Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-10-16
"Wednesday October 10. 1889,
SHE ooTes ON SPIDERS.
A Queer Old Pennsylvania Woman Who
Eeep, n IinUInful of Them.


Eeeps n ItaOInful of Them.
\ chilllcSs old couple live on a lone.
" cross road fous miles southeast Of
Stoddardsville. She is a great hand
for pet fowls and animals, but the
strangCst thing about her is her fond
ness for spiders. Harboring and look
ing after the welfare of lot of spiders
has been her hobby for a long time,
and she says she has found a great
deal of diversion and comfort in pro-
tecting and watching her peculiar
pets. Years ago the old lady set apart
a small bedroom for the insects 10
make their webs in, and from that day
10 this not a single web has been s)rn
'front.' the walls and ceiling. On the sides
and overhead every inch of space is
covered with the delicate work of the
industrious spiders, and the one little
window in the % is partially dark
ened by layer after layer of network
over the paues. The numerous inhab.
itants of the mass of webs seem To
dwell together in harmony, al
though The old woman declares that
they often fight like cats and dogs. If
the spiders happen to get into n snarl
while she is in the she pokes
them around with a knitting needle,
gives them a good scolding and makes
them scamper into their respective
homes of film. She calls them her
stradL lebugs. There are several vari-
cites, and they are Of various sizes and
shades of color. Whatcver the Old
lady enters tie room aud calls out TO
the insects in her sgucaky voice. they
DAT from their hiding places and
crawl out On the center of the webs.
If any of them ARE slpw.in appearing
size Fuckers up her lips and bUzzcS
Ike a bee or a fly, and they hasten out
% search for prey.
As soon as the visitor has won the
old womaus good opinion, She be-
comes lOquacious, candid and cuuidun-
tial. Then She will say that the win
dow in the spiders headquarters has
not been raised for more than twenty
years, for opening il would ruin a lot
Of webs. and after that 'c will tell
how She gets rid of ilic, during sum.
mer time. She drives the flies from
the other rooms into the little bed
room aud closes the door. and then,
she says, she has Jolly fun ia STAYING
IN the ruom and seeing the horde Of
spiders hop ont of their holes. and
catch, torment and dCyour the inn.
.prisoncd flies. Once in a while a bee
or a wasp gets into the room and buzz
cs around until IL lumbius into a web,
and it amuSes hcF Ia SEE hUw cunning
ly one Of her spider pets will get
around a wasp without being touched
by its St;nger.
Built out from one OF the curves of
the room like the shelf Of a bracket
there is n strong web toward which the
old woman calls the visitors atten-
ton. \ big black spider comes totter.
ing out Of it, hiding place al the old
ladys command, and stops in the cen
ter OF its web. She touches 1t with
the end Of a knitting needle, and il
crawls around on the horizontal web
for a while, and then goes lazily out
of sight. The old woman has routed
the spider out ia order to let the wish
tor see it before she begins to relate
its interesting tactics around amonster
wasp one day last summer.
When she first saw the wasp il was
lying on its back in the big black
spiders web. Its wings were fast, and
it was working its legs, moving its
head and running out its singer in its
efforts 10 free itself. The spider was
sitting at a safe distance from the
waspS dangerous tail, and for five
minutes, the old lady said, il just sat
there and calculated how il was going
TO get at the waSp's vitalS without run
ming foul of the sharp weapon that it
was keeping an eye on, After the
spider had been bordering for a good
while, ii suddenly arose on its very
tiptoes, marched right up to the
wasps rear, and slowly straddlcd over
the dangerous weapon, keeping its
body 81 high that the singer couldn't
puncture it.
Still standing ON its tiptoes directly
above the wdsps middle, tho spider
quickly and dcxterOusly applied its
IIl'liIN u TIE MtisIn llIphL lbI II
number OF times, but the coat Of mail
was 80 hard and so tough that il WAS
unable to make any impro ion on it.
Then The spider studdlud oil, stood
aside, and contemplated the wasp
some more. Presently it proceeded TO
walk round andsound the wasp, be-
iug very careful not to come in con.
tact with lhe wasp's sharp end, After
the spider had made "a dozen circuits
around TO- yirtim, the wa,ps ioct and
legs we're al lied up in II buucA, II
couldn't uieEle item any more and
the spider again stepped 10 ono side
and i]ntcntlv g4zed upon the wa,p Tor
three or four minutes. II SEQ ned TO
be satisfied with the way it had ias'en-
cd the wnaps legs, aud the nest thing
il did WINS Ggrlb the wasp blythe bead
aud back or with it 10 is hiding place
in the wall. Scranton pa Cor New
York sun,