Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-13
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

to the heart Of chiidhood-shall we
say perennial childhood?
The spider has good fortune on his
side. In this, because there is no human
or suiderial way OF telling Just where,
on the small slab of plotting paper,
the pink drops win fall.
we have seen him, all unconscious.
walking along with half an inch of
where the drops fell Somehow we
could not give him any credit for In
! telligence. for something about his
meanderings made it impossible to be-
/ lieye that he knew where the drops
would fall and so had avoided them
| purlAsely.
No. he is a lucky beggar. that is all.
Some are, both spiders and men.
Watching the first drop come out of
| the spout is almost exciting II you
! have the temperament to make 1t so.
! OF course, you must have the tenn
| peramsnt.
Wordsworth could see a whole world
| in a flower in a crannied wall, and
| Robert Bruce got great deal of con-
ISOLATION from spider.
/ It is possible to see an entire ocean
! in the pear-shaped globe Of pink water,
I If you have imagination enough. With
| in that bowl lie dreams OF old ships
/ with great sheets which no man today
knows how to handle.
In the ancient days, before Torricelli
discovered his better barometer, these
weather glasses swung In many cabin.
| Those spouts were watched with anx-
| iety. One can imagine that just before
! q typhoon or the like the water fairly
poured from them.
y Il
"a
perhaps an eighth of an inch in
| tipped up
1t is interesting to watch the water
rise in this opening. piling up higher
and higher at the back, until it seems
that shortly a drop must run out.
When this point arrives, the push
from beneath finally causes n drop TO
flow over the rim, and run rapidly
down the spout.
Usually this first drop remains on
the under part of the bowl, until re-
leased by the impact OF the second
drop, when it falls to the blotting
paper.
The second drop, in its turn, stays
until the third drop runs down, and
so on. Sometimes three or four drops
will congregate, and remain there until
newcomer gives them the requisite
momentum to break loose together and
fall with q splash on the blotter.
This interesting proceeding is ended,
as we have indicated. shortly before
the arrival of the storm, by the sudden
fail of the water in the spout about
one-half inch.
Our pet barometrical spider so far
has not got touched by the small ava
lanche of water, emulating in little
the rains which descend outside.
The spider has been fortunate, that
is all. and some day he Is going to get
wetting, and we hope we are there
when he gets 1t.
Somehow we imagine this insect will
never grow any larger, but will be just
this size for maybe q quarter Of GEN.
fury, for certain creatures have very
long lives.
Strict orders have been given for nom
use of the dust cloth in the vicinity
of the weather glass. Spiders must
live, and this one seems to be innocent
enough.
Some day, however, and surely be-
fore the quarter Of n century is up,
the web viii attract q ruthless hand.
and then away will go webbing, spider
and all And that will be the end of
spider that lived for days beneath
a waterfall and never got his feet wet.