, 1890-05-07
ARTIFICIAL MERMAIDS.
THE "GIRLS OF THE SEA" MANU-
FACTURED BY SKILLED HANDS.

Monkeys Bodies Joined to Fishes Tails
with Cunning and DeIterIty-How the
People Are Deceived by showmen and
Their AIds-Tho Mermaid Maker Talks
"Mermaids made and repaired" Such
IN advertisement was well calculated to
attract attention, and, as it confronted
me one day in a little frequented street
in a large eastern city, l determined to
make the acquaintance of the maker OF
these incongruities. Pulling an old fash
Toned brass bell handle, a little old man,
crowned with a squar paper cap, came
to the door, and after cycling me suspi-
ciously for a moment invited me in.
There was the ''beggarly array Of empty
boxes" walls containing strange animals,
curious stuffed birds which peered from
high shelves and were laced together by
cobwebs laden with dust, while many
other objects strewn about told of the
rade of the taxidermist.
TIL MERMAID MAKER.
Yes" said the old man, in reply to
my questions, 81 am a mermaid maker,
and l hatter myself that l have produced
some of them most artistic mermaids ever
placed upon the market. Why, SIR"
NcheAAdNh Aht oPtahiA wal LAlbB up uLutl
the recollection of his triumphs, 81 pro-
duced one that fooled even the doctors.
You see, mermaids have been made as
long as anything. The Chinese manu-
featured them centuries ago, and so well
that a large number of people believed
in them; and if the work is fairly done
the production is one of the best cards a
show can have.
Zone day a man came to me and l
knew the moment / saw him thai he was
a Snowman. He said he had mermaids,
but that on the last trip a man had of
fered to wager him $500 that he would
not dare to allow the mermaid to be cut
open; 50 he wanted something that would
bear inspection and be ready for such a
contingency. / told him / could do it,
N received the order to go ahead.
Generally in cheap work 1 stuffed
the skins with cotton or something of
the kind and let them GO, but in this
case | went to work on scientific princi-
pies. took the skin of a monkey and
separated it at the waist; then allowed
1t to dry as a mummy would, all of which
l helped along by the application of heat.
l now took a fish common in the China
sea, one that would not be familiar, and
treated it in a similar way, and finally l
joined them both. / fastened scales upon
the monkey portion and carefully graded
them up among the hairs; then intro
duced some hairs down upon the fish
portion; barnacles were fastened here
and there, and a great cut was left open
up and down the abdomen, through
which any one could readily see the ribs
n the joining Of the vertebre.
The face had beer given an agonized
look, the hands were clinched, and, all
in all, it was one of the most disagreea-
BILE sights l ever saw, even though l did
produce it.
Yes, it ave complete satisfaction.
When they exhibited it a cloth was
thrown over the body, and when any
question was raised the proprietor would
say that he would leave it to a commit
tee of medical men, thus being confident
of obtaining some notoriety. In one case
n number OF provincial doctors were COM
pletely deceived, and signed a paper re-
tracing certain statements which they
had made to the effect that the mermaid
was n sham.
EXHIBITING THE FREAKS
The old mermaid maker has passed
away Dul tAdInpleS Oh MS WOrk uTe O1Ien
seen either in grog shops along the har-
Dor streets in shipping towns, in old tav-
erns and occasionally in n museum. The
mermaid is generally an adjunct of the
side show, or second rate circus. Such a
one L recently saw. 1t was of large size
and kept in a tank of water. A spirited
painting on canvas depicted a beautiful
maiden, half fish, floating upon the
waves, while the young man who stood
by shouted his story of the Lady of the
Seas" unconsciOusly, we will assume,
giving the impression that the mermaid
was alive and frisking about the tank.
The little Enclosure was well patron
lied, and it was curious to listen to the
comments of those who paid the required
dime. 1t was n holiday, and young men
and women were searching for some ex.
cuse to spend their earnings. When ten
or twelve victims had gathered the pro-
prietor would wink at u friend, borrow
his cane and begin a lecture remarkable
for the exact repetition of its points, in
which he explained that the mermaid
was half fish and half human, and had
been captured in some foreign sea and
brought to America at enormous ex-
pense. At least one-half the people who
gazed at the mermaid evidently had a
suspicion that it was "A fraud, while a
third accepted it as a fact and expressed
their amazement and wonder at it, all of
which shows that with all our educa-
tional advantages we are still credulous
perhaps to an extreme.
One of the most skillful workers in this
uncanny art was well known to us, and
from hon many hints as to the ways
which are dark were obtained. In sew
eral large popular unscientifc museums
of the country remarkably hideous mer-
maids are exhibited, generally under
glass cases, while with them is offered a
paper purporting to be the testimony of
the eaptors. 1t is remarked that in many
cases the names signed to these papers
are not fictitious but evidently given in
good faith. There is but one assumption,
that either the men were bribed or de-
ceived.-Cor. Philadelphia Times.
To Obtain Sleep.
Among the various remedies for Sleep
~lessness lately advised is that in which