The Opelousas courier., 1886-05-22
N0NSTR0SITIES
HOW THEY ARE MADE FOR NH.
SUEMs BY AN INVENTOR.
The Manufacture of Sea Serpents.
Mermaids, Etc. Ingenious De-
vices to Make Peoples Eyes
Bulge with Wonder.

IN a long, dusty loft, where sloping
rafters make n double up like a Jack
knife, of a huge wooden rookerNin New
ark, N. j., an old bison-backed German
with long, matted, gray beard and small
red eyes, Is preparing a m~onstrosity that
is to electrify scientific men and wiring
silver dimes from the curious and be-
nighted public. The inventor is a man
IF genius, and as talented as he is i'm
pecunious.
He came to this country several years
ag0 with a panorama of the Rhine, which
proved to be a failure. Since then he has
been occupied in giving birth to a large
family Of extinct and mythical beings,
.ach as sea dragons, ~icythyosauri, plesio-
sauri, alligator boys, Indian maidens and
mermaids. These elaborate works of art
end a sale in the dime museums of this
country, and, it is said, are accountable
for wondrous birth marks incidental to
the population of the rural districts. This
has been proved by the fact that recently
q lady in Pennsylvania gave birth to a
child whose back was embeIlished with a
red outline sketch of the Bombay Hook
norman, with whom the lady had become
smitten while on a visit to Chatham
street prior to her becoming a mother.
The chart Of this identical marine animal
Is nov employed to keep the snow out of
the workshop in the loft.
Now. there smoothing that the diseased
brain of man has ever conjured UP that
the modern Michael Angelo cannot at
cnce convert into hideous shape. All he
needs is a roll of stiff wire, lots of rags,
paper and glue, some dirty colored paints,
pigs ears, turkey bones, fishes teeth and
the pickings of a dozen ash barrels.
Give these things in plenty to the sculp-
tor and he appears in a delirium of frolic.
With a turn of his wrist, like magic the
most repulsive looking objects loom up
on all sides. AT present he is at work on
the first genuine sea serpent ever cap
tured by man." It is over a hundred feet
long, and its girth is equal to Benjamin
FTanklin's stomach on its pedestal in
Printing House square. The vertebra Of
the huge sea monSer stand out with great
p%oninence, and are composed of old por-
celain door knobs. They are about a yard
apart. The scales of the beast are the
shells of the Venus mercenaria-hard
clam-oveFlapped The fins are Palmace
fanul toid palm leaf fans). The name
and whiskers are contributed by the
Broadway stageus equus (played out
Broadway stage horses}. The eyes are
the bottoms of broken Lagerii beerus
bottltis flagerbecr bottles, and the teeth
are the spare ribs of the Pachydermalous
sus scrofa, most commonly called the hog.
At present the inventor is writing the his
tory of the serpent from Professor Baird's
Interesting work on the subject. This
monster, it is found. was first discovered
in the Indian ocean, captured by the crew
Of i wrecked whaler and brought to San
francisco alive, where it died and was
embalmed, etc. The story of this won
der would fill ten pages of the United
States fish commissioner report, and will
be nearly as accurate.
The making Of riermaids is purely an
American achissment, although the first
Ilyentcr was an Englisman now living in
this city. They were first made in this
country thirty-three years ago to fill an
order of a noted Snowman. Hundreds
since have been manufactured and have
been exhibited all over the country as
genuine. They are of all sizes and shapes.
The bodies and heads are made of paper,
rags and wire. The tails are of the cod
fish. The teethsare fishes. The arms
are turkey bones and legs. Dried eyes
Of the turkey are used when available.
They are presumed to Be more hideous
and fossil-like than those of glass or
paste.
The success of every mermaid depends
upon her historian. There are men who
Sit up nights to think of something new
ID say about them. Some of the exhibi-
tors are very happy and clever in their
descriptions. One of sthesessaid the other
dag, 1--WE been d side shower all me life,
md have Travelled the whole country
over. The best route for mernaids is
through Ohio. The men there are wild
to sec 'ern. I've known half a dozen N
gagements Of marriage broken because
the lovers would 20 in the tent; and
there was q divorce suit started down in
Knox county because some old farmer
fell IN loxe with the pictures Of q mermaid
at q side show at d circus Kinda queer
things Is mermaids. y
e q man With q tout neart 20
cont 3nnplate calmly the terrible sea
drsgons which hover from the wires at
the roof of the loft. They are prolific OF
startling yarns and lengthy pedigrees,
they, zoe, are made of wire, rags, paper
md paint. The prongs which stud their
back bones are rooster spurs, their flip
pers are hogs ears, their legs Of sticks
and rags. The alligator boys are supposed
IA he the offspring of colored ladies who
hare been chased or frightened by alIiga
tors. They, too, are made of rags, paper
and wire, with curly sheepskm put on
odd places with glue.
The Indian maidens ore terrors from
Terre Haute, also of rags, varnish and
paper They are always discovered by
Colonel EgiIston, who, while prospecting
Tor coal in the West, came across these
natural mummies iii dark caves. The dry
cir Of the West IS cited as being the pre-
serving power. Some years q goriIlas
had quitea run. They were ali manu-
factured-NeD York Herald.
Strictly Business.
81 TIE reception given to Lawrence