Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1896-05-30
DIANA'S SPIDER.

The Band, Gussct and Seam is So
ciety recruited from an exclusive circle
of Mob Hills youthful matrons. 1t
meets through the winter, with aggra-
waited activity daring Lent, at houses of
the membe s. its motto, First fiannels
to the indigcnt;" its symbol, thimble
crossed by IL pair of scissors argent
on background of flannel gules sur
mounted by spool of thread couchant.
The demure maid who serves bouil-
Ion, tea and chocolate to the society's
fair Decreases hears tales from every
quarter Of The globe--of life in 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 in 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 in 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 Il cup of tea and a caviare
sandwich, she retircs to dusky corner
of the room, refills the lamp under the
brazen kettle and rearrangcs the Dres
den cups and saucers and the jewel
mounted spoons upon the teakwood ta-
BILE.
When the fluffy haired Mrs. Jack,
the socioty's president and the hostess
of the occasion. begins her story, there
is a lull in the talk, which the wind
fills in with neatly executed arpeggio
Mrs. Jacks mouth droops III wistful
curves, aud beside her eyes an infants
would seem sophisticated
"Jack says | must go with him to
Africa, but shall never dare to look Il
tiger in the face after my experience on
the Big Muddy"
Mrs. Jack IS 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 a
place on any map, and its only high
roads are the half obliterated trails left
by tho Utcs when they unwillingly de-
parted for new hunting grounds.
You remember the bighcru / shot
after Jack and the guides had tracked
him for ten days over the Rattlesnake
range in Wyoming?" Mrs. Jack contin-
ues plaintivcly.
The society remembers the big-horn
as well as the giant shark i'll the Mcxi
can gulf, the mountain lion and the Gin
namon bear with amber eyes picked off
by Mrs. jack rifle in the San Francis
quito mountains. The idea Of her not
daring to lcok 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, a scarlet leath-
er shirt with clk's teeth for buttons, a
hat festooned with trout and salmon
flies and shining leaders. A cartridge
belt girdlcs her slender waist, with its
depending revolver and hunting knife.
1t is remarkable that Mrs Jack has
escaped the cinnamon embrace, and
bruin might we'll be pardoned such an
indiscretion.
Jack has always said that my phys
ical courage first attracted him. But
had never confessed to him that there
was one test to which should be un-
equal 1t came on the Big Muddy. Lis
ten:
1--WE We're camped in the quaking as
pen. Snow had fallen, and the elk were
coming down. You could hear them
bungling Oh every side just before dawn.
1t is easy to stop band of elk as they
pass near your camp by initiating their
call upon an empty cartridge shell. I
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 trumpeting stirred me like mar
tial music
"a stray bear track showed here and
there in the fresh SNOW. But was aft
or elk. A hundred miles lay between
our camp and the nearest settlement.
All, the solitude of those woods"
Mrs. Jack leans back in her chair and
sighs reminiscently as she gazes into
the blazing hearth fire, Il charming pic
ture in her house gown of old blue,
frightened with CLEANS of Persian em-
broidery, interviewer with uncut jewels.
II had gone three miles, perhaps
four, over fallen spruce up the steep
side Of IL rugged mountain, when crash