, 206; compare Rabigot, Simonius, and Von
Hartmann.

Spiders are decorative artists of no little ability. I saw one which
spun a web, beautifully adorned it with a broad, silken pathway, and
then used it as a pleasure resort; I also saw a spider which
intentionally beautified its web by affixing to it hundreds of minute
flakes of logwood dye;[60] thus we see that the aestheticism of spiders
is not confined to the love of music, but extends to other fields. In
passing, I may state that once, while confined to my room for a long
time by sickness, I became intimately acquainted with a wolf-spider
which seemed to take an aesthetic delight in her toilet. This lycosid
became so very tame that she would crawl upon my finger and allow
herself to be brought close to my eyes, so that I could observe her deft
and skilful movements while beautifying her person. She learned to know
me personally, rapidly running away and hiding herself when visitors
entered my chamber, but never showing fear when I alone was in the room.
This spider also showed an appreciation for certain musical sounds (the
instrument used was the paper and comb mouth-organ of childhood); low,
soft music would always entice her from her den beneath the table-lid,
while loud, quick sounds seemed to frighten and disgust her.

[60] Mr. Willard Bates, a druggist of Owensboro, Kentucky, in whose
store this instance of decorative aestheticism occurred, called my
attention to the insect, which was busily engaged in beautifying her
web.

Among animal music-lovers this chapter does not embrace those natural
musicians, the crickets, grasshoppers, locusts, frogs, and birds, whose
love-songs form such a large part of the aesthetic in nature; yet the
instance I am about to relate cannot be omitted, for it clearly
indicates a love for musical sounds other than those produced by the
creature itself or its mates.

A gentleman,[61] formerly living in the country, but now an
attorney-at-law and residing in the town in which I live, told me that,
on one occasion, he succeeded in raising two quails from eggs placed
beneath a brooding barnyard fowl. These birds grew to maturity, and,
what is rare indeed, became so exceedingly tame that they ran about the
house and yard with the utmost freedom, showing not the slightest fear,
and, seemingly, taking the greatest pleasure in the caresses bestowed
upon them by the children of the household. This gentleman comes of a
musical