CHAPTER V
THE LITTLE HOUSE-SPIDER
I will tell you about a little house-spider who had a very exciting adventure. She had made a beautiful web in the corner of a bedroom, high up near the ceiling. One day her sensitive hairs told her there was some sort of disturbance in the room, and looking down from her web she saw all the furniture being moved out. The curtains and rugs had gone and the bed was pushed up into a corner. Then, to her dismay, a huge hairy monster came rushing up the wall. Of course, it was only a broom, but the poor little spider was so terrified she thought it was alive. It came nearer and nearer, and all at once there was a terrific rush and swish right up the wall where she lived, and web and spider disappeared. It was very alarming, but you will be glad to hear that the little spider was not killed but only stunned; and as soon as she came to her senses, she found herself right in the middle of the broom. She hung on and kept quite still, and soon the servants went into the kitchen to have some lunch and the broom was stood up against the wall.
Now was the little spider’s chance to escape, and out she popped. The coast seemed clear, so she scuttled up the wall and rested on the top of the door. Spiders haven’t good sight, so she couldn’t see much of the kitchen, but what she did see looked nice, and she thought it a much more interesting place than a bedroom, besides there were some flies about, so she determined to spin another web. No sooner had she begun when there was a crash like an earthquake. “Will horrors never cease?” thought the spider. It was really only the slamming of the door, but it so startled her that she fell and dropped on to the shoulder of some one who had just come in.
A Snare.
“Oh, Miss Molly!” cried cook, “you’ve got a spider on you, let me kill it.”
“No, no,” said Molly, “that would be unlucky, besides it’s only a tiny one,” and she took hold of the thread from which the spider hung and put it out of doors. Wasn’t that a lucky escape? She ran up the wall and got on to a window sill. Here she crouched down into a corner making herself as small as she could for fear of being seen, and then she fell asleep. You see she had gone through a great deal that morning, and the excitement had thoroughly tired her out.
When evening came she woke up and felt very hungry, so she quickly spun a web, and would you believe it, before it was even finished she felt a quiver, and there was a silly little gnat caught right in the middle. He was very tiny, but the spider wasn’t big, and he made a very good meal for her. She didn’t stop even to wrap him up, for she couldn’t wait, but gobbled him up on the spot.