Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1918-05-23
CHAPTER !.
A EIv in n Web.

how some incident, seemingly trivial
III itself, may take position as the
basal note OF train of subsequent
happenings? And from that initial
circumstance other things follow in a
gradually ascending scale like notes
on musical stave until the grand,
crashing climax is reached and leaves
us thrilling with the vibration of its
meaning.
In my work as newspaperman and
later as detective, / have. Yet who
could have suspected that fly caught
in the meshes of spiders web was
the initial occurrence of drama of
human life-would strike the key
note Of the things which followed in
unbrollen sequence for days to come? p?
The train had stopped at Salida,
where the road over Marshall Pass
and the line to Leadville separate to
meet again at Grand Junction. The
mighty grandeur of the Royal Gorge
of the Arkansas had been left behind
us, though its influence still fingered
ms lesson of mans smallness when
opposed to the forces of nature.
At Salida they hook on helper en-
gine, and there is usually some delay
before the train again takes UP its
western climb. Connie and Semi Dual
and l had descended from the obser-
walton platform from which we had
viewed the wondrous canon the river
has cut through the mountain barrier,
and were spending the time of the
wait in walking up and down the
platform beside the string Of Pull
mans.
That was how Connie came to notice
the SPIDERS web in the first place.
The depot building and platform are
of wooden construction, and the sun
was hot on the June day which found
us there.
Dual had gone on up the train to-
ward the front, and Connie drew into
the shade cast by the overhanging of
the depots caves. / followed, and we
paused close beside window, where,
in the upper corner of the frame, a
spider had spun its web.
Look" said my wife, pointing.
'Every time l see anything like that
] want a broom"
I nodded. 1.-The hSusewifely in
Btinct," l responded. THE spider,
however, is merely trying to make a
living in the only way he knows.
He"
"Oh," cried Connie, hes caught a
fly!"
He had. While we were talking
one of several of the insects which
had been buzzing about the platform
had circled and darted sQuarely into
it now buzzed and whirred with a
great flutter of wings and Intellectual
efforts at escape. Under it's struggles
the web vibrated violently, and pres
emily small dark body appeared
from the funnellike opening close up
by the frame Of the casing.
Spider knows he's got bite"
remarked.
The fly ceased to struggle and lay
still. 1t might have been dead al
ready save for faint quiver of the
wings. One could imagine that it lay
in its bonds and painted with it's eff
forts and a sort of fright.
Connie touched my arm. 1.-THE
poor little thing. Gordon, set it
loose" she urged.
Dual spoke. While we had been
absorbed in the minor tragedy being
played out before us he had ap-
preached from his stroll up the plat
form and now stood directly at our
backs.
1.-The unwilling fly, Mrs. Glace,"
said he, having manifestly heard her
Outcry. He smiled "On the face of
the thing it is but matter of food
catching by the spider. Looking be-
low the surface it is an illustration of
The working out of the laws of the
universe, which says that ignorance
is no defense or excuse from the pay
ing of the penalty of our acts.
The act must bring its effect with
inmutable surety, be it greater or less.
The fly which unwittingly filings it.
self into the meshes of the web is as
certainly lost as though 1t had delib-
erately cast itself therein. In either
instance the penalty is death for the
fy-food for the spider. The advice,
Christian, walk carefully is exceed
ingly worthy of consideration by all of
us. Its application would save much
pain"
Connie turned her eyes upon him
as he spoke.
Just the same, it seems like a
cruel law" she rejoined as he finish.
ed. "The poor little fly was SO hap.
by, and now-I was asking Gordon
to help 1t escape"
A smile lighted the warm olive of
Duafs face and shone in his gray
eyes.
"It's the law of immutable Justice
to which there are no exceptions" he
replied slowly. 1T operates for each
plane OF existence in it's own particu-
lar application. Hence 1t follows that
its application on a higher plane may
transcend its working on lower