Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-08-16
TarantuIa Nests.

From the Cnlchg0 Evening IOSt.I
There is no end of the curious devices
to which the genuine Yankee will resort
for the wherewithal to live. He is inge-
nious, but he does not love work for its
own sake, and he will always avail him
self of an opportunity to rest when.
ever he can yoke any other man or beast
to his machine. He prides himself on
his ability to " live by his wits "-as he
calls his tendency to earn his bread by
the sweat of somebody else's brow.
From California comes a tale of the
straits to which one Of the less thrifty of
this marvellous race has been driven.
Having peddled clocks through the At
lantic States, tuned pianos all over the
West, taught school in Arkansas herded
cattle in Texas, and canvassed for
What / Know About Farming in
Nevada, growing financially more ca
daverous and emaciated with each ex-
pertinent, he hiss turned up in San
Francisco at last as manufacturer Of
tarantula's nests. We used to think the
man who earned his food and clothes by
tie exhibition of Learned heas was
a rather mean specimen of his race, but
our transcontinental merchant beats
him. For, happening aboard of ship
for Surinam, he bought ten live tarantu-
las from a naturalist passenger; he
locked them in a pen under glass, in his
landlady's back yard; and there, in the
artificial tropics, he compels the long
legged serfs to build their nests as fast
as they can work--and as a nest is fin
ished, the caitif seizes and sells It'll de
gets two dollars for each nest from Gu
riesity.hunters, and his industrious tar
antulas turn out about one apiece each
week. May this heartless Acteon ulti-
mately be eaten by his own spidersl We
have an advantage over most OF the
readers of the Post. a tarantnlas nest
has been exhibited at our table by a
Chicago lady, and it is certainly q most
novel structure, causing the spectator TO
cruelty his vanity and forget for mo
ment that man is the only animal that
reasons" Here it lies upon the table
before you-a brown, rough looking
lump, exactly resembling a stone of the
size OF black walnut. Inspect 1t care
fully, and you will find lid which you
can open with a pins point. 1t turns
back easily and discloses two beautiful
leathern-like hinges at the bank, ex-
actly as il it we're made by a saddlerl The
inside is brown and as hard and smooth
as earthernware Look yet more keen
ly and you will discover on the inside
and fore-part of the lid-whieh is
quarter of an inch thick and beveled so
as TO ft exactly-tWo tiny holes, appa-
rently to enable the occupant TO lock his
den with hair or twigi When the lid
is opened it looks quite like fairy reti-
eule, ready for its trinkets. This is the
home of the tsTantula, or rather OF the
trap-door spider OF the tropics-the Ku-
Klux Of the insect world. In the top
Of this, when in his native woods. he sits |
peeping out, the lid raised a trihe, and |
when he espies the black beetle vending |
bis peacefnl way to his wife and little |
ones, be dons disguise and hops after
his unofending colored brother, gar
rotes him and drags him into his.
strange lair, where he eats him without
saying grace, and howls the buceaneer S
song above the carcass.
Speaking Of spiders. by the way, Cap |
tain Baker, Of the English army, de-
clares that be saw, while in the forests
Of the Amazon, two sparrows caught in |
q strong white web, which an enormous
spider had spread from one tree TO an
other. One Of them was dead and |
bound tightly, foot and wing, in the
shroud Of silk, the other Was still alive |
and crying, but the Yenemous monster, ]