The St. Johns herald., 1886-10-14
TIE SPLENDID MERMAID.
Sdow Jack Saw One, or Something Very
 Like One, but Cou.sln't Catch Her.

.@I was one day out a-fishing" said an old salt to London newspaper man, y'' in about three fai honsof wa. CT.
 "It was old Oc.oD day. the water very cuiet. TheEe was cOuliDgs. whit ings. poTtings the like of such fish to eatch in plenty, and l Iowed out to see jf could .airn Sh.l in.
 '' Wen when l came .JO the place where I r cknn q the fis!i was. threw in my o rs. picked up the tOats anchor tnd chuc6ed t overheard.
 Guess my surprise and annoyance when ,und that soms one Lad been and gone and cut the c3blo close to where 1t was male fast in .ne boat. It was the doing of some boys, suppose {; but, anyways, the ancnor took the cable, and away went the whole consarn
 IL was new rope. and l had no notion of losing iE md ny liJJle anchor ss well; so took ifs ing line, put soue extra eigbt5 upon it., and se- cured the other eI to little corE fender, " lh wich ! buOyed the spot, aLdL4tn rowed nome agair for the loan of creep.
 A creep. may tell ye. is a contriv- ance for sweep ng he bottom oi the water with, 10 br:ng up anything ye may have lot.
 "WelL. I got the loan e; one, and called to Jimmy Dadds chap of about Is years old. to come out aud give n q hand. promising him half Q pint. We rowed out came 10 the place, an3 he began to row quietly, while : chucked the creep over.
 l. h3Gn't been fown two minutes when it cime across something that felt solt. IL wasn't to be pu led up easy. The hold of ij anchored the boat
 "f What the b.azes have we hooked here says ! to Jimmy, feeling whatever 1t vas webbing, as it might be, upon the creep. anI get refusing to com up.
 "' Come and le $ a hand
 He got ua, laid hold os the line, and hauled with ino. What v7b5 coming We couldn't imagine.
 The feel, ] tell ye, was quite sing'lar IL wGsut like a piece O. wreck it wasn't like a fish; it wasn't like being foul of rock. There was a kind 0 swaying and softness about it, as if the object was alive md was hold ing on to prevent being draWed up.
 "' Haul! says I.
 "We bent our backs, and started tho object out of it's moorags below; and what dye think came up?
 Why, sir, there popped half out Of water the beautifullest female as ever ye set ey,s on! She looked right at us, and rever see such smile as she had.
 "She seemed to be covered with jewe S, and her black hair was all wreai h. ed about with seaweed. She had one arm raised out of water, and this vas stretched ou- to us as if she entreated us to leave her alone.
 "Jim, who was the most ignorant fool of a lad that ever l met, at sight of her gives a screech and tumbles right backwards into the bottom of the boat.
 a His falling threw the line out of .mv hand. The ", man disappeared, and when l hauled up the creep for her again the irons G me up naked.
 l own l was bi. scared myself, .butlot so alarmed that I wasn't auxlou5 to go on creeb ing for her again. But Jimmy refus cd to have anything more to do with l.. He said no; he d come out tO sweep for aE anchor. he didn't want no dealngs with apparitions. A., to the hali-plIt. 1 might drink 1t mr- self What he required was to be pu. ashore.
 "Howey r. wa n't going to leave without my anchor, so l gets the bo Into position again, and Ut the fir throw of the creep brings up the cab I tn rowed Jimmy ashore, wher meeting q cou; ie of men, 1 tells the of the apparit on that came up, and i. vites them to cone out and try if anotheI sight could be got of her.
 "Well, they consented, but though 1 could have swore we swept over the place twenty times we never hooked on to tho object. It got la ked about, and others tried, but to no purpose.
 "Jimmy'a yarn made people believe it was mermaid. Fact is, he was in such a staie of funk. he saw good deal mora than did, or that any other man that had'nl lost his head would.
 He said she mC'ioned with her hand, as though to drive us away, and that her eyes spar iied. l couldn't deay my. self that she iooSed as if he dress wus coated with lewe and pearls, aJ iea-t as much of her dress as l could see 1; and there's no dcI iuG also, that heC hair was a Deauti ui black, and IS she rose to th surface I1ukeI tO be Il at z and filing under the se;.W-ed Una. n'.H1, about her hair so -raceMl y you uishC ha sWore ii was hersweethearJ's dOirg."
 But 1t wasn't D mermaid, Of course, '" said 1.
 Well. dun no, I'm sure." he an, swered.
 "The newspapers said" exclaimed another man. % that it must ha' been G ships LgureAeai.
 "Aye.' sad another seaman. with some little show ot re1eIUmeai, a5 though refuting an argument th3s au- l-oyed him. lJ's ali very fine saving It might have been fl tikurenead. But way was it never come across again! How was it that me and the score ot hers who tried for it never could hook it?
 ''I I'm not going for to say that she was alive, Tor aint such a fool as Jim my; but neither are ye going to get me to believe that !he smiling beautiful figure as. rose up gliitering with jeo ala was carvln' out of wood, and so Us ye. What it was 1 dun no, but l 0o Know what it warnt."
 And. after this wise speecIi, looking very eravely at me. he filled his p-pe Riresh and sat smokI z LGoughtfully.
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