Washington sentinel., 1898-06-11
- ~ SENTINEL
Sea-Peonle.

Why IS it we near notnlnS Ol TIC
mermaid in our daY7 Is 1t true
that it has become extinct; that
the voice Of the siren is no longer
heard where it once led the un-
wary on treacheTous shores; that
sailors, welded to the belief thatlt
has its home in the sea, now search
in vain for this curious creaturef
The prudent man hesitates to give
4 definite answer, for less than fifty
years ago a school OF mermaids
was seen on the coast OF Scotland,
and il is but sixty years since the
last catch was made. Still there
is the fact that in our day no mer-
maid has been seen. This has
led TO the belief that, like the dodo,
the roc, the dragon and the cen
taur, it is thing OF the past. The
skeptical man even denies that the
mermaid had ever an existence,
and holds that the creature, half
fish, half human, sprang from the
brain of some wiSeacre, who told
stories and spun yarns for the
marines. But the horse Of Eocene
Europe was something between
a Shetland pony and a pig, with
three separate hoots on each OF its
feet" and the seml-human man OF
the Miocene age encourage the
belief that the connecting link be-
tween man and the ape may vet be
found, perhaps in some iastnesS IN
the interior Of 4Ailrieai indssd sams
OF dark forests there IS a tribe Of
dwarfs, human in aspect but wear
ing tails. And who has not
laughed over the circumstantial
stories connected with the sea
serpent2 Yet, if reports speak true,
Professor Baird has faith in that
willy creature, and knows no reason
why we should doubt its exist
ence.
Unfortunately we have no living
specimen of the mermaid, and no
dried ones, for that matter, other
than those that have come to us
from Japan; but what more have
we of the dodo than the drawing
in the British Museum and if we
reject the dragon, of which we
have literally nothing but effigies,
we throw discredit on the Scrip
tures-the words put into the
mouths OF David, Jeremiah and
Ezekiel, to say nothing of the
great red dragon that has so large
a place in Revelations. We have
no such high authority for the ex-
istsnce of the mermaid during the
years that it had a place in the
fauna OF Europe, but many inter-
esting narratives Of its habits, both
at large and IN captivity, have
come down to US.
ThcTs was an extraordinary
catch of this kind in the days OF
King John--a norman, taken on
the coast OF Suffolk, where it vas
kept in confinement for a time.
The body Of the creature above
the waist (tor all below was GOV
cred with scales) was hairy, but
the crown OF the head was bald
which added much to its human
aspect. Hee would not or coulC
not utter any speeche, although to
trye him they hung him up by the
heels (rudimentaTy heels, prob
ably) and miserably tormented
him" But he slept well when left
alone, land would gette him to his
couche at the setting OF the sunne
and rise again when It rose" One
day they allowed him to bathe in
the sea, first taking the precaution
to stretch three nets across the
mouth Of the haven that he might
not escape; but diving to the bot
tom he came up outside OF the
nets, and was given up for lost
in which, however, they were mis-
taken, tor "he came to them apaias
OF his own accorde, and remayneo
with them two months after"
A norman was taken in the
same locality in the time of Henry
H., and was kept by Bartholomew
de Glainville, custodian of the
Castle of Oreford, by the space oil
six months or more. He spake
not a word. Oitentimes he was
brought to church, where he
showed no tokens elaboration. AT
length, when he was not we'll
looked to, he stole away to the
sea and never after appeared.
But captured mermen have not
always been so irreverent. A
father OF the Society Of Jesus, re-
turning to Rome from India, re
ported that during his travels he
has seen "a sea man adorned with
an Episcopal mitre." 1t did not
bear its confinement we'll, and hav-
ing been let loose, it made its way
down to the sea; but "before it
finally disappeared it turned and
bowed in thanks for it's liberty"
AS a general thing the mermaids
captured proved to be far more
devou: when brought into the
church than meTmen. In 1903 a
mermaid taken in a lake in Hol-
land, Thrown thither forth Of the
sea" was carried into the city Of
Haelem, where "she suffered her
self TO have garments put upon her,
and admitted the use OF bread,
milk and similar articles OF diet.
also she did learn to spin and to
do many other things alter the
manner of women; also she did
devoutlY bend the knees to the
image of Christ cruciied, being
docile in all things Of which she
was commanded Of her master;
but living there many years she