Chapter xiv 



THE GARDEN SPIDERS: THE QUESTION 

 OF PROPERTY 



A Dog has found a bone. He lies in the shade, 

 holding it between his paws, and studies it 

 fondly. It is his sacred property, his chattel. 

 An Epeira has woven her web. Here again is 

 property; and owning a better title than the 

 other. Favoured by chance and assisted by his 

 scent, the Dog has merely had a find ; he has 

 neither worked nor paid for it. The Spider is 

 more than a casual owner, she has created what 

 is hers. Its substance issued from her body, 

 its structure from her brain. If ever property 

 was sacrosanct, hers is. 



Far higher stands the work of the weaver of 

 ideas, who tissues a book, that other Spider's 

 web, and out of his thought makes something 

 that shall instruct or thrill us. To protect our 

 * bone,' we have the police, invented for the 



T 289 



