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ed his sentence, but made a precipitate exit from the court-room, and was lost, in less than a minute, in the departing crowd.

small progress, and gained no sympathy with I suppose there was something in the exthe court or jury. pression of my face which Kraut rightly interJust as the testimony was closing, the plaint-preted as "notice to quit," for he never finishiff's lawyer recalled the mother to the witnessstand, for the purpose of clinching some loose item of evidence. She made the desired explanation, and was just quitting the stand, when Kraut, who had been moving uneasily in his chair, suddenly darted a side-look at the woman from underneath his bristling eyebrows, and, without preliminary, jerked out the question:

"Ven you and your son set fire to der store, didn't you put der goods into baskets and put dem into der cellar, before you set fire to der store?"

WITNESS (highly excited). "When we set fire to the store! We didn't set fire to the store." KRAUT (very deliberately). "Didn't you put

I strolled over to the office of the Commissioner of Jurors, and had the satisfaction of seeing Kraut's name very summarily expunged from his lists; and I am quite sure that, in whatever other capacity my hero may have since been called upon to serve his country, he has never figured a second time as a "Gentleman of the Jury."

HOUSE-SPIDERS:

THEIR HABITS AND ASTONISHING FEATS. BY ASA FITCH, M.D.

der goods into baskets and put dem into the FEW objects which we meet with in nature

cellar, ven you set fire to der store?" WITNESS. "No."

But, in the wave of sound on which that monosyllable of denial floated to the ears of Court, counsel, and jury, there was a tremulous under-current which woke suspicion-just a throb of conscience in the tone of the voice which startled inquiry and was the key note of detection; and when Kraut doggedly followed up his attack with a third question, run in the same mould, "Ven you and your son set fire to der store," etc., the woman fairly "broke up," and the company's counsel, taking instant advantage of the breach, pressed in with a whole platoon of cross-questions, until the real fraud, as foreshadowed in Kraut's interrogatories, was fully exposed, and the plaintiff driven out of court at the point of a verdict against him rendered by the jury without leaving their seats.

Kraut was the hero of the day. The president of the company-the lawyers, whom he had helped to an unexpected success-even the judge, usually indifferent to all the fortunes of legal warfare complimented and thanked him. I really began to think I had done him some injustice myself, and as the crowd in the courtroom was dispersing, I said to him,

"Well, Mr. Kraut, you have done the state some service to-day." Kraut grinned acquiescence. "By-the-way," I continued, "do tell me, as we are about to part, how you happened to ask that question ?"

Kraut was intoxicated with success; and in success, as in wine, indiscretion is the ally of truth. He could not keep his secret. He took me by the button-hole, and drawing me into a corner of the room, behind the clerk's desk,

"Vy, mein freund, you see, dat is the very way that Brom and I got our insurance vrom der Venix."

"From the Venix?"

"Yes, from der Venix Company." "Oh!" said I, "you cheated the Phoenix Company, and succeeded, precisely as these people tried to cheat the Jefferson, and failed!" "Sheat!" said Kraut, "der was no sheating, for they never found it out, and—”

are more repulsive to people generally than spiders. This arises probably from the idea which is so widely prevalent, that their bite is poisonous, and from the frightful stories which every one has heard of the tarentula and the effects of its wound-stories which are now known to be mostly fabulous, the bite of this animal being not a whit more painful and dangerous than the sting of a wasp. To a person acquainted with spiders and their habits nothing appears more ridiculous than the alarm and trepidation which some of the weaker sex, in particular, are accustomed to exhibit on suddenly finding themselves in proximity with one of these creatures. Although some of the large species, which occur in tropical climates, may be dangerous, certain it is that we have no animal of this kind in our own country which need occasion the slightest fear. Though their bite is venomous, it is fatal only to insects and other animals of a similar diminutive size. quantity of their poison is so minute that it can do no harm whatever to a person who is in ordinary health. The utmost that can be justly said in their disparagement is, that two or three of the larger species, which are sometimes to be met with in our meadows, may, in the hottest period of the year, be able to inflict a wound which, in a feeble person of irritable habits, or a young, tender child, may be painful, and cause a slight inflammation of the spot for a few days.

The

It will be a service to disabuse the public of the repugnance and antipathy which is now felt toward this class of creatures, whereby those frights and fears, which they so frequently excite, will cease. Nothing can tend more effectually to such a result than an acquaintance with their economy and habits. When we come to observe the agility of their motions, the curious artifices to which they resort to capture their prey, the adroitness, sagacity, and heroism which they display, the skill with which they place their webs, and the beautiful symmetry with which these are woven, our disgust will be changed to admiration. We are constrained to esteem and love the delicate little objects

which perform such curious, such surprising with which it stealthily approaches and captures feats.

its victim, very rarely missing its aim.

Especially important is it that we be cor- The other spider to which we have alluded rectly informed and intelligent with regard to may be distinguished as the web-building housethose spiders which occur in our dwellings. spider. It is named Theridion vulgare by ProThe Creator has evidently placed them in this fessor Hentz. It is less than three-eighths of situation to capture and destroy flies and other an inch in length, and young individuals not insects which are annoying to us. And if tidy half this size are frequently met with. It is housewifery requires, as it often does, that the quite variable in its color, being sometimes broom should ruthlessly demolish the webs which cream-white, sometimes darker, of a leaden they construct, it will be with a feeling of re-gray or livid brown, and tinged at times with gret rather than satisfaction that the chambermaid performs this duty, when she is aware of the true character and habits of these interesting little creatures.

reddish, particularly upon the legs, which have rings of a darker color. It may be recognized most readily by two or three very crooked or wavy streaks running crosswise upon its back. Although this little spider occurs abroad, in gardens and fields, it is much more frequently noticed in houses than elsewhere. It spins a web, commonly in some dark corner, where it will not be liable to be observed and disturbed. And this spider far surpasses the preceding one in the skill and ability which it displays in conquering and disposing of its prey. Indeed its

In our dwellings in the United States we have two kinds of spiders which are quite common. Though some other kinds are occasionally met with in our houses, these are found much more frequently, and occur in almost every house in the country. These two spiders differ greatly in their habits and the situations which they occupy. They thus find ample accommodations in our houses without at all in-proceedings are truly wonderful. When apterfering with each other.

The more common of these spiders, and the one which is oftenest noticed, may appropriately be designated the hunting house-spider. It is scientifically named Attus familiaris by the lately-deceased Professor N. M. Hentz, in his valuable series of papers describing the spiders of the United States, published in the Boston "Journal of Natural History." It is rather less than half an inch in length, and is of an ash-gray color, from the short hairs with which it is clothed. Its body is oval and blackish, with a broad whitish figure along the middle of the back, which figure is wavy or festooned, as it were, outwardly along each side, where it is also of a more pure white than along its middle.

an act of mercy to the unfortunate helpless captive, which is, by the venom of this bite, immediately stupefied and killed.

prised by the agitation of its web that a fly or other insect has become entangled therein, it darts out from its lurking-place, and cautiously approaches the captive; and if it discovers from the size and strength of the prisoner that he will be apt to tear himself loose and make his escape, it runs up to him, and with the utmost activity and adroitness, throws one thread after another around him, using its hind-legs to place these threads so that they will most effectually fetter and securely involve the victim. And when he is thus bound, so that escape becomes impossible, that he may not remain for hours miserably struggling and dying a lingering death, the spider seizes one of his feet and sinks its This fang therein. Though this is commonly respider does not build a web, but resides in crev-garded as an excess of cruelty, it is in reality ices in the walls, in cracks around the windowsashes, or between the clap-boards, and in similar situations. It runs over the floor or along the walls of a room with much agility, often giving slight leaps as it advances. But the instant it discovers a fly all its ordinary move-mained where it was captured in the web, it ments are changed. It keeps its head turned toward the fly, whichever way the latter walks. Its eyes are riveted upon its prey, every motion of which is intently watched. It now hurries rapidly toward it, and it anon moderates its pace according to the exigencies of the case. As it draws nearer it becomes more cautious, more still and composed, and now it glides along silently and imperceptibly toward its unsuspicious victim. The spider at this stage of its proceedings appears to be perfectly motionless; not the slightest tremor can be discerned in any of its limbs; and yet the distance between it and the fly is perceived to be gradually diminishing. At length, when sufficiently near, with a sudden spring it leaps forward, tiger-like, and falls upon its prey, overwhelming and securing it in its grasp. No cat or panther can vie with this little creature in the skill and adroitness

Another most singular habit of this little spider is yet to be stated. If the dead victim re

would probably be a warning to other insects not to approach the same fatal spot. The spider, therefore, before repairing the damage which the web has received, carries its prey away, to the upper part of its nest, where it will be concealed from view--as the nest is commonly placed upon the under side of shelves, the ceiling of rooms, etc. But, in many cases, the victim is so large and heavy that the spider is unable to bear it off by main strength. It hereupon resorts to an artifice little inferior to the ropes and pulleys of a tackle in the ease and certainty with which it hoists the unwieldy burden upward. Attaching one of its cobweb threads at the upper part of its nest, it spins it downward, carrying it under the body to be raised, and upward again to the top of its nest, drawing it tight as it fastens it. The elasticity and contraction of this thread elevate the body

a hair's-breadth it may be. Thread after thread | ordinary resort, that of fettering and binding her is spun in this manner. Thus the weight is victim by throwing her threads of cobweb around gradually raised upward until it reaches the it, it is plain, would be of no more avail here height desired, the spider being busily occupied than the cords upon the limbs of the unshorn sometimes for two or three days in accomplish- Sampson. Aware that her accustomed mode ing this work. Professor Hentz states that he of attack was useless, how did she acquire the has known one of these little spiders to elevate, knowledge and sagacity requisite for devising in this way, one of our large ball-rolling beetles another, adapted so exactly to the case in hand (Coprobius lavis), whose weight is at least eighty -one depending upon the structure and habits or a hundred times greater than that of the spi- of the serpent to aid in rendering it successful? der. Surprising as this fact is, it sinks into in- How was she able to perceive that it was in her significance beside one which I am about to re- power to wind a loop of her threads around this late, which was performed, it is altogether prob- creature's throat, despite of all his endeavors to able, by a spider of the kind of which we are foil her in this work—a loop of sufficient strength now speaking. The incident is so marvelous, to hold him securely, notwithstanding his strugso seemingly impossible, that it might pass for gles and writhings, until by her tackle-like pow"a snake story," did it not come to us from a er she could gradually hoist him up from the source which precludes all doubts of its authen- floor, thus literally hanging him by the neck ticity. It, moreover, coincides in so many re- until he was dead? for this was the feat which spects with the known habits of this web-build- this adroit little heroine actually performed-a ing house-spider as to give strong additional feat beside which all the fabled exploits of Herconfirmation of its correctness. cules in overpowering lions and serpents and dragons sink into utter insignificance! And who can say that, in the planning and execution of this stupendous achievement, there was not forethought, reasoning, a careful weighing of all the difficulties and dangers, and a clear perception in the mind of this little creature that she possessed the ability to accomplish what she undertook; in short, an exercise of faculties of a much higher order than the mere instinct which is commonly supposed to guide and govern these lower animals in their movements?

Among several items of interest, respecting insects, which were communicated to me by different persons at the recent annual meeting of the New York State Agricultural Society in Albany, was the following, from Honorable A. B. Dickinson of Corning, who himself carefully witnessed the phenomenon, as did more than a hundred other persons. It occurred the past summer, in the store of Charles Cook, in the village of Havanna in Chemung county.

An ordinary-looking spider of a dark color, its body not larger than that of a common By what artifice the spider was able in the house-fly, had taken up its residence, it appears, first of its attack to accomplish what it did, we on the under side of a shelf beneath the counter can only conjecture, as its work was not disof Mr. Cook's store. What may we suppose covered until the most difficult and daring part was the surprise and consternation of this little of its feat had been performed. When first seen, animal on discovering a snake, about a foot long, it had placed a loop around the neck of the serselecting for its abode the floor underneath, only pent, from the top of which a single thread was two or three spans distant from its nest! It was carried upward and attached to the under side a common milk snake, which, perhaps, had been of the shelf, whereby the head of the serpent brought into the store unseen in a quantity of was drawn up about two inches from the floor. sawdust with which the floor had been recently The snake was moving around and around, in"carpeted." The spider was well aware, no cessantly, in a circle as large as the length of doubt, that it would inevitably fall a prey to this its tether would allow-wholly unable to get its horrid monster the first time it should incau- head down to the floor, or withdraw it from the tiously venture within its reach. We should noose; while the heroic little spider, exulting expect that to avoid such a frightful doom it no doubt in the success of its exploit, which would forsake its present abode, and seek a more was now sure beyond a peradventure, was ever secure retreat elsewhere. But it is not improb- and anon passing down to the loop and up to able that a brood of its eggs or young was se- the shelf, adding hereby an additional strand creted near the spot, which the parent foresaw to the thread, each of which new strands being would fall a prey to this monster if they were tightly drawn, elevated the head of the snake abandoned by their natural guardian and pro-gradually more and more.

tector. We can conceive of no other motive But one of the most curious and skillful parts which should have induced the spider so perti- of its performance is yet untold. When it was naciously to remain and defend that particular in the act of running down the thread to the spot at the imminent risk of her own life, when loop, the reader will perceive it was possible for she could so easily have fled and established her- the snake, by turning his head vertically upself in some secure corner elsewhere. But how, ward, to snap at and seize the spider in his mouth. we may well ask, was it possible for such a weak, This had no doubt been repeatedly attempted tender little creature to combat such a powerful, in the carlier part of the conflict; but instead of mail-clad giant? What power had she to do any catching the spider, his snakeship hereby had thing which could subject the monster to even only caught himself in an additional trap. The the slightest inconvenience or molestation? Her spider, probably by watching each opportunity

when the mouth of the snake had thus been turned toward her, adroitly, with her hind-legs, as when throwing a thread around a fly, had thrown one thread after another over the mouth of the snake, so that he was now perfectly muzzled, by a series of threads placed over it vertically, and these were held from being pushed asunder by another series of threads placed horizontally, as my informant states he particularly observed. No muzzle of wire or wicker-work for the mouth of an animal could be woven with more artistic regularity and perfection; and the snake occasionally making a desperate attempt to open his mouth could merely put these threads upon a stretch.

The snake continued his gyrations, his gait becoming more slow, however, from weakness and fatigue; and the spider continued to move down and up upon the cord, gradually shortening it, until at last, when drawn upward so far that only two or three inches of the end of his tail touched the floor, the snake expired, about six days after he was first discovered.

A more heroic feat than that which this little spider performed is probably nowhere upon record-a snake a foot in length, hung by a spider not larger than a common house-fly! Truly, "the race is not to the swift, nor is the battle to the strong!" And this phenomenon may serve to indicate to us that the intelligence with which the Creator has endowed the humblest, feeblest of His creatures, is ample for enabling them to triumph in any emergency in which He places them, if they but exercise the faculties He has given them. It is only the slothful, cowardly, timorous, that fall, and they fall not so much before their enemies as before their own supineness.

I

A WOMAN'S DREAM.
LOVE you, but a sense of pain
Is in my heart and in my brain;
Now, when your voice and eyes are kind,
May I reveal my complex mind?
Though I am yours, it is my curse
Some ideal passion to rehearse :
I dream of one that's not like you,
Never of one that's half so true.

To quell these yearnings, vague and wild,
I often kneel by our dear child,
In still, dark nights (you are asleep),
And hold his hands, and try to weep!
I can not weep; I can not pray-
Why grow so pale, and turn away?
Do you expect to hold me fast
By pretty legends in the past?

It is a woman's province, then,
To be content with what has been?
To wear the wreath of withered flowers,
That crowned her in the bridal hours?
Still, I am yours: this idle strife
Stirs but the surface of my life:
If you would only ask, once more,
"How goes the heart ?" or at the door
VOL. XV.-No. 85.-F

Imploring stand, and knock again,
I might forget this sense of pain,
And down Oblivion's sullen stream
Would float the memory of my dream!

"TEAR

WOMAN'S TEARS.

Pshaw!

EARS, tears, woman's tears! they'd never move me to pity! Why, Bob, a woman can weep tears enough to—well, to blot out some of your numerous transgressions, and never feel a heart-pang. Woman's tears! why, they're mere crocodile drops!"

"Hush, Tom, what scandal! I'm perfectly shocked at such daring skepticism! Why, didn't I see you nearly fainting at the opera scarce a week ago because pretty Lillie Dewdrop's blue eyes glistened a moment with briny pearls ?"

"Briny pearls! Yes, I did whiten a little, I'll acknowledge, and my heart beat a pretty quick tune for a minute or two, for fear she would go off into hysterics, and then what should I have done! Imagine it, when I so hate a scene! But as for pitying her, little flirt-" Words failed, and he placed his cigar again between his lips, which would have curled had it not been there, and leaned back in his chair with an expression of intense disdain.

"Well, Tom, to silence you and convince you of the power of the 'crocodile drops,' as you term them, I'll make a confession; now don't fall asleep till I've finished and I'll tell it you," and tossing the half-consumed cigar into the fire he began:

"When I was in B- studying law, some four years ago, I had a friend, Frank Gyou've heard me speak of him, a right good fellow, but a little too susceptible. Why, I've known him break his heart for-let me seeone, two-yes, five ladies, and attempt suicide for two. Yes, he was altogether too susceptible, inconveniently so. Well, one day I was in my room writing busily-I worked mighty hard that winter, brought on a disease of the brain, and have never been able to look at a law paper since-what in thunder are you laughing at, Tom? As I sat there on a cold winter's day, the door burst open and in rushed Frank G I knew in a moment that he was in love again; I saw it in his eye, and the peculiar way in which he uttered his 'Well, Bob;' and heaving a sigh I prepared to listen to his ravings about some new goddess who had enraptured him. I was not wrong; he launched forth into a rapturous speech expressive of the beauty and worth of a certain Eleanor Gray, who had just arrived in town and had already smitten his too-impressible heart. Bob!' he cried, 'she is beautiful! so queenly and majestic, with such dark, rich waves of hair, such a noble brow and scornful mouth, with its curling upper lip; but her eyes, O Bob!' He sank into a chair, utterly unable to say I could not refrain from reminding him, laughingly, of certain damsels, both dark and fair, azure-eyed and with orbs like night, sun

more.

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"Evening came, and I found myself at Mrs. Monteith's. Now, Tom, don't ask me to describe Eleanor Gray. I can't do it. She was beautiful, beautiful as an angel; and before I had con

ny, raven, and chestnut-haired, whose praises | Will you go?' Without waiting for an answer, he had spoken in by-gone days. He sprang to he rushed from the room. his feet, exclaiming, 'Bob, Bob, why will you remind a fellow of heart-sorrows he is trying to forget?' and he paced the room impatiently, then suddenly cried, 'But Bob, you must see Eleanor Gray! She's staying at the F-Ho-versed with her ten minutes, I was almost ready tel, and I'm going to see her this evening. I'll drop in and tell you about it in the morning,' and he left me.

"I resumed my writing, and thought no more of Eleanor Gray. In fact, I did not place much faith in Frank's descriptions of his lady loves. Not many weeks before, after listening for an hour to his impassioned dissertation upon the loveliness of a farmer's daughter, a perfect Hebe as he said, a hidden gem which he had discovered, I promised to ride with him to see her. So we went off in a snow-storm, rode some miles, and reached an old red farm-house, within which dwelt the Hebe. Hebe! why, she certainly weighed two hundred ! You know how I detest a stout woman. Faugh! her face looked like a full moon!

"But Frank was right for once. That evening, when I went to my boarding-house, I found all the gentlemen talking of the belle and heiress, Eleanor Gray, and all agreed that she was very beautiful, very proud, and very cold-hearted.

“Why,' said Harry Marks, a dashing young fellow, and somewhat of an oracle among us, 'I've known of scores whom she has jilted, She thinks nothing of breaking a heart. Why, there was Charlie Lee, the best-hearted boy you ever saw-only nineteen. She led him on by smiles and flattery till he was ready to die for her; and so he did, for she rejected him coldly and cruelly when he offered her his hand, and it killed him. She has no heart herself; if she had, I'd try to break it!' and he turned on his heel and left us.

"I had heard enough to make me wish for a sight of this cold and haughty beauty. I had a plan in my head which was to find her heart I did not doubt her having one-and then wound it, not break it, as Harry Marks had said, but punish her for her many flirtations.

"The next morning Frank G--was early at my room. He gave me a glowing account of his call, and told me what a sleepless night he had passed, thinking of Eleanor Gray, and ended by saying, 'Oh, Bob, you were never in love, and can not sympathize with me now, nor know the agony of hope and fear in my heart. Oh, Bob she is so beautiful!' and he bowed his head on his hands, and sighed. I should have thought him really in love, and another victim to Eleanor Gray's wiles, had I not seen him in precisely the same situation several times before. "As it was, I suppressed a yawn, and said, 'Well, Frank, my boy, how shall I see this wonderful damsel?'

"Oh, I forgot, here are cards for a little party at Mrs. Monteith's this evening. She is to be there, Eleanor Gray, my peerless Eleanor!

to fall at her feet with her other worshipers. Her eyes were her chief charm-large, lustrous, dark, beautiful orbs, flashing at times with such dazzling light they almost blinded the gazer. But they did not quite blind me, though at times, when they flashed a look at me, I was forced to turn my head away, and whisper to myself, 'Never yield, Bob, you have a duty to perform.'

"Days passed on. Frank G- had offered his heart and hand to the beauty, been rejected, procured a bottle of laudanum, which still remained untouched in his room, and scores of other unfortunate youths were dying for her, but I was still safe. The brightest glances from her eyes fell harmless on my stony heart, which refused to be softened, even by the beautiful waves of her dark hair. But I soon made a discovery. Eleanor Gray loved me. I knew it; never mind how. I had found her heart; should I break it? When I entered a room where she was, her eye would seek mine and brighten as it met them. When she talked with me it was in a gentle tone, and I have heard her voice tremble when she sang for me, and seen her cheek flush, and her silken lashes droop when I gazed upon her face.

“One evening—a glorious moonlight evening -I was walking with her down by the sea. We were talking of a soldier's life, and I had been telling her stories of the camp, and field, and gallant deeds done in battle, and her eye kindled as I talked, and she cried, 'How I should love to be a soldier's wife, to follow him to battle, and to watch, if even from afar, as he plunges into the thickest of the fight, and bravely strives for the victory. And if he fall, I could not weep if he fell fighting, face to the foe, but thank God that I had been his wife, and seen him die a glorious death.'

"Oh! you could never endure the hardships of a soldier's wife,' I said. 'Could you travel through snow and ice, or over the hot sand of weary deserts, or cross stormy oceans?'

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"Yes, yes!' she cried, 'I could do all this and more with one, for one I love.'

"I looked down into her eyes, flashing with enthusiasm, and said, in a low, earnest tone,

"With one you love! Will you ever love, Eleanor Gray? Does any mortal live who can obtain that priceless gem, your love?'

"She dropped her lashes over her eyesthose beautiful eyes-for a moment; then, looking up, said,

"Can you doubt my power of loving? Yes, Robert, I can love.'

"She threw one glance from those eyes, and my courage faltered; but I had resolved, and, laughing a loud, scornful laugh, I said,

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