dry)—

In short, all Honest Toil I’ll teach

(And they shall practise what I preach).”

Alas, for castles in the air!—

There’s no delusion anywhere

Quite so delusive as, I fear,

Is a professional career.

So thought the ant last time we met.

She only has one sluggard yet, Who scantly fills her larder shelf— It is, I grieve to say, herself!