The hamlets of Athens, Tenn., and Gilmer, West Va., got into the nation’s news last week, because of two spiders. The Gilmer spider, a bright gold creature three inches in diameter, was discovered in the barn of one Arch Hefner, brother of County Clerk E. W. Hefner. Beneath this spider’s dwelling nook, plainly spun in sheerest spiderweb. the Brothers Hefner said they could read the name “Smith.”
At Athens, Tenn., the spider-finder was one Lee Moses. More venturesome or perhaps more literate than the Gilmer spider, the Athenian spider had written “Smith-8-Y.” Spiderman Moses* interpreted this to mean, “Smith, eight years” and placed his bets accordingly.
*No relation to cynical Senator George Higgins Moses of New Hampshire, Hooverizer of the East.
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