The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-18
IN A MERMAID FACTORY.
Curious Industry That in stiu Car
ried On in New York city.
From The Chicago News.

From the Chicago News.
New York, May 10-That the modern
mermaid is manufactured every school
boy knows But where and how?
A wandering tour Of Investigation on
the Bowery will answer both questions.
There is many a dime museum in that
famous thoroughfare stiH drawing crowds,
in which the mermaid, although she has
been deposed from her high estate as
one of the leading attractions, still re-
clines in one corner I'm a CLASSY ocean,
with her everlasting golden tresses ana
the inevitable sad smile.
The melancholy crowd, always looking
as if IL did not expect TO gel fun value
for its dime, steps up and presses around
the tank. The features of the mermaid
somewhat closely resemble those Of the
lady in the glass case outside Of the
haIrdressers store on Grand street, but
the hair is realistic and the tail marvel
OF nature ana are combined. sad to re-
late. the crowd views the mermaid more
as a work of art than nature and com
ments in a knowing and cynical manner
upon the skillful way in which the tail
is attached to the body
There are waves ana tides of popularity
in the dime museum as there are in all
the affairs of man. 1t is a considerable
number Of years since the mermaiden
was really Gin the SWIM" as a drawing
attraction. At one time there were a
dozen "sculptors' engaged in the task
OF supplying Luc QlIut uluStuiL5 OA the
country with counterfeit presentments of
the siren so celebrated in song and story.
NOW, alas, there are but two
PROT Henry Arnold and plain Mr. VIII
liam Hanson are both experts in their
line The latter lives and works in an
artistic quarter uptown, but the profess
scr spends at least twelve hours out OF
the tWenty-four in his factory Al the
rear of a museum on the BOWery.
This is a very curious and entertaining
place. Prof. Arnold does not coniine him
w afHHln no
has a large anatomy and exteriors with
which the museum proprietor OF to-day
amuses his patrons. 1t Is sad refiec-
tion that the passing Of the popularity
OF the unscientinc mermaid should usher
in the reign of the medical mOnstrOsity.
But such is the case, and the professor,
Boosting a knowledge Of medicine. sur
gerry and anatomy, IS equal 10 either task.
Yes" he said, glancing at the finished
and fragmentary portions of the human
body lying in picturesque confusion in
different corners of the factor, Il supply
the dime museums with specimens OF all
kinds, from the mermaid ana the missing
link to life-like figures Of the SiameSe
twins and FItzsimmons' shoulders. A
man has to go through a good deal be-
fore ne can accomplish much in my line
of business. Here ! have an order, just
received, for a figure showing a com
pound fracture of an arm Not long ago
I turned out d group which the person
for whom ! made 1t was kind enough to
call a masterpiece. 1t represented a man
Dt4iE open a bNl Oi4 ADi dLDtuultlllS. r ASH
ion runs that way just now. The dime
museum public is very fond Of seeing
exactly how these operations Of which
they hear so much are performed 1t is
a grewsOme taste, but we have to cater
to it,"
Out mermaids, professor Have you
none on hand just now?"
"4he mermaid said the professor ora
cularly, is species Of FISH caught only
once in fifty years I was fortunate
enough to see one a boy and have re-
tanned such a vivid rccOllec ton of that
beautiful creature that l have had no diff
Guilty in suppling the public with faithful
representations of the mermaid ever since
This is one Of the few instances in which
it Is permissible for art TO supply the de-
fects Of nature"
Suiting the action to the word the pro-
fessor took up lump Of modelling clay
and began to fashion the rough outlines
Of the upper half Of a female figure. He
worked with surprising rapidity, and il
was not long before the better half of a
mermaid had taken shape.
From that clay model" continued the
mermaidmaker, II take a mold and then
cast wax figure. And the young woman
who IS very clever with her brush puts
in that beautiful complexion and attaches
those long golden tresses which l remem-
her so wei ia the maiden Of nay youthful
days You have noticed perhaps, that
there is little need Of drapery."
"And the tail, professor,
THAT depends upon my orders. II Is a
remarkable thing. but the tail of the live
mermaid as ] remember her closely re-
sembled the caudal appendage of a shark.
Now it occasionally happens that 1 receive