MONSTROSITIES TO ORDER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1817, 18 October 1884, Page 2

MONSTROSITIES TO ORDER.

Recently I paid a visit to an artisan in the East Ji'nd of London, whose peculiar business is the making of monstrosities. I found him in a dimly lighted room, the walls, ceilings and door of which were literally covered with parts of curiosities, some' being stuck up to dry and others for the purpose of show. " What is wanted," the man explained as lie added a daub of glue the dorsal tin of a mermaid, "is some-' thing the showman can put on the canvas that will draw folks in. The side shows are getting ready to start out. They have their fat women, albinos, Brizilian apes, big snakes, and that sort of thing, .bub they won't draw. Polks will stop and.look at the canvas and say that they have seeii snakes, monkeys, and fat women will pass on. But if the side can bang out a mermaid, or <• serpent, or an alligator-boy folks will pay the money and step in. Usually they find that the moneys alone are worth the price of admission, and they are not disposed to find fault because the mermaid is not alive."

Cutting a three-cornered piece out of a catfish skin and neatly drawing it down around the papier-mache body of the mermaid, the artisan went on: " I used to be in the magic line, but magic doesn't pay any longer, It pleases the intelligent public, but the public is small." "How came you to go into the manufacture of monstrosities and curiosities f I asked. " Well, one flay I saw in a showwindow one of these Japanese mermaids, The price was £so,' In the north, a little while after that,' I saw a? mermaid advertised at a side-shovj«feLf; was one of Japanese make. I tboiipt if tho Japs could get £SO for mer'maids I could get £ls or £2O for them, audi knew I could manufacture them profitably at those figures." Here the artisan gave the mermaid's tail an upward and sidewise twist, put on some glue, and put it by to harden, " This iiieruiaid.," he said,-" is made to fit some expensive canvas that a man has got hold of cheap, Here is a sketch of it,"

It was a rough pencil sketch of a mermaid sporting in the ocean, and a lasso descending over.her head from a boat. In the distance was .the ship from which the boat came. The scene,! represented the capture of the nierniisr in-tbe- Pacific' Ocean, 400 miles off San Francisco... " It isn't a bad way," said, the artisan, "to make the ouriosities to fit the canvas that is to be displayed outside. In that way the sights fill the b&Kid the public is not deceived." " For what is the chief demand this spring ] ' •' Mermaids, alligator-boys, sea-serpents, and double babies'" "What does an alligator-boy cost ?" " Here is one," leading the way to an inner room and pointing to a creation which had h recently finished, " that costs £ls. But see it is about 4ft long, and covered with leather, Tho monstrosity is supposed to have been born tor negro parents in Louisiana, tohavenflflfc its escape into a lagoon, when abofS sevenJyears old, have been found dying'on the bank after a'fight with a bull alligator, I got. the idea from the scrofula patient that was on exhibition. as an alligator boy." "And the double babies?" "They are modelled after the one that was born of Italian parents here last year. I went to seo it, as I go to see all mon-

strosities that I hear of. Double babies have two heads, four arms, four legs, and only one body. It is a jokto get them up as they should be, aft they are rather expensive," About how large do sea-serpents

run 1" " The biggest I over made wao about 20ft long, with a gortof dragon's head and tail. There is a good deal of latitude in the matter of sea-serpents, descriptions of them differ so much, I got my best ideas from the sailors on the Dutch trading from Holland ports, A pretty\Sir sea-serpent can be got up for £lO, " A while ago," the artisan continued " I advertised, " Send your orders for a first-class mermaid, alligator boy, seaserpent, Egyptian mummy, or double batiy,' Here are some of the letters I bavo got," One of the letters said: "Is your sea-serpent in good condition ? How largo will be go, and what does he eat t If he is the right thing and not too expensive to keep, I think we can strike a bargain. Please name loweßt price, delivered healthy and wte-anted sound," JPp "I' will give the alligator boy a home," wrote a woman. " if you think he would appreciate kiudness and a chance to got away from evil surroundings, It is a shame to make bisttiiefortunes a source of profit." JK " I couldn't help answering this letter," the artisan said, " though nrnst of the letters of this kind I leave unanswered, I told the woman that the alligator boy, though but seven years old, drank whiskey,' chewed tobacco, and had twice been arrested for stabbing his widowed mother; that if there was anybody who needed converting it was the alligator-boy, and that if Bhe was willing to take him in hand she could let me know by return mail. I havn't got her reply."—Tit Bits.