The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-01-01
STlLLWATER, MINNESOTA r#M.3

elapsed since the death of his prede-
cessor. Our Sinbad could, and GER
tainly would, make his namesake blush
for shame. 1 doubt not that he has
turned over in his grave many times
since The MIRROR has published his
marvellous exploits-they could never
be called adventures.
A canal boat life is dreamy, listless,
idle existence, conducive to stimula-
ton Of the imagination. Consequently
it we take into consideration the many
years that Sinbad passed at this oc-
Ecupation we arrive at the conclusion
that in the line of fiction he has Sinbad
the Ancient beat to pulp. I would
have never called attention to his
former occupation had he not scurril-
ously attacked me in these columns
and broadly limited that my sea ex-s
periences consist of boat ride on the
st. Croix river.
1t is not my wish to get up an argu-
ment on this subject and the Lord
knows that man who wears false, teeth
is the last man in the world / would
pick quarrel with.
| Having disposed of our friend for
the time being, l will deal out one. or
two incidents of my own sea life. l
remember one winter when I was on
the old whaler Jeanette" We were
coming around the Horn and encount-
| cred few breezes that closely initiated
a hurricane at the start, but finally
grew so violent that every minute we
all expected that the force of the wind
would blow us off the face Of the earth.
| We had several hogsheadS of molasses
aboard which we sometimes used as
bait for flies, and were finally compelled
to open them and throw them over
board so the ship would stick to the
water and not be blown off the earth
icouTfletely- It. wor,zad like. a CHARM.
/ and we were saved.
During this voyage had strange
pet. doubt if any other sailor ever
made a. pet of shark had one for
over a year. He used to follow the
ship wherever we went and finally
grew so tame that l often used him as
you would use saddle horse on shore.
Many times have l slipped into my
bathing suit and calling Claudio, my
shark, along side would mount his back
and away we would go over the bound
ing main in search of whales. Many
schools have / discovered in this man
ner, and look back with pleasant rec
objections to my old pet.
One day while out with Claudio we
we're lying close along the lee siore of
a barren island in the North Pacific
when l thought I saw strange object
lying in the water several yards dis
tant. 1 "gee-hawed" to my steed and,
behold / saw my first and only mer-
maid. She was beautiful in face and
| figure and had the loveiiest straW-color-
ed hair ever saw. We had long talk.
She called me "Papa" and insisted
that L should call her "Flossie" and
invited me down to her house, which
was a grottO, she told me, about 180
fathoms below where we were. l had
to decline, but tried my best to get her
to come over to the ship. She was
mad because [ wouldn't play in her
yard first. l made date for the next
day, but never saw her afterwards. [
have always thought somebody knock
ed me. 1t may have been that Sinbad
was around that way. Itwas about that
time he tells of being in Melbourne,
when in order to recuperate his fallen
fortunes he got a man to mount soap
box in one of the saloons and sing
few songs. So he says. He said also
that the people fell over themselves to
get money into his hat, many running
to the bank in order to get gold pieces.
"But it sounds to me, 1t sounds to
me, 1t sounds to me like a." you all
know that song. J. III. d.