To The AntShe placed at every turn that ledTo her abode, a sign which read,“Go to the Ant,” and hung besideHer picture, highly magnified.Said she, “At least that cannot failTo bring a Turtle, Sloth, or Snail,A Dormouse, or a Boy, to learnTheir livelihood (and mine) to earn!“I’ll teach them, first of all, to seeThe joyousness of industry;And they, to grasp my meaning more,Shall gather in my winter store.“The Beauty of AbstemiousnessI’ll next endeavor to impressUpon 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 anywhereQuite so delusive as, I fear,Is a professional career.So thought the ant last time we met.She only hasonesluggard yet,Who scantly fills her larder shelf—It is, I grieve to say,herself!
She placed at every turn that ledTo her abode, a sign which read,“Go to the Ant,” and hung besideHer picture, highly magnified.Said she, “At least that cannot failTo bring a Turtle, Sloth, or Snail,A Dormouse, or a Boy, to learnTheir livelihood (and mine) to earn!“I’ll teach them, first of all, to seeThe joyousness of industry;And they, to grasp my meaning more,Shall gather in my winter store.“The Beauty of AbstemiousnessI’ll next endeavor to impressUpon their minds at meals. (N. B.That is—if they should board with me.)
She placed at every turn that ledTo her abode, a sign which read,“Go to the Ant,” and hung besideHer picture, highly magnified.
Said she, “At least that cannot failTo bring a Turtle, Sloth, or Snail,A Dormouse, or a Boy, to learnTheir livelihood (and mine) to earn!
“I’ll teach them, first of all, to seeThe joyousness of industry;And they, to grasp my meaning more,Shall gather in my winter store.
“The Beauty of AbstemiousnessI’ll next endeavor to impressUpon 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).”
“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 anywhereQuite so delusive as, I fear,Is a professional career.So thought the ant last time we met.She only hasonesluggard yet,Who scantly fills her larder shelf—It is, I grieve to say,herself!
Alas, for castles in the air!—There’s no delusion anywhereQuite so delusive as, I fear,Is a professional career.
So thought the ant last time we met.She only hasonesluggard yet,Who scantly fills her larder shelf—It is, I grieve to say,herself!