The Ordway new era., 1913-09-26

$y tne mOuern Baurlan,
that the very name OF the
Pbrute is avoided by all but the brave.
To say that you have seen the sea
serpent is to put with your own tongue
a blot on your own character. Skip
pers who have beheld the monster
have made no entry OF the fact In
their log book lest they be derided
when their vessels are snug In port.
Naturalists have hemmed and hawed
in their writings regarding it. Poets
have been reticent upon the theme
all except John Milton. whose remarks
upon Leviathan In Paradise Lost"
have been construed by modern au-
thority to mean Sea Serpent pure and
simple. For century the scientific
world has looked at sea serpents
askance.
And yet there Is one professional
field in life whose members have sup
piled more data concerning sea SER
pents and given more profuse informa-
tion In regard to them than all the
skippers and travellers who have ever
circled the globe. From the earliest
times 1t has remained for the ministry
to supply us with our greatest number
of facts" regarding the marine de-
scendant of Adams happiness. Dea-
cons. priests and bishops have seen
sea serpents galore. and there are on
file the names of at least a dozen cler-
ical men who are involved In the coils
of sea serpent stories. from CLAUS
Magnus. the archbishop of Upsala.
down to Rev. P. w. Demboldt. arch
deacon of Molde; Rev. William jerks.
Rev. Alden Bradford. Rev. Mr.. Cum
mings of Sullivan, and Rev. Alexan-
der Naclean. all good names and hon
est, some of them from puritanical
New England.
The bishop Of Pontopiddan, another
worthy divine. believed implicitly In
sea sefpents. and even altered the de-
scriptions and drawings of other men
to crafty his own enthusiasm In re-
gard to them. The bishop Of Ponto-
pidden. who lived in the middle of the
eighteenth century. advanced the the
ory that the mermaids of medieval
lore were nothing more nor less than
sea cows that browse upon salt water
green's with their front fippers and
open their mouths sideways. But in
regard to sea serpents the bishop was
not SO skepdcal He described them
on hearsay as numerous. lengthy and
terrible. often 100 feet In length. pos
sibly 500. with eyes as large as pew
ter plates. lilac or blue in color. and
sometimes fiery red with anger.
The good divine even made Jour
ney down the Scandinavian coast to
investigate tale that a tablecloth
had been made by a fisherman's fam
fly from the skin Of sea serpent
which the reptile had sloughed on in
Kobberveug. The bishop was honest
enough to state that he had been
gulled in this respect. but did not alter
his opinion regarding sea serpents In
general. The illustration In his book
showing sea serpent reared on his
tail, squirting profuse gallons of wa
ter out of his snour. was drawn and
exaggerted by the bishop of Pontopid-
dan from the sketch made by Bing.
who had forever immortalized sea
serpent beheld by Hans Egede. It Is
notable that Hans Egede was himself
an evangelist, whose work as a mis-
sionary was taking him to the wilds
Of Greenland when the sea serpent ap-
peared before him.
CLAUS Magnus. the archbishop of Up
sala, writes at length of sea serpent,
ascribing to It length Of 200 feet and
a girth Of 20, and stating the beliefs
of the sailors Of his time regarding It
how It was fond of calves and sheep
and swine, and used to snap the Sea-
men from the decks of their own YES
sells.
Rev. Mr.. Cummings of Sullivan de-
scribes a whopping sea serpent that
he saw not far from Long Island In
July Of 1908 Thirty-seven years
later another divine, Rev. P. w. Dem
boldt. made the startling statement
that not only had he seen the sea SER
pent in the water near his home on
the Norwegian coast, but that he had
shot at It with musket and evidently
wounded It quite badly, from the rue
tion that took place in the water after
ward.
Rev. Alexander Maclean, who -four
ished at about the same time as Rev.
Mr.. Cummings, observed OF the island
Of Coll what he first called. Iii his
clerical manner. an object" 1t ap-
peared like small rock. he said. but
after looking at It for some time he
saw it elevated above the surface of
the sea and move in his direction with
a measured and dignified motion. In
intense alarm the minister steered for
shore, with the sea serpent apparent
ly pursuing him. 1t drew 30 near that