ARGONAUT AND GEOMETER. 225 



'• AVhat Dan means," said Sarah, taking up the con- 

 versation, "is them little hits of spiders — hahy spiders, 

 I 'spose they are. 'T any rate they're wee things that 

 drop on you from the ceiling or trees by long threads, 

 I've heerd 'em called money-spinners^ and they say 

 they'll bring good luck if you don't kill or hurt 'em, or 

 brush 'em oft' when they're first seen. If you do take 

 'em off" your-clothes you must throw 'em over the left 

 shoulder, an' that saves the luck. I wouldn't kill one 

 of them monney-spinners on no account ; but law sakes 

 alive ! that's nothin' to do with the big spiders that spin 

 cobwebs in the corners ! There's no good luck in them; 

 an nobody but a sloven 'ud let 'em stay around. I 

 sweep 'em out without marcy." 



"But, Sairy Ann," said Dan, "you neber oughter 

 kill a spider inside de house. Ef you mus' do't, w'y 

 do't out'v doors. Et's jes' pullin' down your own house 

 to kill a spider indoors." 



" The notion about the money spinners," I remarked, 

 "is, or Avas, quite prevalent in England and Scotland, 

 and I have often heard it here in America. I never 

 quarrel with it, for it goes some length toward preserv- 

 ing the best of our animal friends from senseless hatred 

 and destruction. I recall another use of the superstition 

 made by a quaint old divine : ' When a spider is found 

 upon your clothes,' he says, ' we used to say some money 

 is coming toward us. The moral is this : Such who 

 imitate the industry of that contemptible creature may, 

 by God's blessing, weave themselves into wealth and 

 procure a plentiful estate,' " 



