The Spider

The spidcr has nevcr been at school a day in hls lile; he has liever learned a tllide read a book, yet he can niakc the straihtest lines, most peri'cct oircles, b&autiful liule brklges, and many of his lamily can epin and wOive, some ot' tliein can hunt and swini mul dive and domason work almost as well iis if ihey had a Irowel and inortar. Tlicre is a spider in my garden Unit makoe so many Unes and cueles you'd think il had Leen all through geoinetry. It makes circle, every one a litilc larger thiui the oihcr, aüout twclve oï theni, aud ihen iïuiu tlie smallest circles begins and niakos about twenty-eight straight Unes going to thcoulsidu circle, like the whaleboncs in an umbrclla. Jt onakes tliis web so perí'ect and regular that it is ca! led the geometrie spider. You'li see late in siimmer clusters of its egys on buslies md hedgeo. Whcii hatc ei the spiders all keep togetlier in a liltle ball. You touch Uiis ball and the spiders wiil scatter in alt direcLions; but ns soon as thty eau tliey'U get togetlier ngaiu, as bei'ore. - I leftiny silk dress last uight hanging over a ciiair near tho wall, and ili.s niorning i l'ound that Mrs. Spider had been thore in the night and made a beuutiluJ little bridge of silk betvveeu my dress and tho wall. The spidor that made tb is bridge tbr me had eight eyes. It can't move any one of tlicso e} es ; eacii eye bas but 011e lens and can only seo wliat is just in front of it. It had a pair ot sbarp claws in the foro part of its head ; with theso little pincers it catches other smaller spiders. When the spider is at rest it folds theso littlo claws one over the other hko parta oí' scissors. Thig ■pidor Jias eight feet; most insects, you know, havo six. At the end of each foot is a moveable hook. lt has five littlo spinners, or spinnerts. with which it makes its web. Each of these spinners has an opening which it can make as large or as small as it likes. There is a tube like a littlo hall oommauicating luto each of these openings. Ju this tube there are four little reservoirs, whiclt holds Iho "gluey substaiico of which the thread is spun." As soon as this liquid comes to the nir it bccomes a toiigh and thread. 1 suppose the air aots uponit i ii some way. In nn article on steel boilers, The Engineer says : "V liüc we adrnit that excellent boilers have been maclo of steel, and irmy be made of steel, we cannot simt our eyes to the truth that a great deal oí'an apparently admirable metal is quite unsuitable for this purpose. ïhas Bessemer steel, it is said, cannot, be used for boiler pintes with any certainty of obtaining a satisiactory resnlt, and the reason appears to be this : ïhe whole proces of clearing some five tons or so of iron, from carbon, silicon and otlier impurities occupies oiily tweilty minuies. - When the contents of th ladleare under-blown or over-blovn, the steel is untit for boiler-making. In the Siemens-Martin jjrocess, howcver, the chances the sieel are much less. In working that system, if the metal be tapped half au hour sooneror later, the diti'erence iu the quality of the steel woulil not be so great as an error of a minute wou ld produce in the steel of the Bessemer converter." The Xew York Ilerald has sn article on the clothing trade, which shows that New York stands first and Chicago second in the business of niaking and selling mcu's furnishiugs aud carinen ts. - '