The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-03-28
SPIDERS.
BY @ l.. ALLEN.

%A~ K@@
"a link in the great chain of purpose.
We were asked: what are its usesf'
We could not answer, as the5 Sc have
not been as we'll defined as have those
Of many other forms in life. Some
times we can answer a question very
satisfactorily by asking another. We
did In this case by asking what some
ann of men we're made for. Then
we proceeded to say in some countries
the spider is considered q delicate NOR
sell Of food and is eagerly sought. A
celebrated French lady, Maria Schurr-
man, could not resist the temptation OF
eating q spider whenever she met one
in her walks. She said they tasted
like nuts and justified this taste by
saying che was born under Scorpion.
It is q noted fact that the astronomer
Lalande was equally fond Of this often
sive morsel.
We proceed, and say, some authori-
ties have asserted, and as fully believe
il, that spiders have sympathies be
yond their own race. They are isolated
from us far less than the true insects.
They live in u houses, have an inter
est in knowing Us and seem to observe
US. They pay great attention to voice
and sounds and have q marvellous per
ception of them.
Much has been said about the must
cal spiders of PalIisson. Another and
less known anecdote if not less strik
ing: Berthome, the musical prodigy,
llustrious in 1900, owed his as5onish
ing successes to the savage confiue-
ment in which he was forced to work.
At eight he astounded and stupeied
his hearers by his mastery Of the VIC,
lin. In his perpetual solitude he had q
comrade whom no one suspected, a
spider. 1t was lodged at first in a
quiet corner, but it gave itself license
to advance from the corner to the
music stand, from the music stand to
the child, even, climbing upon the arm
which held the bow. There, a palpitat-
ing and breathless amateur, it paused
and listened. It was al audience in
itself. The artist needed nothing more
to fill him with inspiration and double
his energy. An appreciative audience
in this lonely spider was an active
stimulant.
Unfortunately, the child had a step
mother, who, n day, introducing an
amateur into the sanctuary, saw the
sensible animal at its post. A blow
from her slipper annihilated the audi
tory. The child fell %sWooning to the
ground, was i'll for three months and
died-heartbroken.
The spider is G. solitary-living insect.
The female soon eats her spouse, then
dWells alone faithful to her mission,
which is to a a numerous family
and no mother is more unselish, more
painstaking in her preparations, or
more devoted to her offspring, than
Jul mother spider. 1t not only posses
ses its nest, its ambush, it's temporary
hunting station; it has Cor, at least,
some of the species have a regular
house, a house Of a very complex de
scription; a vestibule and a mode of
egress in the rear, and, finally, a door
which is a triumph Of art, for it closes
Of itself, falling back. by it's own
weight.
The door, 1t is this which is wanting
in the grand cities of the bees and the
ante; these industrial republics have
never attained to so lofty a eli max,
their mechanical attachments being of
an inferior order, notwithstanding
their great skill and thoughtful in
dustry.
In the Brazilian forests a little spider
has its a or place Of refuge sus.
pended exactly in the center of its web,
and thither it hurries at the slightest
approach Of danger, and has no sooner
entered than the door suddenly closes
behind it with q spring.
MIchelet, to whom the insects Of all
denominations have confided their
secrets, says, in speaking OF the various
nests Of spiders: Their nests are fire.
quently masterpieces. At Iuterlachen,
IN Switzerland, I have admired their
long, soft tubes, warm 10 the interior
and we'll lined, externally disguised
wiz skill by an artistic pell nell OF
small bits Of Leaf, tiny twigs and frag.
ments OF gray plaster, so as to melt
perfectly into the color of the wall sup
porting them. BIT this was nothing
in comparison with a work of art which
have here at F~Ontainbleau.