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For The Children

For The Children image
Parent Issue
Day
27
Month
October
Year
1882
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

One rainy day, as the chlldren were amusing themselves by ransaeking theiv Uncle Harry'sclosets, Torn pulled kis hand out suddenly from the back artof a deep draver, and shouted triumphantly: "Preserves! ' at the same time holding out a large glass jar for inspection. A cry of disgust followed, for instead of preserves there was nothing in the bottle but a looking UJ11LUU liU.lLlUg Ml SvJiUC UI U n 11 lliau. "Pali! It's a liorrkl bug," said Alice, ;urning up her nose in disgust. "'Tain't," contradieted Oharlle, rgardless of his grammar. It's a tarántula." "And what is tliat but a bug?" replied Alice. "It's a spider," said Oharüe. "You a3k Unclc Ilarry if it isn't." In the meaü time ïorn and Alice had taken the jar over to the desk where Unclo Harry was writing. "What is this, Uocle FCarry?" sai Alice. "It ia a tarántula. I brougbtit homo from California with nae." "I toldou so!" cxclaimed Charlie, from the closet. "It is a Kind ot spider, ana one ot ttie largesf. that lives in thia country. They don't raako webs like ordinary spiders, bul dig a hole In the ground and line it with a soit of silky web like the cocoon of a silk-worm. Their hole is about six inches deep, and isclosed by a funny llttle trap-door made of the same snüy itnujg, auu covereu on ine outside with sticks and gravel so eleverly that one can rarely Qnd ;i tarantula's bnrrow unk'ss you see him going in; and even if you do aee him going in, it is very diflicult to get him to come out, as ho pulls his trap-door shut after hiro, and holds it tight from tlie outsicie." "If he don't build a web, how does ho catcb files and thingfs?" iuquired Charlie. "He jumps after tltem. A liveiy tarántula can jump from three to flve feet, and when he once calenes hold of any kind of a bug or small bird with those great hairy legs, it ha3 but little chance to get away." "Is their bite really so poisouous ?" asked Alice. eyeing the jar rather iUlj, cto ix ano vvaa ctucuvi un lchíwjvinsect woukl get away. "That questiüii is a hard one to answer. Some people who have lived in eountries where they are common claim that it is the only fatal in a few cases, white others seem to think it is a deadly poison." "What are you laughing at, Uncle Ilarry f demanded Cb&rlie. "I was thinking of the most horrible night I ever experienced," replied his uncle. "Yoa know," he continued. "while I was in the west I spent some. two weeks camping out in the mountains with a party of four young men We had an old cabin, where we slept at night, and we spent our days fully, üshing, hunting, geoiogizmg, ana botanizing. We had not been in camp long before we discovered a tarántula village not far from our cabin, and we all determinad to catch soine specimens to take home with us. At flrst we had considerable trouble in catching them; they were so lively and so ugly that we always ended in killing them in self-detense. At last a brilliant member of tho party discovered that by placing a wide-mouthed bottle over the mouth of the tarantula's burrow, and then thumping on the ground around it, the animal would crawl out into the bottle, and the captor could tuni the bottle over, elap a piece of board over the top, and secure hia prisoner. As soon as the discovery was made known, all the old pickle jara were called iuto requisition, and as the former occupants of the cabin had lef t a number, we were soon lucky, or unlucky, euough to have about twenty-five large specimens. We covered the jars with bits of shingle, and set theui on a slielf which was nailed to one side of the cabin. Everything went well, and we detertumed that as soou as we had leisure we would kill them with chloroform and preserve them in spirits as that one is. Uut one night, after wo had all got comforlably settled for nleep, one of tho party thought that hu was thirsty, s rising .-..-aI..!!-.. -fm.viv-fc K in ltTïT." li ïtï-. inDH rifa caieiuiiy iioiu ma umin, nu gujiwi uu way over to tho corner nndev Uieshelf, wherotho water pail sloot!; he had bis drink, and iorgetting the xiatence of the heli', raised Iiis head. Crash! down came the rotten old shelf, and down carue the jars with the tarántulas in them. The party heard the fy.ll, and like one man sprang from 'heir beds and rushed for the door, but before they had got half-way across the floor they retnembered that tho tarantulas wero loose, uud they stopped; a moment more and it was too late. We were pil afraad to move for fear we would put our feet on a tarantula ; so tlíere wostood as if turned into statues. ín a Bhort time our positious become strained and cramped, but we did not daré to change them. Our nerves became excited, and we itnagined that we could feel them crawling up our backs and walking over our bare leet. The minutes seemed lengthened to hours, and the hours seemed montas. At last the day began to break, but we had manufacturad cartains out of old newspapers, that we might sleep undiaturbed by the light. Oh, how we bemoaued our lazinessi Finally it grew light enough to see, and we careiully opened the door and went out. One of the party went back into the cabin and got our clothes, and after examiniDg them very carefully we dressed ourselves." "And nobody was bilten" said AïLcfl, with a sigh of relief. "No," replied her uncle, rising from his chair as the supper-bell rang. "But I don't think 1 was ever so badly scared,

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Democrat