Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-04-23
DIANA'S SPIDER.

OF Mob Hills youthful matrons. 1t
meets through the winter with aggra-
waited activity during Lent, at houses of
| the membe- S its motto, First f1annels
to the INDECENT" its symbol, thimble
crossed by a pair of scissors argent
on background Of flannel gulcs sur
mounted by a spool of thread couchant
The demure maid who serves bouil-
Ion, tea and chocolate to the society s
! fair Dorcases hears tales from every
quarter of the globe-of life i'll the sum-
mer colonies along the New England
coast, Of yachting cruises through Nor
wegian fiords in the yellow wake of the
midnight sun, Of walking tours in the
Landes and camping trips I'D the north
/ woods She knows her planet better
than many whose orbits are less cir
cumscribed and can safely be relied up
on for information regarding elk in Ore
gon or salmon in the Columbia, the
proper time to hunt the grizzly i'll AS
siniboia and the relative merits of the
Andalusian donkey and his twin broth
er, the Rocky mountain burro
After serving the Bradamante of the
/ society with cup Of tea and caviare
sandwich, she retires to dusky corner
of the room, refills the lamp under the
brazen kettle and rcarrangcs the Dres-
den cups and saucers and the jewel
mounted spoons upon the teakwood Ia
BILE.
When the fluffy haired Mrs Jack,
the society's president and the hostess
of the occasion, begins her story, there
is lull III the talk, which the wind
fills in with neatly executed arpeggio.
Mrs. Jacks mouth droops in wistful
curves, and beside her eyes an infants
would seem sophisticated
Jack says I must go with him to
Africa, but shall never dare to look a
tiger in the face after my experience on
the Big Muddy" "
Mrs. Jacks adventures have familiar
lied the society with Tin Cup, Big Bug,
Bumblebee and Medicine Hat. But the
/ Big Muddy offers delightful fields for
speculation, for it has not yet found
place ON any map, and its only high
roads are the half obliterated trails left
!
parted for new hunting grounds
You remember the bighorn shot
after Jack and the guides had tracked
him for ten days over the Rattlesnake
range in Wyoming?" Mrs Jack contin-
ues plaintively.
Tho society remembers the big-horn
as well as the giant shark in the Mexi-
~.
namon bear with amber eyes picked off
by Mrs Jack $ rifle in the San Francis
quito mountains. The idea Of her not
daring to look a tiger in the face under
any circumstances taxes the credulity Of
the society. Has she ever known fear,
ever quailed before beast, bird or fish
this modern Artemis?
When she accompanies her husband
on his hunting expedition, she wears the
woods autumn livery-leaf brown and
scarlet-an abbreviated skirt and leg
gings Of brown corduroy, scarlet leath-
er shirt with elk's teeth for buttons, IA
hat festooned with trout and salmon
flies and shining leaders. "A cartridge
belt girdles her slender waist, with its
depending revolver and hunting knife.
1t is remarkable that Mrs. Jack has
escaped the cinnamon's embrace, and
bruin might well be pardoned such an
indiscretion
Jack has always said that my phys
ical courage first attracted him. But |
had neverN confessed to him that there
was one test to which l should be un-
equal. 1t came on the Big Muddy. Lis
ten:
''We We're camped i'll the quaking as
pen. Snow had fallen, and the elk We're
coming down. You could hear them
bungling Oh every side just before dawn.
1t is easy to stop band Of elk rs they
pass near your camp by initiating their
call upon an empty cartridge shell.
have learned the trick, and Jack had
no Hesitation in permitting me to choose
my own trail one morning and follow
ing it alone afoot, he and the guides
scattering in other directions. The taste
Of the camp coffee was still upon my
lips my cheeks tingled with the frosty
breath of the morning air as kept eau
tiously to the windward Of the elk,
whose trumpetlng stirred me like mar
tial music.
"A stray bear track showed here and
there in the Fl sh snow But was aft
er elk A hundred miles lay between
our camp and the nearest settlement.
All, the solitude Of those wcodsr"
Mrs. Jack leans back in her chair and
sighs reminiscently as she gazes into
the blazing hearth fire, a charming pic
ture in her house gown of old blue,
frightened with CLEANS Of Persian EN-
broidery, interviewer with uncut jewels
II had gone three miles, perhaps
four, over fallen spruce up the steep
side Of rugged mountain, wher crash
across my trail came band of elk,
headed by a magnificent bull
"Crouching behind bow rider, wait
ed have waited 50 often for big game,
from Alaska to the gulf Jack says l
have seen more than l,c can ever hope
to see if he lives to be 100 My hand