Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-02-05
WHAT a SPIDER DID,

But He Knew Nothing About 1t, and Went
on with His Spinning as Usual.
A prisoner in Holland was lying on
the wretched heap of straw in d corner
of his cell, which was the nearest ap-
proach to a bed that could be seen
there. The man, who was a French
man. had been imprisoned for talking
of liberty and equal rights to the sub
jects of the stakeholder of Holland,
and for months he had pinned in this dis
NAL prison.
He was not asleep now, but sat
propped UP on his elbow, intently
watching a black spider busy with his
web. When the prisoner, whose name
was Dis JOnval, first saw the spider at
work in that dark corner, he felt glad
of even SO insignificant and silent a
companion. He was quite interesting,
too, on longer acquaintance, and by
studying his habits the prisoner gained
a great deal of information. The spi-
der never appeared during bad weather,
and Dis Jonval was able to predict frost
at least a week before it came simply
by watching the spiders movements
and noting his own feelings. When the
spider kept securely housed, the French
man was almost sure to have a bad
headache.
Meanwhile the French general Piche-
CRU, with a large force, advanced sud
denly into Holland. But this did not
trouble the stakeholder, who could rely
upon his ''water-worlzs'' in all such
emergencies. He simply retired, and
nn oh in "a
center of the country, he adopted
against the invaders the old-tlme tao
tics that years before had baffled Span
ish Alva, and had cost a French kings
brother a splendid army. The word
was given, and the dikes were cut. A
fat country, the greater part of it be-
low the level of the sea, Pichegru found
in the Holland seas a far greater foe
than the Holland armies. The Dutch
land was all swamp. The French
man could not advance, could hardly
retreat The fate of AnjOu and his
gallant army seemed in store for him.
He had waited until the winter set in
before he had given the command for
the forward movement, for the willy
general had anticipated the tactics of
the stakeholder.
But the weather had suddenly shift
ed, until it was almost as mild as sum
mer. The next day no spider appeared,
and the Frenchman felt very lonely.
Three days passed without seeing him,
and Dis Jouval thought his head had
never ached SO before. He talked to the
taller when he brought in his meals
and found him more friendly than he
had expected. From him he heard of
the advance of Pichegru's army and the
trap laid for it's destruction.
''You see mynheer," added the man,
'Your countryman depended upon hard
water. If a frost had come, he GER
tainly would have taken the city; but
as it is, he will soon have to retreat to
Belgium"
A sudden light flashed upon Dis jon
val, and, thanks to the spider and his
headache, he began to see his way out
of prison. eff a frost had comer' 1t
was coming now! The army would be
saved, Utrecht would be taken, and he
He pleaded with the jailer as man
pleads for life and freedom, to bring
him pen, ink and paper, and smuggle
d hOGC III Il1il4 I'LL Jug IL Vic 1luS W Vic
French general, who would probably
exchange a Dutch prisoner for him
with the stakeholder; and finally the
man agreed to do his Grand
All that the note contained was
simple explanation about the spider
who had not appeared for three days,
and the writer's headache. He predicted
a hard frost within a week, and begged
Pichegru not to fall back.
The general knew Dis Jonval, and
resolved to wait week; and then there
came the hardest frost that Holland had
known for a hundred years. The wa
ters were bound with icy letters. The
French advanced triumphantly, Utrecht
fell, and the prisoner was released. But
the spider who had done it all knew
nothing about it, and went on spinning
as usuaL-Harper's Young People.