Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-04-26
THE SPIDER TAUGHT


were busy building their nests, and all
Nature seemed full of signs of the ap-
preaching summer.
| Mrs. Morley had promised her little
daughter Anne that as soon as she had
finished her lessons she would take her
for nice walk.
| Anne had tried to coax her mamma
to let her go for the walk first, and do
her lessons after; but Mrs Morley always
acted upon the wise rule, "Duty first
and pleasure after so amid many sighs,
and now and then a restless movement,
Anne continued her task, inwardly
thinking every moment worse than vast
ed, in her efforts to finish the allotted
task. At length she said
at is no use trying any more. I am
sure shall never be able to do it." and
she threw down her book, and put aside
her slate.
''No use trying?-never be able to do
it?" replied her mother. You seem to
have settled the matter beyond doubt"
"Yes, mamma. Here 1 have been try
ing ever so long to find out where l have
made mistake, and cannot do it."
"But it does not prove that you can
not do it if you try, my dear"
"But 1 have tried, and that plainly
shows that am not able" replied Anne
with deep sigh.
"Well, wouldn't be beaten by lit
tie sum like that" said Mrs. Morley 81
am sure if you will fully give your mind
to it, and resolve to find out where you
have made the mistake, you will be sure
to succeed. Come, let me see if l can
find it out"
After looking it over carefully, she
added thought so, Anne. 1t is not
so much matter of difficulty as your
own want of giving proper care and
thought to it. And as one of the pur- |
poses of school lessons is to help you to |
get into the habit of being careful and
thoughtful, must insist upon your Civ
ing your mind to it; and when you have |
succeeded 1 will tell you some interest
ing stories to prove the value of this
spirit of perseverance"
Thus encouraged, and finding there
was no ayof escaping, Anne set to
work with will, and in short time she
was heard to say, with voice full of |
Joy and satisfaction
"There, I've done it after alll''
"And all the stronger for doing it as
WELL" added Mrs. Morley, as she began
to get ready to go for the promised walk.
They had not gone very far down the
green lanes before Mrs Morley saw
stretching across, from one tree to an
other, spiders web.
"Look, Anne, here is something which
will help you to understand what perse-
verance can do. See that beautiful spi-
der's WEBB"
"Yes, mamma; but spiders are such
nasty things, 1 don't like to look at
them"
"That arises from want of thought,
my dear. For if you did look at them
closely you would see so much to admire
in them"
"Should 1, mamma? And what should
| see?"
"Many things. Come a little closer,
for these house-spiders are perfectly
harmless. They will not hurt. See, as
1 touch this one with my pencil, how he
rolls himself up into ball, and shams
as if he were dead. Then look at this
beautiful web he has made. See how
regularly he has made the circles, and
how the web radiates from the centre. 1
love to watch spider constructing one
Of these beautiful networks; they are SO
perfect"
"And does it take long to do it, man.
mar" asked Anne.
Sometime; because they are exposed
to so many difficulties. Storms and
strong winds often destroy their nets,
but they go to renew it as soon as the
weather allows. A bird sometimes, by
its wing catching against it, sweeps {
away the delicate fabric, but again the !
spider erects his scaffolding, and spreads
his curious web. Even when it is fin 9
ished, a large bee or hornet may fly q
against it, and make break in its work?' I
"To catch his prey, which he devours I
when he has time"
"What cruel thing to set his trap to c
do such wicked thing"
"Yet after all, my dear, the spider on 7
Iy does what others do. Man kills, and I
men and women and children eat. An {
imals largely feed upon one another, by Q
a law which the Creator has given them v
to supply their hunger" '
"But still, mamma, you tell the serv- /
mt often to sweep down these cobwebs
from our rooms" I
"Yes, do, my dear; generally sigh a
when think of the care and skill which S
hey have displayed in making their '
homes so beautiful"
"But what makes you take so much
interest in them, mamma?
"By learning early in life to look at S
hem when at work. Once, when l was d
, little child, my father showed me
spider under a microscope-tha is a a
glass to magnify it-I saw it had eight G
bright little eyes, without lids, and eight II
'eet with claws at the end of them, be- a
,ides number of other very wonderful 0
;hings." Z
"But, mamma, whatever does such 5
title thing spin its web out of? 1t does ?
lot seem to have anything to work with" " Ii
"But it hasl By the microscope we u
discover that it has a secretion by which p
t forms a very fine thread, and it is e
rom this that the web is formed. You e
;hus see, my dear, that man, with all his a
kill, is not able to equal that little thing a
here, which looks as if it were dead"
"But are they not considered dirty
,hings, mamma?"
eyes, by those who don't know what a
hey really are. A spiders web is at first 6
white, but it tsoon gets soiled by the dust. :,
rhis so annoys the spider that he beats Il
t off the web with his foot. Sometimes D
le runs over the web, and then he pro- n
seeds to sweep the dust into little balls Il