Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-04-24
THE CRAFTY SPIDER.
Some Strange Stories About an
Ugiy-LoolEing Animal
Spiders That Came Down from Their Webs
to Listen to . Violinist-The Weather
PrOphesying Power Of the Queer
ThingS-Popular Superstitions.

ThingSPopular superstitions.
Spiders are the most curious and interest
ing Of the small animals, SAYS the Pitts
burgh Dispatch It's ingenuity, industry,
patience, svariciousness and cunning have
furnished texts for scores of essays and
honilies, while naturalists have written
volumes descriptive Of its habits and Pc
culiarities. Its body has been used for
medicine, and even for food, and numerous
unsuccessful attempts have been made to
turn its industry to account in the manu-
facture Of silk fabrics from its web. It is
very knowing creature and not particularly
friendly towards man. Yet cases are on
record of ugly spiders that were trained
and domesticated until they would come at
their masters call and take food from his
hands.
Spiders are said 10 be peculiarly sus-
ceptible to the charms Of music. It is re-
lated of a French prisoner Of war who was
allowed to play upon the lutte during his
confinement m the Bastile that he was
much astonished, after having had his in
strument for few days, to see the spiders
descend from their webs and gather around
him in acircle rs he was playing. A number
of mice also came out Of their holes to enjoy
the music. When he ceased to play tho
20 their nests, but ever afterwards, while
engaged in Willing away the tedious hours
by music, he had the same curious audience
Moreover, the number Of mice and spiders
that came to gaze and listen grew greater
each day, until at last he begged cat of his
jailer, kept it in q cage and amused himself
by letting it loose whenever he wished to
create panic among his strange COM
panions.
Another Frenchman tells of spiders that
came down from their webs and gathered
around a skillful violinist who was practic-
ing alone in his room. Many other instances
are cited by various writers to prove that
these creatures are fond Of music.
As weather prophet, the spider is re-
garded by many as the superior of Virgins,
or even the grounding. If the day Is to be
windy or rainy they creep out of their holes
and shorten the filaments on which their
webs are suspended, drawing them up
tightly. When they are indolent good
weather may be expected; when ever they
are unusually active look out for storm.
1t is thought to be unlucky to kill spider,
but to have one crawl over your clothes is a
sure sign of coming good fortune-t5e
general superstition being that the person
so favored will soon receive a sum of
money. If a spider approaches you, either
by descending from the ceiling or crawling
toward you, it is sign of good luck; but if
the creature runs the other way some evil
is about to befaIl you. Killing a spider
that crosses your path will bring bad luck,
and if you are to kill one at all never on any
account do so in your house. Should a
spider drop from tree directly in front of
you before night you will be visited by a
dear friend. In some parts of England
there is a common belief that spiders will
not hang their webs on an Irish oak because
all sorts of vermin were banished from
every thing Irish by st. Patrick's decree.
The strength of the spider is 80 great that
it should entitle him to rank as Sampson
of the smaller ANIMALS. An eminent legal
gentleman of New York State related, many
years ago, curious story Of what he him.
self had witnessed. A striped snake that
was fully nine inches long was discovered
suspended alive in SPIDERS web in a wine
cellar. The web hung between two shelves
two feet apart in such position that the
snake could not possibly have fallen into it.
Three spiders, each smaller than fly, were
found feasting on the body Of the still living
reptile. On examination of the snake by
means Of magnifying glass it was seen
that its mouth was firmly tied up by great
number of threads so tightly that it could
not run out its tongue. The tail was tied in
knot, leaving small loop through which q
cord was fastened. A little above the tail
was noticed a small round ball, which upon
inspection proved to be a small green fly.
The fly had served as a windlass to haul the
snake up, the cords being wound around it.
Many threads were fastened to the cord
above and to the ball containing the fly to
keep it from unwinding and letting the
snake fall. The snake had evidently been
caught mapping and strung up by his in
genious little captors before he had time to
make a struggle for freedom.
Probably every person who has spent q
summer in the country has been surprised,
while talking q morning walk, to note
the immense number Of gossamer-like webs,
glistening with dew, that have been spread
upon trees, shrubs, grass, fences and
hedges during the preceding night.
There is q common belief, by no means
confined to the ignorant, that those webs
fall from the sky in showers; but wherever
they come from, there is little doubt they
are woven by the gossamer spider. It was
an ancient notion that the gossamer was
made by dew that had burned in the SUM-
and one learned man Of olden time even
wen. so far as to advance the theory that it
was not UNLIKELY that the white clouds, so
frequent La summer, were Of the same ma
terial.
Certain kind OF spiders, according to the
travellers, are regarded as dainty food by
the natives Of Australia and by certain Afri-
can tribes. The use Of spider and spiders
webs as remedy for fevers and other dis
eases is by no means confined to savages.
In some parts Of this country it is still held
that pills compounded of spider webs are
certain cure for the ague, and the round
bodies of spiders themselves, minus the
legs, have been administered for the same
complaint Spiders confined in a goose
quill or sewn up in a rag and worn about
the neck were long believed to be an infal-
hble preventive of the ague. The Indians,
it is said, have great faith in the efficacy of
the spiders web for curing this disease.