The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-09

brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers That is the reason spider silk cannot be developed and made marketa- ble 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 beauti- full color, almost as strong as that made by the silkworin. M. Bon of Languedoc manufactured articles of wearing ap- parel 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, ferocity and hate. He was the symbol of all that was cruel and loathsome and repulsivc. l thought God gave to the spider his hdeous physiognomy, his rows of gleam- ing eyes his bloated body trunks adher- ing together by small connection, as were the two bodies of the Siamese twins his many jointed, disproportionate legs which make it possible for him to travel in any direction he would without turn ing around; his poisons which are se- creted at the mandible tips and his can nibalistic tendencies which compel him to live hermit life, because God wanted every Olt lO luIll lIOli lhC SpiuCl III Nohi- plete disgust. But after I went on in my Investigations I found that even thls low, vile repulsive form of life as found in the spider is susceptible to the infiu- ence 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 cave, and the spiders took pity on him and covered the en- trance to the cave with perfect web There he lived for six long months, safe- ly protected from his would-be destroy CTS. That Is a mere legend But history is full of incidents where men have made pets out of spiders. When Pelisson was confined for many months in the Bastile, the famous French prison, his only com panion was a spider which he domesti- cated When Pelsson played on musi- cal instrument the spider would come regularly to eat flies out of his hand. It was written by Staveley that a certain Frenchman tanned over 500 different spiders which would come to him to be fed as a lot of chickens will run to the call of the farmers wife when she Is about to feed them Though the spiders seem to be cannibals, yet the natural love of a spider for her young Is very strong It Is like the love of the eagle for her nestlngs. She will fiercely bat tie for her eggs before they are matched. When the eggs are matched she will all low 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 be reached in the right way for God, it can be developed into a true, pure, spotless form of Christian life, even as the love of spider through the musical notes of a Pelisson can make this repulsive animal answer to the calls of love, ~~ set
 But there is still more wonderful fact about these spiders than any rave as yet mentioned. It is the most wonder full symbol of gospel restoration which is to be found in the spider reproducing one of its broken limbs injured in battle. It Is the gospel symbol whicH says: Though man has sinned seventy times seven-aye, though he may have sinned seven hundred times seven hundred and has seemed to smash all his earthly gos- pei usefulness forever-yet by the grace of God that sinner may be spiritually recreated and do valiant service for the Master before he dies
 
 of recreation in many ways. Wonderful is the spiders ability to fix a broken web. If on account of the rain falling stone snaps some of the threads and en- tangles them like a snarled mass of twine, the spider waits patiently until the storm is over and fair weather is at hand The spider cannot afford to waste any of her precious thread. but she all ways has enough thread to do her legiti- mate work. Like the mama in the will derness. there is always enough food for each day. but not enough 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. Wonder ful 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 a good many housewives do not know that it is important to keep herself clean as well as a clean home. With all her hideousness she Is as particular about her looks and as neat as kitten which is continually washing the fur with her tongue as she purs by the kitchen stove. but more wonderful than all is the spiders ability to reproduce broken member of her body. If one of her legs is snapped off in battle she immediately