River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-10-18

THE MERMAID THAT
LURED PERKINS

By Claude MatSOn

Perkins saw that there was sort
of concealed hook which was twisted
so it would not slip out of the eye.
He loosened it in a minute, as he did
several others, when, 10! and behold,
the girl wriggled herself out of a sort
Of bag and stood revealed like any
other damsel in proper and regu-
lar bathing suit.
The fish end of the girl was simply
a bag into which she had thrust her
feet and fastened it cunningly about
the waist Perkins fairly shouted for
joy He was not insane after ALL 1t
was all natural.
Then you are not mermaid, after
ALL" he remarked, lamely.
She laughed--a clear, silvery laugh
which was good to hear.
only for the circus" she replied.
Father wants me to be mermaid
in the circus, and makes me learn to
swim with this bag on. That's why
| have to get up so early and como
here where nobody comes. And, say,
it's awful hard work to swim with
your arms alone; did you ever try
it?''
Perkins admitted that he never had.
He also admitted that it must be a
difficult feat.
''Who is your father?" he asked
"Blimbley," she replied ''Blimb-
leys Great Consolidated Shows, you
know"
Yes, Perkins did know He knew
Blillbley and he knew little good of
him. He could not conceive that he
should have daughter so dainty and
evidently SO good
why has he not taught you this
before?" he asked.
"Oh, never knew he was my
father until month ago. | have al
ways lived with mamma until she
died, three months ago, and then
went to live with Aunt Maria, and
then father came and took me away
with him, and told me that 1 was old
enough to do something to help pay
for my living. Ard, oh, sir, you will
not tell what | told you, will you, be-
cause he VIII beat me-and he strikes
so hard"
Your father should be beaten for
making you do such a thing" replied
Perkins, warmly. mo, will not hurt
you. little one"
ooh, must 60" she exclaimed, and
gathering up the imitation fish, start
ed for the hotel. In a moment she re-
turned, and held out her hand shyly
to Perkins and, looking with childish
innocence into his eyes, said:
THANK you for your kindness, sir.
If you were my father, you wouldn't
make me swim with my feet in bag,
would you?"
Indeed | would not" replied Per
kins, emphatically, holding the little
hand in his 4 moment longer than
strict etiquette demanded.
AS she ran away, with the grace
of a gazelle, Perkins muttered to
himself: "Blimbley, indeed! I'll
wager there's some mischief afloat
think I'll take hand in the game and
see what it is all about"
All that day Perkins was very busy
gathering information. That night
he returned to New York, and the
next morning he sat in the office Of
a very wise and very powerful lawyer.
Presently the lawyer and he got into
a cab and were driven to a tenement
house on the east side, where they
had very serious talk with a very
frightened woman. At the end Of
which they departed with certain
signed documents in their posses
sion That afternoon they went to-
gether to the seaside, and that even
ing paid a formal call on Blimbley,
who did not seem overjoyed to see
them. There was considerable loud
talk and clustering. but when Blimb-
ley realized the fact that they had
absolute proof that the girl was not
his daughter and had been turned
over to hirn as the result of an iniqui-
tous deal with her impecunious aunt,
who in turn had betrayed him; and
when the doors of the penitentiary
were, figuratively speaking, shown
him, he caved and turned over the
girl to their keeping.
That night the mermaid was the
guest of the hotel keepers wife. On
the following day she went to high
class boarding school as the ward OF
the lawyer-but at Perkins expense.
Perkins reward? Oh, that was
three years ago. There was a quiet
little wedding last month, and now
Perkins lives no longer in bachelor
quarters. but has one of the cosiest
flats adjacent to the park. His friends
cannot understand why he persists in
calling his wife Mermaid"
Copyright. 1906 by Daily Story Pub. Coz