The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-09
DADDY LoNGLEGs.
How lie ImprcsSes Those Who Have
studied Him.

studied Him.
From the Chicago Record.
"Tentiug tonight and every other night
through a whole summer in these north
woods OF Wisconsin has its joys and its
mosquitoes, but for one abiding vehicle for
the infection of an abject. silent misery.
the 'sranddaddy longlegs" of omuipresent
personality burles the deerhy and the mos
quito in human forgetfulness.
1 have never seen the granddaddy long
legs classed. From close observation l
should say that fortunately he is In a class
all by himself. Nature seems to have been
in a funny mood when his architecture
| was designed. He resembles nothing so
much as wart, animated and stalking
away aimlessly on eight horsechair legs
! of unbelievable length in proportion TO his
body Measured across the chest a fun
! grown specimen is perhaps one-eighth of
an inch in diameter; across the legs he
may be two inches or more.
/ have said that he has eight legs. To be
more exact he should have that many, for
very few camp specimens do They wear
| anywhere from three to the maximum
complement. but In the matter Of ce.erity
! in getting into anything that is uncovered
| the three-leggers are not handicapped by
Z
a wet, inanmate wlsp, the three-legged
victim of the camp milk pitcher is always
! five legs less Objectionable than is the nor
NAL specimen.
The breaking, ueVer-wedrug. soul
| maddening thing about the Srauddad dY-
| long-lcg is his good-natured 1-ddn't-gO-to-
| do-it air. Left TO himself. nature never
made anything half so harmless Set
| down in a little woodland world OF preda-
tory things. he seems designed neither 70
eat nor TO be eaten. His sole desire seems
! 10 discover camp site, there to take
| up daylight position just under the ridge
pole of a sleeping tent. head down. at the
angle of the roofs pitch Not all of them
can get there, and for this reason most
camp liquids intended for beverages are
| strained before using.
One cardinal popularity of the grand
daddy long-legs IS the fact that, meet him
where YOU Will he never seems 10 be go
| ing anywhere save into danger. Take
/ stick ana thump on the ground two feet
| behind him and he'll turn and make for
| you nine times out of ten. Just about the
time that YOU should mash him into a
villainously scented pulp, he makes up
his mind that he would rather perish in
the butter wheeling and ambhng away in
his vaudeville Righteousness.
BY nature he is an aarmist. He gets
| scared at nothing and runs wildly into i'm
minent danger. Find one on the floor of
| 9OhA tttlN anu NY " SNtNtf nun otL III
gentle fashion. He will run back into the
! broom twice as fast as you can whisk
him toward the door. The grauddaddy
lonslegs may have his mission in nature,
but if IL be as a camp nuisance he works
overtime. You can't lose him. He's like
an ovcrgrown idiot at a picnic. Pick UP
a stick Of firewood and a pair of them are
likely 70 lope up your arm, cross over to
| the off side Of your face and drOp into
something that is cooking on the fire. Lie
down in the grass. and they race across
your face in deprecating way tremulous
in their temerity.
I have known the "sranddaddv" i'm his
casual individualism for good many
years. once upon a time. in search for
stray COW in boyhood days. i, was
/ stroke of fortune TO find him stand ng
| along the hazel bushes of a wooded pas
ture. For it was popular superstition
that to pin one of his legs 10 the palm Of
the hand, using forefinger of the o.h.r
! 'sranddaddy' would point in the ditecti ion
Of the stray.
"Granddaddyi Grauddady!
Which way are the cowsg'
was the prescribed formula for the oues-
ton. ~ which grauddady would lift a
dong. HAIRY leg and point sagely ana 81
| lently. No boy ever doubted The W sdom
of the creature. He would go In that di-
rection, aud if he found the COW grand
daddy" got the credit; if the cow wasn't
there, why she was four days travel in
that diroction-that was ALL
His movements are cratic He canno,
walk in a straight line to save his | re-
There is an elaborate physical efforl
about his gait, as # an of a sudden he re-
membered an appointment nine IN les
away and had only six minutes in which
to make H. In this he IS aggravating
enough, considering how ne sticks 10 camp,
but in mis- very harmless redundancy in
nature he is maddening. He never oTends
Intentionally. In his woodland world he
grass spider lies in wait for The fly; tie
frog Dounces upon the fattened spider; I
intent upon. the thick, deep-shoulderel
back bass. net the frog, while the mos
quito and the deerfy pierce me with en-
Venomed stiugs.
But through it all and in and around this
little wilderness of preying things. the
granddaddy Ionglougs shambes in dcd der
ing innocuousness. IL he were equippe
as are the deerhy and the mosquito, intent
upon feeding off me. l should respect him.
but in his gentle sarb of amiab.e serious
ness. hanging about me like poor r1ia-
ton out of job, l have grown 10 hate
him.