Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-06-06
HARD WORLD FOR HE sPlpERs.
His Girl Treats Him Meaner Than a
DoQ,


AS general thing in the world be-
low us, II IS the male that has all the
fine clothes; but, with some excep.
lions, II is the female spider that
bosses the ranch This beautiful
milk.white spider with the crimson
trimmings has little runt of hus-
band that goes about in plain brown,
with dark markings, and he is lucky
to be alive, AS a rule, in spiderland
the males are understood. They
don't last long. 1t is kind of n hard
world for he-spiders, Imagine how 1t
would be II a mans wife were thir-
teen hundred times as big as he was
He would have to take all her impu-
dence and back-talk without a whim.
per. I'm glad I'm not a spider--at
least not u he-sp.der, When he goes
counting, his girl treats him meaner
than a dog.
But even the splderess with the
highest principles will finally sue.
cumb to the charms of some young
whiliit or other; but if he stays around
the place he has to understand dis
tinctly that he must keep out OF the
way. She's got Il lot of things on her
mind and she can't be bothered with
him. He knows what she means. So
he hops around. hangs to her when he
can, drops when he can, lodges when
he can; but you know what the up
shot of 1t always is, One day there
is a withered he-spider Skin hanging
in the web and the widow stops and
looks at it before she throws II out
She smacks her mouth. Well, says
she, and draws a long breath, he Ger.
tainly was good to me-
The jumping and running spiders
are really most interesting to watch
in Loves brief delirium Then they
put on their incest clothes and do all
sorts of cakewalks and dances for
each other, The icius has regular
assembly balls, the men dancing In
front of the women and showing of
their fancy steps. Every once in a
while there is scrimmage at the
lower end of the hall, and all the fell
lows skate down there, and you'd
think by the fuss that there was no
thing less than murder going on The
women wiring their hands and moan
Amt it awful? It's jist disgracefull
# I'd "a knowed II was goin' to be
like this Oo-ooh Did you see
Riley paste him them The young
fhftog Er cnr nn hat tho old
matrons fan themselves and cape and
talk about their rheumatism They
know that 1t is all got up to impress
them, and that nobody gets hurt.
"Phidipus morsitans is considered
about the best dancing species. and
when the male rigs out and goes
sparkling ii II a sight to sect His first
pair of legs is long. and he waves
them about and stretches them up in
front Of the lady. as much as TO say
Hail, great queen Sovereign Of my
heart They are white. plumy things,
and ought to captivate her the first
thing But she sulks and sometimes she
makes q dive for him, and he has TO
drop the Hail. great queenl' business
and take to the woods. But If he once
can get her to watch his dancing, her
heart is his. He stands up az high as
he can on his four right Legs and
crouches dowp as long as he can on
his -four lief. legs and circles about,
getting closer and closer to her. She
rushes at him. He retreats-he Is
coy Then he changes legs. He
stands as high as he can on his left
legs and crouches on his right set 1t
is when he Is going away from her
that the poor girl catches her breath
in ecstasy and literally stands on her
head After he has circled about
100 times, she exclaims: Take mel |
am yours - Harvey Sutherland In
Ainslee's