Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-06-13


and also raises mushrooms. and Tathel
envy him the returns from MS squads
that retail al. 60 cents pair this time
Of the year. But few of them know
OF the spider-raiSing Industry which
makes substantial parts of Pierre's
business. 1t is not TO the old mans IN
tereSt to have this advertised, and he
seldom takes 4 caller into the TWO
rooms of his dwelling where his multi.
legged pets cover the walls anu weave
their gossamer patterns everywhere.
! 1t was a bit Shuddering for the Wis
! itor, who had been brought I'D ia
! smash a spider with a slipper. OF
whatever came handieSt. to be brought
into a 1oom where there were spiders
to the rear of him, myriads of spiders
on every hand. The walls We're COW
cred with wire squares from six inches
TO foot across, like magnified Sec
tons of the wire fence used to incl JSe
poultry yards. Behind these wire
screens the walls had been covered
with rough planking. There We're
cracks between the boards. apparently
beaten surfaces were dotted with knot
holes and spEntered crevices. Long
tables running the length Of the room
were covered with small wire frames,
wooden boxes, and glass jars. All of
these wires in the room We're covered
OVERLY patterns of lace tracery, in the
geometrical outlines fashioned by the
a,.tiS in Inv 1o
Gus instinct which has made them
weave their filmy snares in the same
fashion since the world began. The
sunlight Streamed through the open
door and the room seemed hung with
curtains of elfln-woven lace-work. The
king of this fairy palace raped his
stubby pipe against the door, and the
webs were dotted with black spots as
the spiders Scampered from their re-
treats in the wall cracks and a score
of Misunderstanding pets as big as
lf-dollars emerged from their cram
MES on the table and clustered against
their glass roofing.
''They think l feed them now said
Pierre, but l fool them for you. They
have brains, these little creatures. All
they are cunning! After you see them
and l tell you of them you will never
crush them more. You will say: The
spider can teach me something. | will
watch him. He is a diplomat, an
architect, a mathema tician. His knowl-
edge is worth having All, there is
fine fellow running on your heck.
Don't knock him off. He will not bite
you He is harmless. He wishes to
give you bon jour and make your &C.
uuaintance You wish to know of the
business first? That is like you people
money first, then the sentiment
There are 1000 spiders in this room,
all raising families and ninding their
own business. Is not that a teaching
to the world and q lesson already!
You see, in these frames ] breed my
pets, and when the infants are big
enough to run about take them in the
next room. where they can set mp for
themselves. 1t is from there l sell
most They are great cannibals, my
pets: they eat their children and the
children eat each other. So | must get
a good price COR those that survive
their childhood
at is not all kinds of spiders that
make webs There are those that live
in holes in the ground and make for
themselves trap doors, and some make
soft nests in cracks, while others spin
small homes In the grass or in the
room corner. No, indeed: L nave
sought out kinds that weave them
selves fine large webs of lines and cir
cles They only look artistic in tile
wine cellar or on the bouteille. They
are the selected ones. They are three
families, the names of them the spira
vulgaris. the zilla, and the nephila
plumipes. which the entOmOlOglstS Will
tell you are the grand web-spinners of
the spider world.
''But what money is there in it, you
ask Mon Dieu, money, money--al-
ways money. /, who love my pets, to
be always thinking of what they sell
for! | will tell you now, and then you
will talk no more Of money. and can
show you something. A customer
comes 10 ME. He is a wine merchant
from New York CT Philadelphia, or
perhaps he writes. He says that be
has lust stocked cellar with five-year-
old port, or Burgundy, or something
else. The bottles have been brushed
clean in shipping. They looA new end
common. They will net sell for old
wine He has attached to them labels
of twenty, thirty, or forty years ago,
some year of a grand vintage. He tells
me so many hundred bottles. l know
how many of my pets will soon cover
his cellar in cobwebs of the finest old
kind. | put them in little, small paper
boxes, a pair in a box. ship them in
a crate, with many holes for air.
Maybe / send two, three, four hundred
spiders. For them / ask half franc
each. SO for every hundred.
I'm two months you would think his
cellar was not disturbed for the last
ten years 1t has cost him $40 Of 500
maybe. but he may sell the wine for
81 .OOO-yes, more than that-above
what they had brought without my
pets had dressed the bottles in the
robes of long ago. The merchant takes
the parvenu and the nOuveau richie,
who are easy to fool and play with.
He leads them down into the dark cell
lar. By the light of the candle the
customer sees the rows of bottles.
Their necks are deep in dust. 1t is
EASY to blow over them dust. The
cohwehs drane them: they stretch from