HOW ONE SPIDER KEPT HOUSE. 



Filled only with the sordid ideas 

 which make for cleanliness, I raised my 

 hand to sweep away the silvered intri- 

 cacy which suddenly adorned my win- 

 dow pane one morning and to destroy 

 the culpable weaver. 



But another impulse gave a sharp 

 negation and I dropped my raised 

 weapon, a feathered duster, and pledged 

 eternal friendship to an intruder capa- 

 ble of such patience and nicety. 



How many a spider destiny has been 

 suddenly cut short by a ruthless dust- 

 dispelling broom in the hands of a vigi- 

 lant housemaid. This spider, I resolved, 

 should have fair play. She on one side 

 of the curtain and I on the other 

 should keep house together and work 

 out as nearly as possible upon a fair 

 footing, the ideas which animated us. 



How few pets make their own toilet 

 and spread their own table; but Ara- 

 neina did both and grew fast the while. 



She soon learned to know me, as I 

 strongly fancied, and ceased to scurry 

 into a doubly fortified intrenchment, far 

 back in the corner, when I approached 

 and entered into conversation. 



We soon became co-laborers in the 

 extermination of the pestilential germ- 

 laden fly and many a victim buzzed dole- 

 fully while she was deftly throwing her 

 cables around him, making him a hope- 

 less prisoner. 



I soon learned that she was an open 

 advocate of vivisection and that if I 

 opposed it I was surely going contrary 

 to nature as manifested in her scheme 

 of living. 



From a tiny specimen Araneina soon 

 grew to have aldermanic proportions 

 as to girth, and her legs began to reach 

 out with all-embracing possibilities. 



Did a spider ever have such an oppor- 

 tunity for uninterrupted growth as she? 

 Whether she appreciated her privileges 

 or, like human beings, found her enjoy- 

 ment proportioned to the striving, I 

 never could tell, for she never talked 



but was forever spinning and repairing 

 the shimmering falsity, which she kept 

 constantly spread to catch the unwary. 



After many months of this delightful 

 intimacy I began to be troubled because 

 of an ill-defined plan to change my 

 quarters. What would I do with Ara- 

 neina? 



To pledge my faith and then break it 

 was not tO' be thought of. But how 

 would she bear transportation to a dis^ 

 tant town and who but Dr. Grimshaw 

 could brook the censure which would 

 be sure to follow the absurb idea of 

 moving a spider with one's personal be- 

 longings? I was sorely perplexed when 

 suddenly the problem was solved in a 

 manner far from satisfactory. 



During the months of her dwelling 

 with me (I hesitate tO' state the exact 

 time, two years, lest it should be re- 

 ceived with incredulity), she had gone 

 on, conquering and to conquer, until she 

 had become so filled with a sense of her 

 own prowess that nothing seemed to 

 alarm or terrify her. She had never 

 gone down to defeat before an enemy. 

 Nothing winged, either moth or fly, had 

 ever chanced her way, which had not 

 lost its life by the seductions of this 

 enchantress in her bedizened drawing- 

 room. 



But at last the brave little creature 

 ended her triumphant career in a glo- 

 rious battle and died the hero that she 

 was. 



One summer day a belligerent w^asp, 

 having found chance ingress, came sail- 

 ing along on a lordly tour of inspection 

 and must needs investigate Araneina's 

 shining net which was carefully spread, 

 she being in her stronghold as usual. 



What a prize for Araneina ! Trium- 

 phantly she sprang forth like a gladiator 

 ready to meet his enemy in the arena, 

 her long legs gliding over the filmy bars 

 as easily as upon a marble floor. What 

 a wonderful creature was this newcomer 

 with his black and yellow coat ! 



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