, 1880-12-03
A Nan with a Mermaid.

reOlStereu from lue iIii.N
Yokohama, and in addition TO the inter
nst that attaches to him, owing to the
stanre country he halls from, he enjoys
sbe further distinction OF being known
40 "the man with mermaid. A Gl06e-
1o,nocrnt reporter learned short time
n;nce that Mr.. Doyle not only enjoys the
I;stinction mentioned, but really is the
,,ossessor of genuine mermaid. The
lponortor hunted up Mr. Doyle and had n
,,Ieosant chat with him. He had been in
fTanan for several years, and was greatly
;nferested in the many undermining in
a,ences Mt work in the Orient. Mr..
novle who is an art critic and collector,
',oHt into raptures over the richness of
Tanon's art products, and that is just
what was expected of him, as he Is here
with large quantity OF rare Japanese
articles, as curious as they are costly.
Rut these lost all interest to the re-
,orter when long deep glass case, in
the shape of an aquarium, was exhibited,
which held the most curious and the
rarest OF all the objects in the collection.
r. was a wonderful looking thing, almost
b,deous to look upon, but possessing u
nowerful attraction for the beholder,
awinp to the queer amalgamation of
species displayed in its formation. Those
who have seen the old time geography
illustration, which has recently been
nsed rs a trademark for certain patent
hair restorative and which represents the
mermaid rising from the sea and comb
ing her long locks with one hand while
in the other she holds small looking
glass. can recall this picture and thereby
form an idea of what the present mon
strosity looks like, barring, however, the
beauty, which is q distinguishing trait of
the ideal mermaid. Mr.. Doyles strange
curiosity is half human, half fish. The
head, chest, abdomen and arms are un-
mistakably human, but from the abdo-
men down the creature is fish, scaly,
6nnv and formed like the extremities of
a dweller in the water. The arms
are covered with scales to
the wrist, and the backs of
the small hands have the same
scaly covering to the finger tips. The
head is small as that of baby, but is
perfect in every detail the forehead does
not recede, but is high and straight, and
is of the class that indicates an unusual
degree of intelligence. The eyes are
soft, swimmy and lightless, as those Of
fish: but the mouth, the ears, the nose,
and in fact all the other features, are
human, regular, clear cut, and as per-
feet as beautiful woman's face. A
light covering of brown hair, several
inches in length, and eyebrows of the
same color, are the only hirsute ap-
pendages The spinal column is clearly
seen running up to the base OF the skull
and falling down the back until it is lost
in the fishy extremity. Ten ribs are
easily counted upon the breast, and the
mammalian female development for feed
ing the young is easily discernible. The
mermaid measures almost three feet
from the crown of its head to the extrem-
ity of the caudal fin, and is said to be
larger than the only other specimen OF
the kind ever seen in this country. The
other mermaid is now on exhibition at
the New York Aquarium, and attracts
vast amount of attention from scientists,
as well as from the general public.
Mr.. Doyle is very proud OF his mer-
maid, and, although great many at
tempts have been made to induce him to
sell the curious creature, he has thus lar
refused to part with her. He says the
monstrosity has been subjected to the
closest scrutiny by scientists of the
Pacific Slope, all Of whom have pro
nounced her the most wonderful natural
phenomenon ever brought to their
notice, and have concurred in declaring
mermaids no longer myths. The
curiosity was captured two years ago by
three fisherman, near Urishaba, in the
great inland sea. They had seen her
many times and had made many attempts
to capture her, and succeeded in
taking her ouly after the most
persistent efforts. When taken she
was placed in the museum at Toxic and
remained there for year and half.
She had been heard by the fishermen to
sing peculiar song while on the rocks,
but never spoke, except to feebly try to
arSlculate, after her capture. She was
fell on peculiar seaweed, the secret OF
which is known only to the Japanese,
and thrived under the great care taken
OF her. Mr.. Doyle purchased her from
the authorities of Toxic at the extrava-
giant figure of 5000 sats, or dollars. The
purchase was made to satisfy sudden
desire to possess the strange creature,
and Mr. Doyle does not know what
special advantage he enjoys in being one
of the very few men who own mermaid.
= Globe-Democrat
KEEPING ONIoNs.-A Minnesota writer
says, in the New York Sun, that he
makes as deep IL pit as he can with the
plow for onions and cabbages in dry,
sheltered place near the house, scraping
out all the loose dirt with q hoe, and
putting in some chaff or straw from the
stack, and tramping down we'll. Then
he hauls the onions from where they
grew and piles them in carefully on this,
and puts more chaff on top and covers
up with foot of dirt from each side,