constructing at last a trap door, so ar- 

 ranged that it can easily be held down 

 from the inside. 



One species, fond of travel, is in the 

 habit of making air-voyages. Climbing 

 up on some plant so that the wind may 

 easily take them, they shoot a long thread 

 into the air. This is seized by the wind 

 and the little creature rides before the 

 breeze as long as he chooses. Unfor- 

 tunately, they are no more successful than 

 other aeronauts in guiding their balloons, 

 and as frequently come to grief. Voy- 

 agers approaching land sometimes meet 

 clouds of them driven out to sea. 



Other varieties choose the water as 

 their element, some merely gliding over 

 its surface in search of their prey, and 

 others making dwellings for themselves 

 entirely submerged. These are con- 

 structed something in the shape of a 

 thimble, woven so closely as to keep out 

 the water and an opening left at the bot- 



tom for the entrance of the occupant. 

 These are said to be furnished with air 

 in a rather curious fashion. They are 

 fastened to the stems of aquatic plants. 

 Down these the spider crawls, the air be- 

 ing entangled in the long rough hairs of 

 its body, it allows it to escape into the 

 nest and returns for another supply. 



Spiders are each provided with a poison 

 gland for offense and defense, but the 

 danger from their bite is said to be much 

 exaggerated, and in most instances to l>e 

 no more cause for alarm than that of the 

 mosquito. Their instincts are remark- 

 able. The fact is generally overlooked 

 that they really exert themselves to the 

 advantage of the human race, ridding the 

 house of flies and the earth of many in- 

 sects pernicious to agriculture. The-- 

 should be regarded as man's friends, not 

 his enemies. 



Elizabeth Miles Derrickson. 



APRIL. 



Poets sing of May day flowers, the 

 perfect days of June, of September's 

 balmy weather and October's dreamy 

 haze ; but they ring the changes of April 

 on ''shoAvers and tears, sunshine and 

 smiles" until we have come to think of 

 "April showers that bring May flowers," 

 more than we do of Nature's resurrec- 

 tion which April brings. 



It is April that awakens the forests 

 from their mysterious winter sleep that 

 brings back our birds from distant lands ; 

 that breaks the icebeds from the streams ; 

 that turns the brown, dead chrysalis into 

 beautiful, air}^ wings ; that calls to all 

 hibernating life, "Come forth and join the 

 chorus that 'Life is ever Lord of death.' " 



Other months may bring more perfect 



weather, warmer sunshine, brighter 

 flowers, greener fields and deeper shad- 

 ows ; but none bring to our hearts a glad- 

 ness like that of an ideal April day. We 

 have passed the winter months with a 

 degree of pleasure, despite their snows, 

 their frost, their sleet and winds ; despite 

 the absence of bird music, flower odor or 

 forest color. But when w^e feel the 

 warmth of April sunshine, see the leaf- 

 buds bursting into green, hear the first 

 notes of robin or bluebird and scent 

 the odor of violets, then indeed comes in- 

 to the human heart a touch of that joy 

 which we imagine w'ill be felt in that 

 land where death and its semblance 

 never come. 



Caroline H. Parker. 



169 



