WEB-SPINNER AT WORK 91 



audiences were small though select. The doors 

 were always open and the admission fee was tri- 

 fling. The performers were tiny, but made up in 

 numbers what they lacked in size. The perform- 

 ance began about six o'clock in the evening, sun 

 time, and ended before the lamps were lit. The 

 acrobats, for they were something of this nature, 

 all did the same turn ; but strangely enough the 

 audience did not seem to tire of it. Perhaps 

 since the show was cheap, they thought it mean 

 to complain, but I have seen the same crowd 

 there night after night, seeking out the best seats 

 and viewing the performance with every evidence 

 of satisfaction and even enthusiasm. 



Somehow I had acquired the idea that those 

 few favored ones who had seen spiders spin their 

 webs had stayed up all night to see it. Therefore I 

 took it for granted that the sight was not for me, 

 and was calmly resigned. But one summer the 

 word went round that it would be to our advan- 

 tage to visit the bridge at 6 P. M. of a sunny day 

 to see what we should see. We went, and returned 

 to the place day after day to see the same per- 

 formance. We abandoned all other pursuits, even 

 preferring cold victuals after the show was over to 

 a regular dinner. 



The performers seemed to begin by standing 

 absolutely still and eyeing the landscape. Some- 

 times this lasted so long that wc moved to the 

 next compartment in the iron railing and watched 

 another spider. The first thing to be done is to 

 stretch a guy-line between two points on the sup- 



