leafy cabin; and the signaling-thread ends just at the top of that leg.

Whoever has not seen the spider in this attitude, with her hand, so to speak, on the telegraph-receiver, knows nothing of one of the most curious examples of animal cleverness. Let any game appear upon the scene and the slumberer, at once aroused by means of the leg receiving the vibrations, hastens up. A locust which I myself lay on the web gives her this agreeable shock, and what follows? If she is satisfied with her prey, I am still more satisfied with what I have learned.

One word more. The web is often shaken by the wind. The signaling-cord must pass this vibration to the spider. Nevertheless, she does not leave her hut; she remains indifferent to the commotion prevailing in the net. Her line, therefore, is something better than a bell-rope; it is a telephone, capable like our own, of transmitting tiny waves of sound. Clutching her telephone-wire with a toe, the spider listens with her leg; she can tell the difference between the vibration coming from a prisoner and the mere shaking caused by the wind.

CLASS ACTIVITIES

1. Read the part of the selection which told how Fabre obtained his information. What told you how the spider's wire is constructed?

2. Tell the class about the size and shape of spiders' webs that you have seen.

3. Is Fabre right in calling the spider's line a telegraph-wire? Would signalling-cord be a better name? Explain.

4. How many ways can you name by which insects, animals, or birds send signals to each other?

66

5. When a little girl called a telegraph-wire a message vine," she changed prose into poetry. Of the two following sentences, which is poetry? which is prose?

"There was a garden in her face

Where lilies and red roses blow."

She had a beautiful redand-white complexion.

What, then, is one of the differences between prose and poetry? 6. Volunteer reports: (a) How ants send and receive messages; (b) how people "hunt with the camera."

5. UNDER A TELEPHONE-POLE

CARL SANDBURG

Read the following verse slowly; dwell upon each phrase and sentence long enough to think of the exact meaning. Think of one experience that helps you put meaning into one or more of the lines.

I am a copper wire slung in the air,

Slim against the sun I make not even a clear line of shadow. Night and day I keep singing — humming and thrumming: It is love and war and money; it is the fighting and the tears, the work and want,

Death and laughter of men and women passing through me, carrier of your speech,

In the rain and the wet dripping, in the dawn and the shine drying,

A copper wire.

CLASS ACTIVITIES

1. What experience helped you put meaning into the poem? 2. Name other poems which glorify things that we usually think commonplace. Name other things as insignificant as copper wire that are of great service to men.

3. What effect is produced by the last line?

4. Point out similarities in meaning between this verse and "The Voices in Space," on p. 251.

5. Read "Under a Telephone Pole" aloud; then read the first stanza of "Postmen," on p. 256. What similarities do you notice? Which is the easiest to read; which the most difficult? Explain. ADDITIONAL READINGS. 1. "Talking from Sea to Sea," in Literary Digest, 50:421-423. 2. “Can You Send a Telegram?” H. S. Fullerton, in American Magazine, 92: 43–44. 3. "The Greatest. Marvel of the Twentieth Century in Electricity," American Magazine, 93: 5-7. 4. "Our Animal Allies in the World War," E. H. Baynes, in Harper's Magazine, 142:168–178. 5. "The Ghost on the Wire,” R. P. Lowry, in Scribner's Magazine, 72:153–161. 6. “Eavesdropping on the World," O. G. McMeans, ibid., 72: 225-232. 7. "The Flashing Wires That Gird the Earth," Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia, 8: 3454-3463. 8. "Telephone and Telegraph," W. C. Reavis, in Lessons in Community and National Life, B-10. 9. "Telephones for the Millions," B. J. Hendrick, McClure's Magazine, 44: 45-55

6. A HERO OF WIRELESS

FRANCIS ARNOLD COLLINS

A diagram of the various parts of this story resembles somewhat a diagram of a tree. Corresponding to the trunk and running through the story is The Heroism of Jack Phillips. The parts of the story branch out from the trunk. Copy the diagram and write upon the branch lines names for the acts of Phillips.

The loss of the Titanic, one of the most appalling of all sea disasters, will always recall the heroic sacrifice of her wireless man, Jack Phillips. No ship ever put to sea with more confidence in facing danger; until the very last Phillips's faith in his boat was absolute. The great tribute to his courage is that when hope was abandoned, and he found himself face to face with death, he kept firm hold of his courage and stood at his post.

The night of the disaster found Phillips completely tired out from a long vigil in the wireless room. The instrument had broken down during the day and for seven hours Phillips had worked without interruption to locate the trouble. It is easy to imagine what would have happened if he had

neglected the work or had been unable to make the repairs; perhaps the Titanic's fate would have remained forever a mystery. Phillips's watch ended ordinarily at midnight; early in the evening, however, his assistant operator, Harold Bride, remembering that Phillips was worn out, offered to relieve him.

At the moment the Titanic collided with the iceberg Phillips was receiving and Bride, standing beside him, was urging him to go to bed. The shock of the impact was so slight that the operators went on with their conversation as though nothing had happened. A few minutes later the captain explained that an inspection was being made to discover what damage had been done. He added that they had better prepare to send out a call for assistance. His order was thought to be a mere matter of form; neither operator was the least disturbed.

After ten minutes the captain again appeared in the doorway, still without any appearance of being excited. The sound of confusion on deck reached them, but no one realized the full danger of the situation. The wireless was working perfectly.

"Send out the call for assistance," said the captain. "Which call, Captain?" Phillips asked.

"The regulation international call for help." And the captain hurried away

The C Q D was instantly flashed out with the entire force of the apparatus, the most powerful then afloat. This continued for five minutes without an answering call, when the captain again appeared in the doorway.

"CQ D," Phillips said, suiting the action to the words. "Send the S O S," said the captain.

The famous call for help, which will always be remembered in the history of marine disasters, was then sent.

"CQD, SO S. Rush-rush. Titanic."

As yet the whole affair was not considered serious. Phillips spoke lightly of the situation; all three men laughed. The

captain, with no idea of how grimly prophetic his remark was, said that Phillips might never have another chance to send the alarm call. The Titanic was known to be taking water, but it was not thought that she was in any serious danger.

The first steamer to answer the S OS was the Frankfurt. Phillips told her briefly that the Titanic had struck an iceberg, gave her exact latitude and longitude, and asked for assistance. He still thought that the only assistance needed would be help for the passengers, who might have to be taken off to enable them to reach port more quickly. The operator on the Frankfurt left his instrument to report to his captain. A few minutes later Phillips picked up the Carpathia; she answered almost immediately that she had put about and was headed full speed for the Titanic's position. Bride, hurrying to the captain with the information, found the decks already crowded with passengers, who were beginning to grow excited. When he returned to the wireless room Phillips was calmly sending detailed directions to the Carpathia. He turned from his work and told Bride to put on his clothes. Bride had completely forgotten that he was not yet dressed.

Bride continued to carry messages to the captain, stating the Carpathia's speed and exact position. By this time the lifeboats were ready and the first, filled with women and children, was lowered overside. The Titanic's list forward was meanwhile rapidly increasing.

A little later the captain again entered the wireless room and said that the engine room was rapidly filling and that the dynamos could not last much longer. Phillips announced this fact to the Carpathia. Shortly after, the station at Cape Race was terrified to find the Titanic messages blurred and growing gradually weaker.

On deck the confusion was rapidly mounting. The uppermost deck was nearly awash. Almost the last of the boats had left the ship, whose decks were still crowded with more than fifteen hundred of the passengers and crew. For the