Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-06-07

Il LID Ih011N
crs captured in war, so spiders will not
only eat spiders OF other families. but
they Will also eat their own brothers
and sisters and fathers and mothers
That Is the reason spider silk cannot
be developed and made marketable
like the threads of the silkworms.
Many years ago the Royal academy
OF France tried to develop the spider
silk industry. The silk thread with
which the spider surrounds her eggs
is OF beautiful color, almost as strong
as that made by the silkworm. NJ.
Bon OF Languedoc manufactured arti-
cles of wearing apparel out of the
spiders web. But the industry had to
be abandoned because the spiders
would destroy one another until every
one OF them except the biggest and
the strongest of them had been slain In
their cells. Thus the spider used to be
TO me the symbol of ingratitude, feroc-
lily and hate. He was the symbol of
all that was cruel and loathsome and
repulsive. 1 thought God gave to the
spider his hideOus physiognomy. his
rows of cleaning eyes, his bloated
body trunks adhering together by a
small connection, as were the two
bodies OF the Siamese twins; his many
jointed, disproportionate legs, which
make Ii possible for him to travel in
any direction he would without turn
ing around; his poisons which are Sc
creted at the mandible tips and his
cannibalistic tendencies which compel
him to live hermit life, because God
wanted every one to turn from the
spider in complete disgust. But after
| went on in my Investigations 1 found
that even this low, vile, repulsive form
of life as found in the spider is sus-
ceptbie to the influence of love.
An Ancient Tradition.
An ancient tradition states that when
st. Felix of Nolan was being pursued
by the pagans who wished to put him
to death he fled into a cave. and the
spiders took pity on him and covered
the entrance of the cave with a per-
feet web. There he lived for six long
months, safely protected from his
would be destrOyers. That Is q mere
legend. But history is full of incl
dents where men have made pets out
of spiders. When Poisson was con-
fined for many months I'm the Bastille.
the famous French prison, his only
companion was a spider which he do
mesticated. When Poisson PLAYED on
musical instrument the spider would
come regularly to eat flies out of his
hand. 1t was written by Staveley that
certain Frenchman tanned over 500
different spiders. which would come TO
him TO be fed Us Il lot Of chickens will
run TO the call OF the farmers wife
when she is about 10 feed them.
Though the spiders seem TO be canni-
balls, yet the natural love of a spider
for her young is very strong. 1t is
like the love of the eagle for her
nestlings. She will fierceIy battle for
her eggs before they are Matched.
When the eggs are Matched. she will
allow the young spiders TO climb upon
her back. and she will carry them for
long distances Thus by the lesson Of
the spider we can assert that even in
the most depraved and ferocious and
cruel and bitter and sinful forms OF
human life there lies somewhere in
the heart the germ seeds OF love. If
this crude form of love can only he
reached in the right way for Cod. IL
can be developed into a true, pure,
spotless form of Christian life. even
as the love OF Il spider through the
musical notes OF Poisson can make
this repulsivc animal answer TO the
calls OF love.
But there Is still 4 more wonderful
fact about these spiders than any |
have as yet mentioned. 1t Is the
nost wonderful symbol OF gospel
restoration which Is TO be found in the
spider reproducing one of its broken
limbs injured I'm battle 1t is the Cos
pei symbol which says. Though Il man
has sinned seventy times seven-aye.
though he may have sinned seven hun
dred times seven hundred and has
seemed TO smash all his earthly gospel
usefulness forever-yet by the grace of
God that sinner may be spiritually re-
created and do valiant service for the
Master before he dies"
A More Wonderful Fact.
Now, a spider has Il marvellous power
OF recreation in many ways. Wonder
ful Is the spiders ability TO fix n bro
ken web. IL on account of the rain n
railing stone snaps some Of the threads
and entangles them like a snarled mass
or Irvine. the spider waits patiently
until the storm Is over and fair wealth
err Is at hand. The spider cannot af.
ford to waste any OF her precious
thread. but she always has enough
thread to do her legitimate work. Like
the mamma In the wilderness, there IS
always enough food for each day, but
not enough food for two days in the
one gathering, so as soon as the clear
weather comes the spider gets to work
TO repair the broken web, and one of
the best signs of clear weather is the
activity OF the spider at work. Won
derful also is the cleanliness OF the
spider. When the winds sweep the
dust In great clouds over her web at
once she goes TO house cleaning. The
spider knows what q good MANY houSe-