Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-06-07
FROM THE FOOTHILLS.
HOMESICK FOR SOME CHEERFUL
TROPICAL PRODUCTS.
he learned for the Society of the Cent?
pedes and Scorpions of Bermuda-A
Graphic Description of the Get Up and
Habits of the Tarantu1a.

Graphic Description of the Get Up and
Habits of the TarantuIa.
"D'ye know whar come from, strangers"
said thin man with big whiskers and a wide
brimmed white hat. 'tCourse ye don't. I'm
lest in from the foothills Of the Sierras. Dye
know whar I'm headed fura Bet ye don'tl
I'm p'inted straight fur Nassau and Bermu-
dy. Never out among the foothills, reckon?
Thought ye wasn't. It's a great country. But
there haint no centipedes out thar. missed
the centipedes. I was kind o used to 'em,
havin spent year or two with 'em down in
Bermudy and Nassau. Another drawback
to the foothill country is that it's little
short O. scorpions Thurs few out thar, but
not enough to make it cheerful, and it'd have
been trifle dull for me if it hadn't been for
the tarantuliess Know what a tarantul y is
don't yea Course ye know that.
A REGULAR LADY KILLER.
"Guess ye never see one o. them big spiders,
though, did yea Thought not. They size up
first rate out on the adobe grounds of the
Sierra foothills, but they amt more'n half as
big as tarantulies is in Bermudy and Nassau.
I've seen 'em down thar as big as your hat.
But guess they hain't got no more fire in
their jaws than the foothills tarantuly car
ries Tarantulies is thick as flies out thar
,mong the foothills. When the nights is warm
they sally out on the promenade so numerous
that We have to watch out OF yell step on
some of 'em and hurt 'em. Many fine
mornin' I've got up and seen tarantuly hair
enough on the ground to temper square rod
o. mortar It's hair they shed in free fights
tween themselves durin' the night. You
might walk over the adobe grounds of the
foothills for a month and wouldn't notice ye
was waikiki over tarantuly settlement.
Maybe ye'd see what ye thought was dead
leaf or piece O. dirt make a sudden flip kind
of movement but the chances is that ye'd
think it was OWN to the wind a stirrin'
somethin OF other on the ground. I'll bet
that's what ye'd think. But it wouldn't be
the wind a stirrin' nothin'. It'd be the trap
door of a tarantuly's den closin shet. A good
many folksd think, when they first see
tarantuly's den, that it's a dice box some
body's dropped. I'll bet you'd think so yer
self, now. Tarantulys dens looks a powerful
lot like dice boxes, but don't ye never go and
pick one up, thinkin' yer found little curl
osity, Or yell see that yer found Curl
osity biggern heap, and maybe there won't
be whisky enough in yer flask to out pizen
the pizen the tarantuly has socked into ye.
But when ye see what ye might think was
the wind stirrin' leaf or somethin', thatH
be a tarantuly shettin' his trap door. He's
been a-peeking out at ye, and, not ikin' yer
cut, has shet himself in, and ye can bet he's
holdin' the door, too. That door is fitted on
to the den by hinge on one side. It's made
out O. leaves and sticks and dirt, which is
glued together with some patent cement the
tarantuly makes himself.
SIT hain't no sign that the tarantuly is to
home when his doors shet, for he always shets
it when he goes out on the war path or on the
mash Didn't know the tarantuly was a great
masher, did ye? Cert'nly ye didn't. Why,
he's regular dude on the mash. He'll stand
on the corners by the hour, strokin' down his
whiskers with some of his paws-and a tar
antuly is close on to all whiskers and paws
and watchin' out for lady tarantulies. When
one comes along toward whar he stands, he'll
pull his chin whisker and strike posish and
kinder skin his eye sideways at Miss Taran-
tuly as she promenades up his way. If she
passes close enough to him he'll shoot out one
of his long forelegs at her and give it little
twitch, and draw it back quick, just as if he
war firtin' with her and sayin', 'Oh, you
Wouldn't hardly believe that, would ye?
preachin' I've heard. But it's when the ta-
rantuly of the adobe ground foothills comes
home that he's great. He comes home with
a rush. He sails up on the dead run, and be-
fore We can begin to see how he does it he
throws that door O. his'n open and is inside O.
his shebang with the door shet and locked
quicker'n the brown lizard er the foothills
can shake off its tail. Tharl Thars some
thin, too, that helps to drive augwee off, out
thar mong the foothills.
A LIZARD TALE.
''You wouldn't believe that there's lizard
out thar that's built so that it can flip its tail
off as easy as you can snap yer fingers, and
then set right in and grow another inside of a
week, would yea Hardly, ye wouldn't But
that's the kind of a lizard that sprouts out
thar And the fun Of it is that there hain't
nothin' that wiggles that the adobe ground
tarantuly dotes on more'n he does on that
brown lizard. He'll walk ten mile any time
O. day or night to sock his jaws into one of
'em And yit it hain't more'n once in hum
dred times that he can make his meal on one
''Them lizards is swift on their feet, but the
tarantuly is swifter, and when he gifts on the
trail of lizard he's sure to haul up with it.
But he always grabs for its tail Quicker'n
I'LL Selu SUCttl SA Oleel1hOu
that twitch O. his'n and the tail comes off and
the lizard goes right on. Thur never was
full grown foothills tarantuly that hain't had
a lizard trot away from him and leave moth
in but it's tail in his mouth more'n hundred
times, and yit every time it's done the
tarantulys eyes hangs clear out on hi swhis-
kers, he's so took back, and he can't never
seem to understand jest the how of it. Seems
O little tough, don't it? 1t does that, but any
body that's ever been out to the Sierra foot
hills IL know that Pm givin' it to ye straight
The tarantuly bolts the tail, all the same, as
soon as he gifts over his surprise, and then
ferages around fer another lizard to tackle
Eyes, sirl The tarantulies goes good ways
toward cheerin' up Teller and livenin' up the
landscape out thar; and, takin' them and the
rattlesnakes and the Injins, a Teller ought to
be able to content himself and not git lone
some and down in the mouth, now, had hes
But somehow I got the blues. 1 couldn't
shake 'em off, Then of a sudden I know'd
what was ailin' me, and packed right up
Now, bet you don't know what allied me-
You don't know what Pm headed fer Ber-
muddy and Nassau fers Course ye don't Jest
fer the scorpions and the centipedes. I'm
dead gone homesick over 'em, and that's all
that ails me!"-New York Sun.
Tho Photographers Have Done 1t.