THE MERMAIDS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1073, 13 May 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE MERMAIDS.

j "Takin' in stores, we was, here and there, an' was pretty near prowisioned in full; the, last place wp.putinto was Grenada for. sugar an' rum, Didn't go into the'bay, but. an-' chored'in the ; roadstead outside St, George's, The casks, 6' rum came off in a lighter, an'we was hoisting 'em in as fast as wo could, for it was close on sunset an'no twilight there, an' we was to sail the same night, as the wind was fair. My mate, Josh Stevens, was down in the.lighter, helping the niggers to sling the casks, just dark as he got the last; one in the,sling, butsomehow it slipped a3 we hoisted it over, the gunwale of the boat and fell into the sea with a Bplash, Spirit-casks was different things in them days to what it is now-bound with thick iron an' built, of hard-wood staves as heavy as iron, so^own 1 goes this 'ere cask to the bottom like a twenty-four pun 1 shot,, If it had been daylight, no doubt you might ha' seon it lyin' there, for the water off. Grenada's as clear as crystal; I've seen the ship's anchor lyin' on the white sand fathoms deep many a time; an' you can look down an' see the coral an' weed growin' in trees.an' bushes wi' bright colored fishes and sea-snakes a-flyin' in an' out between 'em like birds, an' all sorts o' shells crawlin about, Bnt-'twas pitch dark now, an' you couldn't see the. lighter on the top, much less tho barrel at the bottom, Tho skipper was standin' by, hurrying us up, when it went ovor-a good man he were, but a devil when his temper got out, an' when he hears this cask go splash he went clean off his head, an' stamped an' swore like ft madman. Josh Stevens cried out from below that it warn't his fault, but 'twas no good, 'Look here!' he yelled out, leapin' on to the rail foamin' and cursin', an' holding on by the backstays .while he hung over, 'look here, you—"' (the gem of the gallant captain's speech, picked out from tho elaborate setting of profanity in which it was enshrined, consisted of the observation that the unfortunate Mr..Stevens should go after the lost cask of spirits). . "When Josh heard that, he sang out 'Ay, ay, sir,' sad like, but just as cool as anything; an' there was another splash in tho dark down below, an' the niggers in the boat called out, ' De man gone, sah!' Well, the skipper was taken aback then, an' we all listened with our hands to our ears to hear him come up again, an' presently the skipper called out with his voice all.quavering, 'Comeon board, you fool 1' for you see he was.sorry then for the rage he'd bin in, an' frightenedto think as how he'd sent the man to his death; but there was 10 answer. Then he ordered all the boats, to. be lowered, an' we pulled round;an' round the ship far an' near for hours, but no sign of poor Josh could we see, I was stroke of.the oap'en's gig; the cap'en hisself steered her all the time, an' when he give orders about, two in thomornin'to 'return! to the ship, I. could see by the light of the lantern in. the bucket at hisieetash'e sat in the stern-sheets that his face, was as pale as death, but he never said, a.word, His, was, thejast boat to be pulled up* an' he stood up. while wo hitched ; her,on the falls, with hisi hand shading his eyes, looking into the black night to the last moment,' But just arter we got on board an' all hands was piped to stations for sailing, ■ tlie leadsman in tho chains says he hears. a shout,. Presently we all hears-it repeated,'an' ten minutes later the lighter, that had sheered off .when, the, boats was lowered, comes alongside with the niggers sweating at their long oars like bulls, And in the bottom of the"b'oat, was. Josh, an' not only Josh but the barrel of rum* all dripping wet, Josh yas, lyin'. there like one dead, an 1 had to be slung an'.hoiated like the barrel, but. we 'didn't let neither on 'em slip this time, you bet, The skipper asked no questions, but chucks a;handful of dollars into the lighter, an! away we went. "Next day Josh come round, but never spoke a word about where he'd bin to under the sea to no livin' soul, till he told me one night many months arter,' as wo lay. off Iquique. But afore then, a sing'lar. thing happened, When that cask was broached it turned out to be full o' salt water instead o' rum, Josh, heard of it, but he didn't say ivothin', an' the skipper never asked no question or said a word. But not long arter that, Josh told me the \yhole sarcumstance. "' When I heard the old man tab on so that night,' he said, 'I was desp'rate riled, for 'twas no fault o' mine that it slipped from the sling; my,monkey was up, an' thinks I, I'll go down and see if I can touch it anyhow,' an' without any more thought down I goes, I kin divo pretty well, as you know, an' stayed down a good spell, but no cask could I find among the weed, an'. I was jnst feelin'like to bust an' turnin 1 for the top again, when I found I was tangled in a long creeping branch, I didn't lose.my head, but turned round to free myself, when in strugglin' I seemed to slip downwards instead of up through the boughs of the weed, an' all on a suddintl finds myself in a sort of a garden, light as. day, with green grass agrowing underfoot an' flowers an' trees overhead, meeting likoa roof, only all seaweed, Right in front was a lot.of pillars and arches built of white coral, that stretched away an' .away till they was lost, like lookin' in the,

two' big lopkih'-gkisses what faces oaoh other in the cap'en'a state-room, 1 an' inah'out'of these arches queor sorts 0' fishes were glidin'. about, for 'twas all water down thoro.but somehow I seomed'to find my breath all right an'- not want-to come'up. An' the''light 's'eemod'to flllthe place warm like mild sunshine, for 1 overhead-whore the weeds met it ! was black as night, but the roof was studded wi' star-fishes an'iniminies all-colors of the rainbow. Biitwhatstruok me'first was that there cask lyin' on the ground; an' round it was a school of mermaids an 1 mermen, lookin' at it an' apparently wond'ring what it was, for thoy whisked it round an' round wi' the eddy of their tails an' fingered it all over, •AH at. oilce, one. catches sight o' mo an' says:-' Here's a man," she gays, " from tlio dry land!'* "No, miss," I says, touchin' my cap, " hoggin' o' your parding, I'm a sailor, I am," VKm;you■ -.tell us wot this is, sir?" she says,: "I kin," I says; "that's.-rum, that is. 1 ' " Wot's rum," sho .says, " Rum is the:Btaff 0' life," I says. "Law I" she says, "how funny. 1 An!,wot do you do with, it,-sir?"' "Drinkit," I says/,,Says she: •'.'Would you be sokindan' perlite, sir; as to show us howyou do it?" "Certainly," I says; " liov' you got a cup handy ?" So they brings me a half-pint shell, an' I knocks the bung out an' draws s.shellful.- ,r ßut," Bays I, "I couldn't think o' drinking afore ladies.' Arter- you, miss," I says, passin' the, shell.: Well,' there was. a lot o' gigglin' an', whisp'rin', but at last she drinks it off an' seems, to like.it ; - an' then the others has a try at it an' the mermen too, me,taking ,a .1 shell in botween each to show them .the way,., till at last we got very oumferblo an' the cask was empty; . Then I ■ suddinly remembers as it were about time for me to-be gettin' back, an'l gets, up an! says, thoy'dhavo to 'xcuso me 'cause my leave, Was, up,; But the mermaid as had spoke to me first—she was set-, tin' on my knee—she says: "Don'tgo yet!" she says,,"- What's your hurry I" .•' An' with that She shakes her long golden hair, an' glimpses out at me under lior .eyelids. Nicelooking gal she were,, too. Bat I said I must take the barrel back, as 'twas pertickler, Howsomever, she was like the. rest of her sect and wouldn't take no for an answer, .so she says-r-" It's a pity as a bein'.liko you should be wasted up there, Stay an' be one

of us. Stay an' be mine I" an' blow mo if she didn't heave her arms round my neck. An', all the others joins in chorus, an' conies round puttin' their cheeks again' mine, an' huggin' and kissin', and sayin', "Stay with us, thou lovelybein' from the dry land!" But all, the mermen stood back leanin'. again' tho arches, lookin' precious glum, so, thinks I, there'll be a row here presently, an'l makes a jump for the cask, shoves the bung in, (forgetting, that the water had been running in'all this while), takes it up, an' makes a spring for the roof with all that crowd of mermaids in chase, I should, never ha' got away, if it hadn't ha' been, for the mermen; but they helped me through the, weed, an' carried the barrel; up for me. I came up alongside the.lighter an' was lifted in just as I faulted, or mayhap, I should ha' been a rhermanmyself now, : " That!s what Josh told me hisself an' no other, and never said no toa word of,,it, for six weeks arter' that wo got wrecked together and ; the,savages ate him. ■ They'd got up a yam onboard previous that the dropping the cask over was a plant between 1 him an'_ the niggers, an' that there was a line fast to it when it went, so. thatit was hauled in again directly; an'that they took it ashore in, the lighter, and Josh too, and paid him .the money agreed, an 1 emptied the cask, an' filled it up with saltwater, an' that Josh got drunk afore he.was brought back to tho ship, But I knows better, an' cause why? Here's a proof of'ifc. Why don't we see no mermaid now, says, you? 'Cause ever since they tasted that rum and liked it so, they've.been some more, an' the news has spread among % all,over the work!'; so instead of comin' up on the rooks now an' singin', , they're down searchin' all the old wrecks and sunk ships, lookin 1 for. rum-barrels. That's how 'tis people says there ain't no mermaids now!" "But, Fern, how is it the salt water didn't mix with the rum when they drank it Out of the shell?" ' " ' '_' "There goes eight bells," said .Fern, who invariably, went below the instant his watch on deck was up, and disappeared forthwith, \~AU the Year, Round, Sweet mercy is, nobility's true badge.— '.Shakespeare..' '' 189

i;!:!-'-":."-'..'' ;.Bp^p3ft&-:'.: , '.;.;"';"V- 1 i: ! ' I The. editor,, children,: is,.a. that, race called ; manki'nd.' He is invariably.'a kind ; .man.,, -,; -■ . ;•'. ~ ''j ...". ',' ■ .'.-■'■.','..!:'}"' '' Ho is perfectly harmless,, You,may.go,int i p his den without fear.. | -Bu\he'. l has' l 'liisjpecu' ; , Parities.. : The .sight, of .a .poet.'makes,him \vilcf..; He is then very darigerbus/ and is apt. ..to do bodily harrivto all withini reach.'' He is' also much wroiiglit upon wheh'a'man comes" ii} with'a trifle he'has just dashed off." : ,Thcfe ! is one thing 'rfiiist" be .'said in the editor's disptaise,. His niind is so biassed : by l(jngthinkirig.in-',a certain direction that" he' dislikes wry much to look upon both sides' of a; question, Therefore, if you Value 'ydnfsafety, never approach him-with manuscript Written on both sides of your paper, 1 "' .' ' ! ; The editor generally, writes with a pen> but his most cutting articles' are tti'e productof bis ; shears. '. • v; ' ■" "

1 Arid letme say right here; children; that a good'deal of sheer nonsense has been printed' about; the editor,. He lises'.his, shears only wheh composing an entirely original article." ;' AnEditor would make a good public speaker' but for his propensity fir clipping words, ' The editor's hardest task is to 'dispose of his'time," ' His woiild be a monotonous life, indeed, were it hot for the kindness ofthe lew hundred people who call upon him every day toenliVenliis dull life with stories.of their grievances, of their brand new enterprises, and' with antediluvian anecdotes. :; Whenyougtow up to be men arid womeiij children, remember this, and spend- all the time'you can hvthe sanctum of ari editor, He loves company so much,,you know, arid sometimes he has : to--siM :sjndalpne for a whole half minuter It is too bad! ''V" ' '■■; ■ '■ :■■■■ ; The business of the editor is to entertain itinerant lecturers, book canvassers; exchange' fiends, and other philanthropists, He gives liis whole day to these, He writes his editorials at night after he has gone to bed, : The editor is never so happy as when he is writing complimentary notices, For ten cents', worth of presents he will-gladly-give ten dols.i worth of advertising—all on : account-of the, pleasure it gives- him- to- write,■ you. know, children. ■ '•..'...'■

'■ He loves also to write neat,little.speeches and bright witty poems for people, without bums who wish to speak in public. It 1 is .so

easy for him to do this that he is sometimes quite miserable when an hour or two. passes[ without an opportunity to do something of the kind, The editor dines at the. hotels free, he travels free, theatres open wide their doors to him, the tailor clothes him gratis, his butcher and grocer furnish him with food without money and without price, In short, his every want is provided for, He spends his princely salary in building churches and school : houses in foreign lands,

. For fools rush in where angola fear to tread,—Pope, '