St. Landry democrat., 1882-10-14
BADLY SCARED.

amusing luclllStlNt Is ny ldllSaChilS ohOiA
uncle Harry's closets, Tom pulled his
hand out suddenly from the back part
of deep drawer, and shouted triumph
antly: Preserves!' at the same time
holding out large glass jar for inspec-
ton. A cry of disgust followed, for in
stead OF preserves there was nothing in
the bottle but a strengthening animal
floating in some brown liquid.
"Pah! It's horrid bug" said Alice,
turning up her nose in disgust.
"'Tain't," contradicted Charlie. re-
CARELESS of his grammar. "It's
tarantula.'
land what is that but bug?' re-
piled Alice.
Its a spider" said Charlie. "You
ask Uncle Harry if it isn't
In the mean time Tom and Alice had
taken the jar over to the desk where
Uncle Harry was writing.
"What is this, Uncle HarTy?' said
Alice.
cit is a tarantula. drought it home
from California with me-"
Il told you sou exclaimed Charlie,
from the closet.
sit is kind of spider, and one of the
largest that lives in this country. They
don make webs like ordinary spiders,
but dig hole in the ground and line it
with a sort of silky web like the cocoon
of a silk-worm. Their hole is about six
inches deep, and is closed by funny
little trap-door made of the same silky
lining, and covered on the outside with
sticks and gravel so cleverly that one
can rarely find a tarantula's burrow UNI
less you see him going in; and even If
you do see him going in, it is very dltfl-
cult to get him to come out, as he pulls
his trap-door shut after him. and holds
it tight from the inside
elf he don't build web, how does
he catch flies and things9:' inquired
Charlie.
He jumps after them. A lively
tarantula can jump from three to i've
feet, and when he once catches hold OF
any kind of a bug or small bird with
those great hairy legs, it has but little
chance to get away
els their bite really so poisonous?
asked Alice, cycling the jar rather tim
idly, as if she was afraid the terrible in
sect would get away
THAT question is hard one to an
swer Some people who have lived in
countries where they are common claim
that it is only fatal in a few cases, while
others seem to think it is deadly
poison
"What are you laughing at, Uncle
Harrvoon demanded Charlie.
Il was thinking of the most horrible
night ever experienced. replied his
uncle. "You know" he continued,
"while 1 was in the West spent some
two weeks camping out in the mount
aims with a party Of four young men.
We had an old cabin, where we slept at
night, and we spent our days delight
fully, fishing, hunting, geologizing. and
botanizing. We had not been in camp
long before we discovered tarantula
village not far from our cabin, and we
all determined to catch some specimens
to take home with us. At first we had
considerable trouble in catching them;
they were so lively and SO ugly that we
always ended in killing them in self
defense. At last a brilliant member OF
the party discovered that by placing a
wide-mouthed bottle over the mouth of
the tarantula's burrow, and then thump-
ing on the ground around it, the animal
would crawl out into the bottle, and the
captor could turn the bottle over, clap
piece of board over the top, anu secure
his prisoner. AS soon as the discovery
was made known, all the old pickle jars
were called into requisition, and as the
former occupants of the cabin had left
o number, we were soon lucky, or un-
lucky, enough to have about twenty-five
large specimens. We covered the jars
with bits of single, and set them on q
shelf which was nailed to one side of the
cabin. Everything went well, and we
determined that as soon as we had
leisure we would kill them with chloro.
form and preserve them in spirits as
that one is. But one night, after we
had all got comfortably settled for
sleep, one of the party thought that he
was thirsty, so rising carefully from his
bunk, he CROPPED his way over to the
corner under the shelf, where the water
pail stood; he had his drink, and forget
ting the existence of the shelf, rasec
his head. Crash! down came the rot
ten old shelf, and down came the jars
| with the tarantulas in them. The party
| heard the fall, and like one man sprane
from their beds and rushed for the
door, but before they had got halfway
across the floor they remembered tina
the tarantulas were loose, and they
stopped: moment more and it was TOT
late. We were all afraid to move TO
fear that we would put our feet on ;
tarantula; so there we stood as if turned
into statues. In a short time our posi-
tons became strained and cramped, bu
we did not dare to change them. Gu
nerves became excited. and we imag
med that we could feel them crawling
up our backs and walking over on
bare feet The minutes seemed length
ened to hours, and the hours seeme'
months. At last the day began tt