sleep; then the birds came, opened their 

 astonished eyes in wild curiosity, and 

 bursting forth in shrill notes of alarm, 

 flew away to warn their friends of the 

 enemy. But the stranger slept sweetlv, 

 blind and deaf to all of his surroundings, 

 and would have remained in that state 

 of oblivion, one cannot say for how long 

 a time, if the sun had not turned traitor 

 to Nature's child, and bursting forth in 

 all its dazzling splendor, awakened him, 

 and he opened his eyes in the beautiful 

 home of our Queen. Living so peace- 

 fully, and unsuspecting of evil in Na- 

 ture's hands, she did not dream of cru- 

 elty from the hand of man. Receiving 

 him as a friend, her palaces, with their 

 rich garlands were left unguarded, her 

 maids were busy weaving her silken 

 ropes, all was peace and happiness ; when, 

 to their astonishment and horror, their 

 beautiful home was ruthlessly invaded, 

 theii garlands pulled down, their beau- 

 tiful embroideries torn into bits, store 

 houses broken into, destruction every- 

 where ; poor Queen Nephila, brave as she 

 was, gave way to tears, but seeing the 

 distress of her subjects and children tried 

 to forget her own misery in caring for 

 them. Her courage and queenly bear- 

 ing must have been beautiful to behold, 

 but alas ! courage, strength, pride, all are 

 naught when the enemy is man, and you 

 a spider. Queen Nephila and a number 

 of her children and subjects were cap- 

 tured ; a box was made for their prison. 

 She, with haughty pride ignored the prof- 

 fered hand of her enemy, and with 

 queenly dignity stepped into her dungeon 

 cell. The prisoners were taken to Boston 

 as slaves, and were cramped in city walls 

 for the rest of their lives. 



Our imprisoned Queen toiled from 

 morning until night, and produced from 

 her own little body, one hundred and 

 fifty yards of shining silk. Such a spider 

 was never heard of before, she was given 

 the name of her capturer, "Nephila Wil- 

 deri" and was exhibited as a great curios- 

 ity, before long faced, dreadful looking 

 men who had no mercv for her delicacv 



of feeling, and her name was seen every 

 where in technical papers, and magazines, 

 and was heard in lecture rooms. Poor 

 "Nephila Wilderi !" She became worn 

 and exhausted, and longed for her beau- 

 tiful home, but no more was she to rest 

 her weary head upon her own silken 

 cushions, or swing from bough to twig, 

 from twig to leaf on silken cords, on her 

 native island again. She died in her 

 prison home, setting forth to the end, a 

 beautiful example of patience and obe- 

 dience ; she died as she had lived, a 

 Queen, contending that she had not been 

 conquered bue overpowered. 



The life of such a queen has not been 

 lived in vain, her name shall be handed 

 down from generation to generation as 

 being the richest, greatest and most use- 

 ful spider in the South. Professor Wil- 

 der visited Charleston, South Carolina, 

 a few years ago, and while there, told of 

 his wonderful discovery. He had left 

 the city but a short time when one morn- 

 ing while walking in the garden with a 

 friend, to our amazement, there sat two 

 immense spiders, each over an inch long, 

 with very large white heads, having the 

 appearance of being covered with down. 

 They sat with their little black eyes star- 

 ing at us, and were truly a royal looking 

 pair, sitting as center pieces to their 

 beautiful handiwork, a silk network of 

 measured lines and wide silk bands, all 

 so evenly executed, and finished with a 

 heavy rope of twisted silk. Oblong in 

 shape, measuring nearly a yard across, 

 it stood out strongly against a back 

 ground of peach blossoms and was of a 

 silvery whiteness. These great grand 

 children of Queen Nephila sat there look- 

 ing at us as much as to say, I have come 

 to prove to you that the story you have 

 heard of my great grandmother is true, 

 and all doubting the truth of this strange 

 story are invited to accept the cordial 

 invitation extended them by her descend- 

 ants to visit them at her old home by the 

 sea where Nature will greet them as in- 

 nocently, and sweetly, as in the year of 

 1863. 



Katharine Theodocia Cornish. 



