The Republican journal., 1882-07-27
Where the Mermaids are Done.

"Why don't we see no mermaids now?
| knows why -
The oracle was Fern Jipson, able sea
man on board the good ship Osiris. bound
from the port of London to Calcutta his
most attentive auditor was a small mid
shipmite belonging to the same gallant
craft, myself; and the Just quoted pro
tession of familiarity with a certain phase
of the supernatural was delivered on the
fore part of the spar-deck one hot after
noon as we lay becamed on the verge of
the tropics.
Fern was a character. Accustomed to
a seataring life from his very infancy, at
the age of five and-thirty he had been
wrecked on one of the South Sea Islands,
where he and six Of bis companions who
had escaped drowning were taken prison
els 10y the natives. Though he lost one
eye by an arrow wound, ont Of the seven
his life alone had been spared for what
reason was not quite clear, as Fern was
in the habit of varouslv attributing his
good fortune to the accidental crcum-
stance Of his supereNcellence or special
jeNterity in whatever might be the topic
OF conversation or dispute at the moment.
from theology to thimbe rigging. ''Don't
tell me nothing about that ~ he would
say finally and emphatically: iii hadn't
kn0Wed somethn' about that, ] should
ha' been eat mOre'n twenty years ago"
BE that as it may. he had remained on
the island fifteen years marrying a nat
i've woman and living in all respects as
the savages did: SO. thar, when an Eng
lish ship came there after that lapse of
time, lie discovered that he had almost
forgotten his own language. and caught
himself marvelng at the white skins and
strange attire of the visitors as his duskv
adopted brethren did. But not for long
/ he accents of his native tongue wrought
then spell on him, and be was seized
with an irresistible desire to see the old
! country again and the wife whom he sud
denly remembered he had left there He
GOT away. not without some difficulty:
and, after knocking about the world for
several years more, found himself grow
ing old and almost incapacitated for sail
OF work. Reduced To distress and unable
10 get job, by great good luck he stroll
! ed into a shipping office as a torlorn hope
when the crew Of the Osiris were signing
articles; and our captain, with whom
| Fern JipSon had sailed when he was
| fourth officer many years before recog-
niling him, had taken him on and kept
| him in the ship more out OF charity, and
| as pensi0ner Of his own for the sake of
auld lang syne, than for any real service
| the old fellow could render. 1t was, as |
| have said, Il hot afternoon. The watch
| below We're assembled on the torecastIe
head, and presented a fringe Of canvas
cased legs as they hung over the rail,
| laZiiy watching the efforts of the sail
maker to harpoon the porpoises which
we're tunbling their sOmersaults under
our bows: while the sailors Of the watch
on deck were all aloft slowing the top
sails and topgallantsails, all but Fern,
who was squatting on the deck, scraping
the oaken bits surrounding the foremast,
| preparatory to vanishing them. And
| Fern was blubbering like 4 child.
| Though | was midshipman Of that
watch, my duties were 50 far from oner-
Gus that the choice lay before me of see
| ing the sail maker miss his porposes, or
OF talking to Jipson as the better means
Of willing away the time till four o'clock.
The old mans tales Of the marvellous had
a weird fascination for me, so | chose the
latter course, perching myself on the
| hammock bin over against him, and won
derlng what he was crying for. Strange
are the inconsistencies of human nature
| ] knew that he was waiting for me to
question him, and knew equally well
that, if | had done so, he would have re-
| turned Suriy answer or none at ALL So,
after a few minutes silence, | cautiously
opened fire with query which was al
ways pertinent.
"Have Il bit of 'baccy, Fern ?" was
making desperate efforts myself to ac-
qure the fine arts of smoking and chew
ing, and invariably carried plug of
"hard" in my pocket to show that was
a real sailor.
| Without a word he put down his scrap
er and stretched out gnared and venous
| hand in which the tattOed cinnabar and
charcoal showed dimly through the
| brown sun n-glaZed skin; took the cake
| of tobacco, cut OFT a quid which might
have weighed about a quarter OF an
ounce, adjusted it in his cheek with great
deliberation before handing back the re-
mainder, heaVed a deep sigh, and resum-
| ed the scraper.
But, seeing that was not to be light
! ly beguiled into committing myself, he
paused again presently, and began to
pour out his grievance.
"All the other chaps alolt, and me sot
here to scrape bright work like boy !
They think Pm got too old to go alott !
It's bout time were slung over the side
amt no use on board ship now. amt
a sailor now Pm a deck hand now
That's what | am"
1t may be observed, in passing, that
Ferns diction throughout was garnished
with variety of fOrcible expressions,
usually of hyperbohc nature, in the
proportion OF about two words here re-
ported to one of vernacular suppressed
"Anyhow, you've managed to smarten
up that fte-rail." This from me, as a
balm.
"Well, | ought to know summat about
varnshin' If | hadn't known summat
about it, should ha' been eat afore now"
Not wishing to traverse that we'll worn
groove, cut in rather hastily:
"Did you ever see mermaid, Fern,
when you were on the island?
''Mermaid? Hundreds of 'em They
used to come up in shoals there inside O
the reef on fine nights, a-cOmbin' of their
air an a-singin' an dancin' round like !;
mermaids an mermen an little mer- boys
an girls too. Very perlite an af1able
they was, too, if you spoke 'em, and will
lin enough to come ashore, only the
women was jealous of 'em an druv 'em
away with bows an arrers But I've
seen 'em other places too. The Comoro
Isles used to be great place for mer-
maids"
"Where's the Comoro Isles, Fern ?"
! Neither my geographical nor grammati-