Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-06-01
WHERE THE MERMAIDs ARE GONE.


james Russell Lo,reH, in the Ceatury
WHERE THE MERMAIDS ARE GONE.
"Why don't we see no mermaids
now? l knows whyi"
The oracle was Fern Jipson, able sea-
man On board the good ship Osiris, bound
from tine port of London to Calcutta;
his most attentive auditor was . small
midshipmite belonging to the same gal
liant craft, myself; and the just quoted
profession of familiarity with certain
phase of the supernatural was delivered
on the fore part of the spar-deck one hot
afternoon as we lay becalmed on the
verge of the tropics q
Fern was p Character. Accustomed to
sea-faring 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 his companions who
had escaped drowning were taken pris-
oners by the natives. Though he lost
one eye by an arrow wound, out OF the
seven his life alone had been spared
for what reason was not quite clear, as
Fern was in the habit of variously attrib
uting his good fortune to the accidental
circumstance of his superexcellence or
special dexterity in whatever might be
the topic of conversation or dispute at
the moment, from theology to thimble
rigging. ssDon't tell me nothing about
tha6p' he would say, finally and emphat-
ically; s'if hadn't knowed somethin'
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 native woman and
li,-i,c- IN, oh no did
SO that, when an English ship came
there after the lapse of time, he discov-
cred that he had almost forgotten his
own language, and caught himself mar
Yelling at the white skins and strange
attire of the visitors as his dusky adopted
brethren did But not for long. The
accents of his native tongue wrought
their spell on him, and he was seized
with an irresistible desire to see the old
country again and the wife whom he
suddenly remembered he had left there.
He got away, not without some difficult
ty; and, after knocking about the world
for several years more, found himself
growingNold and almost incapacitated
for sailor work. Reduced to distress
and unable to get job, by great good
luck he strolled into shipping office as
a forlOrn 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, recognizing him, had taken
him on and kept him in the ship more
out of charity, and as a pensioner of his
own for the sake of auld lang syne, than
for any real service the old fellow could
render. s.s..
Though l was midshipman of that
watch, my duties were so far from
onerous that the choice lay before me
of seeing the sail-maker miss his por-
poises 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 weird fascina-
ton for me so chose the latter course,
perching myself on the hammock bin
over against him, and wondering what
he was crying for.
Have a bit of 'baccy, FernP" was
making desperate efforts myself to &C
quire the fine arts of smoking and chew
ing, and invariably carried plug of
"hard" in my pocket to show that l was
q real sailor.
Without word he put down his
scraper and stretched out q gnarled
and venous hand in which the tattooed
cinnabar and charcoal showed dimly
through the brown, sun-glazed skin;
took the cake of tobacco, cut off a quid
which might have weighed about a
quarter of an ounce, adjusted it in his
cheek with great deliberation before
handing back the remainder, heaved a
deep sigh, and resumed the scraper.
"All the other chaps aloft, and me
sot here to scrape bright-work like a
boy! They thinks I'm got too old to go
aloft. It's bout time l were slung over
the side. l amt no use on board of
ship now. 1 amt sailor now. I'm
deck-hand now. That's what l ami"
"Anyhow, you've managed to smart
en- up that fife-rail." This from me, as
a balm.
"Well, I ought to know summat
about varnishin'. If 1 hadn't known
summat about it, should ha' been eat
afore now"
ssDid you ever see mermaid, Fern,
when you were on the island?'
ssMermaid? 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 affable they was, too, If you spoke
'em, and willin' 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 mermaids."
sWhere's the Comoro Isles, FernP"
"You'l see 'em by an by. We shall
leave 'em on the starboard side going
thro' the Mozambique Channel. But
YOU won't see no mermaids there nor
nowhere else, now" And here / asked
the question indicated by Ferns reply,
which is recorded in the title of this
paper. -,
used to be seen," he went on, without
Immediately verifying his claim to a
knowled of the cause of their disap-
pearance;, f'places where folks don't
think of. It's a great mistake to say
tbora,s no ,nerufaids in cold ATTITUDES.