Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1889-12-21
a,1E poTEs ON SPIDERS.
A Queer Old Pennsylvania Woman VIII
Keeps n RoomfuI of Them.

Queer Old Pennsylvania Woman Who
Keeps n Roomful of Them.
A childless old couple live on lone
ly cross road four miles southeast of
Stoddardsville She is a great hand
for pet fowls and animals, but the
strangest 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
q small bedroom for the insects to
make their webs in, and from that day
to this not single web has been torn
from 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 room is partially dark
ened by layer after layer of network
over the panes. 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. Ii
the spiders happen to get into snarl
while she is in the room she pokes
them around with a knitting needle,
gives them a good scolding and ma kes
them scamper into their respective
homes of film. She calls them her
straddlebugs. There are several varl-
cites, and they are of various sizes and
shades of color Whenever the old
lady enters the room and calls out to
the insects in her squeaky voice. they
dart from their hiding places and
crawl out on the center of the webs.
If any of them are slow in appearing
she FUCKERS up her lips and buzzes
like bee or fly, and they hasten out
to search for prey.
AS soon as the visitor has won the
old woman's good opinion, she be-
comes loquacious candid and confiden-
tial Then she will say that the win
dow in the SPIDERS headquarters has
not been raised for more than twenty
years, for opening it would ruin a lot
of webs and after that she will tell
how she gets rid of flies during sum
mer time She drives the flies from
the other rooms into the little bed
room and closes the door, and then,
she says, she has jolly fun in staying
in the room and seeing the horde OF
spiders hop out of their holes, and
catch, torment and devour the inn
prisoned flies. Once in a while bee
or wasp gets into the room and buzz
es around until it tumbles into web,
and it amuses her to see how cunning
ly one of her spider pets will get
around a wasp without being touched
by it's singer
Built out from one of the curves of
the room like the shelf of bracket
there is strong web toward which the
old woman calls the visitors atten
ton. A big black spider comes totter
ing out of its hiding place at the old
lady's command, and stops in the cen
ter of its web. She touches it with
the end of knitting needle, and it
crawls around on the horizontal web
for while, and then goes lazily out
of sight The old woman has routed
the spider out in order to let the visi
tor see it before she begins to relate
its interesting tactics around monster
wasp one day last summer.
When she first saw the wasp it was
lying on its back in the big black
spiders web. Its wings were fast, and
it was working it's legs, moving its
head and running out its singer in its
efforts to free itself. The spider was
sitting at a safe distance from the
wasp's dangerous tail, and for five
minutes, the old lady said, it just sat
there and calculated how it 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 good
while, it suddenly arose on its very
tiptoes, marched right up to the
wasp's rear, and slowly straddled over
the dangerous weapon, keeping its
body so high that the singer couldnt
puncture it.
Still standing on its tiptoes directly
above the wasps middle, the spider
quickly and dexterously applied its
pinchers to the wasps throat for a
number of times, but the coat of mail
was so hard and SO tough that it was
unable to make any impression on it.
Then the spider straddled off, stood
aside, and contemplated the wasp
some more. Presently it proceeded to
walk round and round the wasp, be-
ing very careful not to come in con
tact with the wasps sharp end. After
the spider had made dozen circuits
around its victim, the wasp's feet and
legs were all tied up in a bunch. It
couldn't wiggle them any more, and
the spider again stepped to one side
and intently gazed upon the wasp for
three or four minutes. 1t seemed to
be satisfied with the way it had fasten
ed the wasp's legs, and the next thing
it did was to grab the wasp by the head
and back off with it to its hiding place
in the wall.-Scranton Pa.) Cor. New
York Sun.