4 NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
going to set her rose garden. She did not know 
whether it was an omen of good or evil, and I was 
most happy to reassure her. Plainly enough a 
gay company of young aeronauts had assembled 
for an air-meet. But when they had spread their 
silken sailing ropes, preparatory to taking flight, 
the wind had been too strong for them. Try as 
they might they could not get the ropes to 
‘ carry ’; the wind merety blew the threads pro- 
vokingly from one furrow hummock to another. 
Being a persistent set, as all the spider clan are, 
they must have spent hours in the attempt: the 
little plot was quite covered with the sadly strewn 
and tangled gossamer threads.” 
“We often see spider webs sparkling all over 
the lawn in the early morning dew,” said Mabel. 
“ Are these the threads of balloonists? ” 
“ Not at all, my dear,” Uncle John returned 
quickly. “ They are exactly what you termed 
them—spider webs. They are woven in a me¬ 
thodically exact pattern, all as near alike as two 
peas, and they are, in truth, the snares which the 
grass spiders have spread to catch their prey. 
Nor are they an over-night growth. No telling 
how many weeks they may have been spread right 
there. Unless it is disturbed, a spider occupies 
the same web all the season, building over and 
repairing it when needs must. The dew simply 
shows up the webs to us. If you are interested 
