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diff --git a/old/53901-8.txt b/old/53901-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bbc356c..0000000 --- a/old/53901-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2803 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Merman and The Figure-Head, by Clara F. Guernsey - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Merman and The Figure-Head - -Author: Clara F. Guernsey - -Release Date: January 6, 2017 [EBook #53901] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERMAN AND THE FIGURE-HEAD *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Stephen Hutcheson, and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This book was produced from scanned images of public -domain material from the Google Books project.) - - - - - - -[Illustration: "He gazed at the wooden creature with all his heart in -his eyes." Page 62.] - - - - - ADVENTURES - IN - Shadow-Land. - - - CONTAINING - - Eva's Adventures in Shadow-Land. - By MARY D. NAUMAN. - - AND - - The Merman and The Figure-Head. - By CLARA F. GUERNSEY. - - - TWO VOLUMES IN ONE. - - _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._ - - - PHILADELPHIA - J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. - 1874. - - - Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by - J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., - In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. - - Lippincott's Press, - Philadelphia. - - - - - THE MERMAN - AND - THE FIGURE-HEAD. - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER I. - PAGE - The Sea-Nymph 7 - - CHAPTER II. - The Sea Kingdom 28 - - CHAPTER III. - The Figure-head 52 - - CHAPTER IV. - The Bewitched Lover 74 - - CHAPTER V. - The Sea-Nymphs 90 - - CHAPTER VI. - Lucy Peabody's Dream 103 - - - - - THE MERMAN - AND - THE FIGURE-HEAD. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - _THE SEA-NYMPH._ - - - "I may be wrong, but I think it a pity - For a movable doll to be made so pretty." - _Doll Poems._ - -"I shall call her the Sea-nymph," said Master Isaac Torrey. - -"Umph!" said his clerk, Ichabod Sterns, looking over his spectacles at -his master. - -"And why not The Sea-nymph, pray?" demanded Master Torrey. "Why, I say, -should I not call my fine new brig The Sea-nymph if it pleases my -fancy?" - -"Fancy!" said Ichabod Sterns, putting his head on one side. "Fancy! -Umph!" - -Now this was most exasperating conduct on Ichabod's part, and as such -Master Torrey felt it. - -"Yes, if it pleases my fancy," he repeated, defiantly. "What right have -you, Ichabod Sterns, to object to that, I should like to know? If I -chose to name her after the whole choir of all the nymphs that ever swam -in the sea--Panope and Melite, Arethusa, Leucothea, Thetis, -Cymodoce--what have you to say against it? Isn't she to swim the seas -and make her living out of the winds and waves? And what can you object -to 'The Sea-nymph?' I'd like to hear. But it's your nature to object, -Ichabod Sterns. I've no doubt that you came objecting into the world, -and I've no doubt that when your time comes you'll object to dying. It -would be just like you." - -"And death will mind my objections no more than you, Master Torrey," -said the old clerk, smiling rather grimly as Master Torrey ceased his -pacing up and down the room and flung himself into a chair. - -"But what _is_ your objection to the name?" asked the merchant, calming -down a little. - -"Did I object?" said Ichabod Sterns. - -"Didn't you? You were bristling all over with objections from the toe of -your shoe to the top of your wig." Ichabod involuntarily put up his hand -to his wig. "Why isn't it a good name for a ship?" - -"Nay, I know naught against it, Master Torrey, only it is a heathenish -kind of name for a ship that is to sail out of our decent Christian town -of Salem." - -"Heathenish! Let me tell you, Master Ichabod, that this world owes a -vast deal to the heathen--more than she does to some Christians I could -name." - -Now this awful speech was enough to make the very pig tails of many of -Master Torrey's acquaintance stand on end with horror and surprise. But -Ichabod was used to his master's ways, so he did not jump out of his -chair, but only looked to the door to be sure that no one had overheard -the terrible statement, for had such been the case there is no telling -what might have come to pass. - -"How do you make that out, Master Torrey?" he said, composedly. - -"Did you ever happen to hear of Socrates or Cicero?" - -"Yes, I've heard of 'em," said Ichabod. - -"And did you ever hear of the Duke of Alva, or Cardinal Pole, or Bloody -Queen Mary, or Catenat?" - -"Yes, I've heard of 'em," returned Ichabod again, a little fiercely. - -"And which was the better man, the Athenian or the Christians who burnt -their fellows at the stake?" said Master Torrey, triumphantly, as one -who had made a point. - -"Umph!" said Ichabod; "I'm not a scholar like you, Master Torrey, but -I'd like you to tell me whether they were Christians by name that -poisoned Socrates and murdered Cicero?" - -"Well, no," said the merchant. - -"Umph!" said Ichabod Sterns again, leaning back on his chair and rubbing -his hands slowly one over the other. - -"Well, what of that?" said Master Torrey, a little taken aback. - -"Oh, nothing, sir," said Ichabod; "we have wandered a long way from the -name of the new brig." - -"She shall be The Sea-nymph," said Master Torrey with decision. "What -could be better?" - -"I thought, Master Torrey, you might have liked to call her the Anna -Jane," said Ichabod, with a little cracked laugh like an amused crow. - -Master Torrey colored high, but not with displeasure. - -"I wouldn't venture, Ichabod, I wouldn't dare. She's too shy, too -modest, to be pleased with such an open compliment." - -"Umph!" said the clerk again. It seemed to be a way he had. "But you are -determined to call her The Sea-nymph, Master Torrey?" - -"Ah, am I!" replied Torrey, who seemed by no means disposed to pursue -the subject of the "inexpressive she," whoever it might be. "And she -shall have the handsomest figure-head that Job Chippit can carve; and it -sha'n't be a mere head and shoulders either, it shall be a full-length -figure." - -"It will cost a good penny, master. Job's prices are high." - -"There's another objection! Who cares what it costs? Am I a destitute -person? Am I an absolute pauper? Am I like to apply to the selectmen to -be supported by the town?" - -"Not yet, master," said Ichabod, gathering his papers together. "But if -we go to following our _fancies_"--scornful emphasis--"there is no -telling where we may end;" and without giving his master time to reply, -Ichabod sped out of the counting-room. - -Now I am not going to tell you a long story about Master Torrey, though -I might do so if I had not a tale to tell you about something -else--namely, this sea-nymph and the merman who figure at the head of -this story. I was once told by a schoolmaster that in writing there was -"nothing so important as a strict adherence to facts;" "fax" he called -them. I treasured up this valuable precept in the inmost recesses of my -mind, and I mean to adhere to facts if I possibly can. But I can't -adhere to facts till I get them, and to do that I don't see but I shall -have to tell you a little about Master Isaac Torrey, merchant of Salem, -who was the means of putting this wonderful figure-head in the merman's -way. He was a merchant of Salem when Salem was a centre of trade, and -sent many a brave ship to the Indies and the Mediterranean. He was -thirty-four years old, and looked ten years younger. He was a man -inclined to extravagance and luxury. He wore the handsomest waistcoats -and the finest lace of any one in town. He had been educated in the -gravest, strictest fashion of those grave days. His parents would have -been horrified if they had found him reading a novel or a play, but they -urged him on to study Virgil and Homer. - -Now if you will promise, my young readers, never to tell your respected -instructors, I will let you into a secret. The truth is that the poems -of Virgil and Homer are all full of stories as interesting and charming -as any boy or girl could desire. But this is a circumstance which most -school-teachers make it their first object in life to conceal, and they -generally succeed so well that their pupils for the most part go through -their whole course of education and never discover that their Virgils -and Homers are anything but stupid school-books--a sort of intellectual -catacombs enshrining the dryest bones of grammar and parsing. - -Now and then, however, a boy or girl finds out that there is food for -the imagination in classic poetry. Such had been the case with Isaac -Torrey, and the verses that he read with his tutor took such a hold upon -him that he became what some of his friends called "half a heathen." Not -but that an acquaintance with the classics was thought becoming, nay, -essential, to the character of a gentleman. In the speeches and writings -of those days a due seasoning of allusions to the old gods and a -sprinkling of Latin quotations was considered the proper thing. But this -learning was rather looked upon as solid and ponderous furniture for the -mind--an instrument of mental discipline. Fancy, imagination, amusement, -were ideas much too light and frivolous to be connected with anything so -grave, solid and respectable as the intellectual drill for which alone -Latin and Greek were intended. So when Isaac Torrey talked about the old -gods as if they had been real existences, and spoke of Achilles, Hector -and Andromache as though they had been live creatures, he rather -startled the excellent young divinity student who was his tutor. - -Once upon a time his father detecting a smell of burning followed it up -to Isaac's room, where he found his son in the midst of a cloud of blue -smoke. He asked the cause, and was told that in order to procure fair -weather for the next day's fishing excursion he (Isaac) had been -sacrificing a paper bull to Jupiter. - -Mr. Torrey senior was inexpressibly shocked at the thought that his son -should have been guilty of such a heathenish performance. He gave the -boy a lecture of an hour long, ending with a whipping. He called in the -minister to talk to him. That gentleman, on being informed of the act of -idolatry perpetrated in his parish, only took a prodigious pinch of -snuff and said: "Pooh! pooh! child's play! child's play! No use to talk -about it. Let the boy alone." Mr. Torrey had the highest respect for his -clergyman, and the boy _was_ let alone accordingly, and was deeply -grateful to the Rev. Mr. Bartlett. - -Isaac grew up tall and handsome, went to school and to college, and in -spite of numerous prophecies that he would never be good for anything, -neither went into debt nor disgraced himself in any way. In due course -of time he succeeded to his father's business, and astonished every one -by making money and being successful, in spite of his tasteful dress, -his "wild ways" of talking and a report that he actually wrote poetry. - -At the present time he was devoted to Miss Anna Jane Shuttleworth, a -beautiful still image of a girl, who was supposed to have a great fund -of good sense, propriety, prudence and piety, because she liked to sit -still and sew from morning to night, and hardly ever opened her lips. -Ichabod Sterns was the old clerk of Isaac's father. He and his young -master exasperated each other in many ways, but they were fond of each -other for all that. - -From the counting-house on the wharf and the talk with Ichabod Sterns, -Master Torrey went to the workshop of Job Chippit, who in those days was -famous for his skill in the carving of figure-heads. - -In these times Job would probably have been a sculptor, have gone to -Rome and been famous in marble and bronze. But the idea of such a thing -had never entered his brain, and he went on from year to year making his -wooden figures without any thought of a higher calling. He was a little -dried, brown old man, with bright eyes slightly near-sighted. Year after -year he carved Indian chiefs, eagles and wooden maidens for the Sally -Anns and Susan Janes that sailed from the New England ports, portraits -of public men, likenesses of William and Mary. He had once made a -full-length figure of Oliver Cromwell for a certain stiff-necked old -merchant of Boston who called his best ship after the great Protector--a -statue which every one thought his finest work. "It was so natural," -said the good folks of Salem, and really I don't know that they could -have said anything better even if they had been art critics and had -written for the newspapers. - -True it was that all Job's works had a certain live look to them that -was almost startling sometimes. The Indians clenched their hatchets with -a savageness quite alarming; they looked as though they might open their -wooden lips and whoop. His female figures had life and character. Each -governor, senator or general had his own peculiar expression and style. - -Job was an artist, and, what was more, he was a well-paid artist. He -quite appreciated his own genius, and got almost any prices he liked to -ask for his signs and figure-heads. Job was the fashion, and no ship of -any pretension sailed from a harbor along the coast but carried one of -his masterpieces on the bow. - -As Master Torrey entered his shop he was just putting the last touches -of paint on an oaken bust destined to adorn Captain Peabody's little -schooner, The Flora. "So you have nearly finished The Flora's -figure-head," said Master Torrey, whose tastes led him to be a frequent -visitor at Job's shop. - -"And a pretty creature she is," said Job, suspending his paint-brush -full of the yellow-brown pigment with which he was tinging the rippled -hair of the wooden lady, which was crowned with a garland of flowers -carved with no mean skill. - -"And the flowers! Don't you think they are an improvement? What did -Captain Peabody say to them?" - -"He didn't jest like them at first," replied Job, continuing his work. -"I didn't myself, to begin with, for you know the ship is called after -his wife, and nobody ever see old Mis' Peabody going round with flowers -in her hair; but the captain, sez he, 'Job, I want to have you make it -somethin' like what Mis' Peabody was when she was a young woman, ef you -kin,' sez he. 'She was a most uncommon pretty girl when I went -a-courting in Salsbury.' Well, I was kind of struck with the idee, and -the next day I went to meeting, and I sot and sot, and kind of studied -the old lady's face all through meetin'-time; and when they stood up to -sing, the choir sang 'Amsterdam.' You know it's a kind of livening sort -of hymn. The old lady, she kind of brightened up, and it seemed as if I -could see the young face sort of coming out behind the old one. Thinks -I, 'Job Chippit, you've got it,' and when I come home, though it was the -Sabbath day, I couldn't hardly keep my hands off the tools, and the -minute the sun was down I went at it. Then when you come in the next day -and told me about the Flora them old folks used to think took care of -the flowers and the spring, it seemed to suit so well with my notion of -the old lady when she was young I couldn't help stickin' the flowers -onto her head, like a fool as I was, for they wa'n't in the bargain, and -I sha'n't get no extry pay for 'em." - -"And what did Captain Peabody say?" asked Master Torrey, whose own -nature found sympathy in that of the artist. - -"Oh, he was as tickled as could be when I'd persuaded him about the -flowers. Lucy Peabody, she's been to see it. She says she expects that's -the way her mother'll look when she gets to heaven, and the flowers was -like the crowns we read about in the Revelations. She's an awful nice -girl, Lucy Peabody. Anna Jane Shuttleworth was with her." - -"And what did _she_ say?" asked Master Torrey, eagerly. - -"Oh, nothing. Anna Jane don't never have much to say for herself. I told -her the wreath was your notion, and she kind of smiled, but she hadn't a -word to say. But look here, Master Torrey, am I to have the making of -the figure-head for your new ship, and what is it to be?" - -"That's just what I have come to see you about, Job," said Master -Torrey. "I am going to call her the Sea-nymph, and I want you to make -the most beautiful full-length figure of a sea-nymph to stand on her bow -and look across the water when the brig goes sailing away into the South -Seas." - -"A _sea-nimp_!" said Job; "and what sort of a critter may that be?" - -"Did you never hear of them?" - -"Never as I know of. There's more fish in the sea than ever come out of -it. I expect these nimps of yourn are some of the kind that never come -out." - -"You never were more mistaken in your life, Job Chippit. They have been -seen on the surface of the sea over and over again. We know almost all -their names, and how could they have names if they were not real beings? -Answer me that!" - -"Oh!" said Job, standing back to take a general survey of his wooden -Flora. "They're some of them heathen young women your head is always so -full of, Master Torrey?" - -"Young women! Why they were goddesses, man, or a sort of goddesses. Was -there not the white-footed Thetis, mother of Achilles? and did she not -come to him with all her attendant nymphs--Melite, and Doris, and -Galatea, and Panope?" - -"I've hearn tell of _her_," said Job, touching up the wreath on Flora's -head; "it's in Lycidas: - - 'The air was calm, and on the level brine - _Slick_ Panope and all her sisters played.' - -"Jest so; I kinder like to read that piece. It don't seem to have so -very much meanin' to't, I must say, but I sort of like the sound of it. -Them nimps lived in the sea, or folks thought they did, didn't they?" - -"Yes, Job, as we live on the land. I'm by no means sure that I haven't -heard and seen Nereides and Oceanides myself when I've been out by -moonlight on the bay or round the rocks." - -"I guess they never was any round these parts; it's too cold for 'em. I -knew an old sailor once that said he'd seen a mermaid, but I suppose you -don't want me to stick a curly fish's tail on your figure-head?" - -"No, indeed. Make her full length, like the most beautiful woman you -know." - -"Hev' you any idee how them young women used to dress. Master Torrey?" -asked the wood-carver. "I'd like to go as near the nature of the critter -as I could. I must say the notion takes my fancy. It'll make kind of a -variety, and it's a pretty sort of an idee to name a ship after a thing -that has its life out the sea." - -"I thought you'd think so," said Master Torrey, gratified. "Ichabod -Sterns said it was a heathenish name for a ship that was to sail out of -Salem." - -"Well, you know Ichabod. He hain't got much notion of anything of that -sort. But now what's your notion of these 'ere water women? Kinder -cold-blooded critters they must have been, I'm thinking." There was -something in this last remark which seemed to grate on Master Torrey's -feelings, whatever they were. - -"Why so?" he said, a little shortly. - -"Oh, because it's the natur' of all the things in the sea. It must have -been but a damp, uncomfortable way to live for warm-blooded folks; but -tell me what they were like, or do you happen to have a picture of one?" - -"I'm sorry to say I have not." - -"Did they think they was like folks, or did they live for ever?" - -"Some said they were immortal, others that they were only very -long-lived. Plutarch says they lived more than nine thousand years." - -"Creation! What awful old maids they must have been! That's more than -old Mrs. Skinner, who was eighty-six when she married John Dickenson, -'cause she said she wasn't going to have 'Miss' on her tombstone if she -could help it." - -"But then they always remained young and lovely, never grew old or -changed. They used to say that whoever looked on an unveiled nymph went -mad." - -"Waal, I'd risk that if I could see one. But they was kind of onlucky -sort of critters, then, after all?" asked Job, who seemed to be inwardly -dwelling on some thought which he was keeping out of the talk. - -"Yes, to those who approached them rashly, but they were kind to those -who worshiped them with reverence and offered them the gifts they -loved." - -"Waal, they wa'n't very peculiar in that. The most of women is capable -of being coaxed if you only go to work the right way. I don't know how -it might have been with gals in the sea, but it ain't best to be too -dreadful diffident with the land kind always," returned Job, with a sly -smile. "But about this figure of ourn. I suppose it ought to have some -kind of a light gown on, and hadn't they--them nimps?--got no emblem, -nor nothing of that sort, like Neptune's trident? I'm going to make a -Neptune for a ship Peleg Brag's got. Her name was The Ann Eliza. But the -young woman she was named for, she up and married Jonathan Whitbeck, so -Peleg, he's gont to call his ship The Neptune now. It's the only way he -can think of to take it out on Ann Eliza, and I don't expect that'll -kill her; but didn't these _nimps_ have nothing about them to show what -they were?" - -"Sometimes seaweeds, or coral and shells. Sometimes they held a silver -vase." - -"Waal, I reckon I'll take the vase, if it's agreeable to you, and make -her holding it out, and put some seaweed and shells and sich onto her -head, and let her hair fly loose, as if the wind blew it back. She won't -want no shoes nor sandals, nor nothing of that sort. What would be the -use to a critter that passes its life swimming round the sea?" - -"I see you understand. You'll make her a beauty, Job?" - -"I'll do my best. You'll want her to be a light-complected young woman, -I guess." - -"They say the Nereides had green hair, but Virgil says Arethusa's was -golden, so we may make our nymph's that color," said Master Torrey, -turning away to the window. - -"Jes' so; I'll go right to work. I must get Lucy Peabody to put on a -white gown and come and let me look at her a little. She'll do it. She's -a real accommodating girl, is Lucy." - -"But Lucy is not fair." - -"No more she ain't. Not white as milk, like Anna Jane Shuttleworth, but -she's a nice, pretty girl, and will be willing to oblige me. I'd never -dare ask such a thing of old Colonel Shuttleworth's daughter." - -Master Torrey smiled to himself as he thought of the silent, stately -Anna standing as a model in the rude shop. - -"But I'll give the figure a look like Anna Jane, if I can," pursued Job. -"To my mind, she's a great deal more like some such thing than she is -like a real flesh-and-blood woman." - -To this Master Torrey made no answer, but smiled at the old man's folly, -and passed into the street without even asking what would be the price -of the wooden sea-nymph. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - _THE SEA KINGDOM._ - - -I take it for granted that all my readers have heard of mermen and -mermaids. But in case any one's education should have been neglected, I -will just say that they are like human beings, only that instead of legs -they have tails like dolphins, a fashion much more useful in their -element, and regarded by them as much more ornamental, than the style in -which people are finished on land. - -The merladies are very beautiful. They have long, golden hair, and have -often been seen sitting on the rocks by the seaside, combing their locks -with their golden combs and holding a looking-glass. They are also said -to sing in the most charming manner. I knew a Manx woman once whose -mother had seen a mermaid making her toilette. She described the sea -lady as wonderfully beautiful, and "singing in a way that would ravish -your heart." - -"But as soon as she saw that she was watched," said Katy, "she gave a -scream like a sea eagle and dived into the water. No one ever saw her -again, but I've heard the singing more than once when I was young." - -Concerning the kingdoms of the sea and their inhabitants Hans Anderson -has written a pretty story, which I hope you have all read. The fullest -account, however, that I know of the mer countries is in the Arabian -Nights, Lane's translation, where you will find the story of "Abdalla of -the Land and Abdalla of the Sea." It is a pity that the date and place -of this interesting narration is left so uncertain, for to some minds it -throws an air of improbability over the whole story; however, it is -certainly the most authentic account of the world under the waters. So -far as I know, "Abdalla of the Land" is the only person who has ever -associated familiarly with mermen. - -There was, to be sure, Gulnare of the Sea, who married the King of -Khorassan and introduced her family to that monarch. But she was not a -proper merwoman, being destitute of their peculiar appendage, and being, -moreover, related to the Genii and Afrites of those parts. - -But in the chronicle of Abdalla you will find much that is curious and -interesting. There you may read concerning the "dendan," that tremendous -fish which is able to swallow an elephant at a mouthful; and, by the -way, if you wish to descend into the sea undrowned, you have only to -anoint yourself with the fat of the dendan. But the difficulty seems to -be in catching this monster, who eats mermen whenever he can find them. -You, however, are in no danger even if you happen to fall in his way, -for he dies "whenever he hears the voice of a son of Adam." So if you -should fall in with a dendan, you have only to scream at the top of your -voice and be quite safe. But concerning these wonders and many more I -have no time to write, seeing that if you can get the book you can read -it for yourself. - -Now there are just as many mermen and mermaids along the American coasts -as there are anywhere else, though they very seldom show themselves. I -heard, indeed, of a sailor who had seen one in Passamaquoddy Bay, but I -did not have the pleasure of conversing with this mariner myself, so I -am unable to state as an absolute fact that a mermaid was seen. - -If any of you are at the seaside in the summer, you can keep a sharp -lookout, and there is no telling what you may see. You would find an -alliance with a mer-person very advantageous if we may judge by the -experience of Abdalla. Jewels in the sea are as common as pebbles with -us, and in return for a little fruit a merman will give you bushels of -precious stones. - -You must be a little careful, however, not to offend them, for it would -seem that some of them are rather touchy and apt to be intolerant of -other people's opinion in matters of doctrine and practice. - -Now, not far from the Massachusetts coast, out beyond the bay, is a very -beautiful sea country. There are mountains as big as Mount Washington, -whose tops, just covered by the sea, are bare rock, but which are -clothed around their base with the most beautiful seaweed, golden green -and purple and crimson. Through these seaweeds wander all manner of -strange creatures, such as human eyes have never seen, for there is no -truer proverb than that "There are more fish in the sea than ever came -out of it." There are miles and miles of gray-green weed and emerald -moss where the sea cows and sea horses find pasture. There, too, are the -cities and villages of the merpeople, and many a pleasant home standing -in the midst of the beautiful sea gardens, blossoming with strange -flowers and bright with strange fruit. - -The houses are grottoes and caves hollowed out of the rock, and for the -most part very handsomely furnished, for there is a great deal of wealth -among the sea people. They have not only all the mineral wealth of the -sea, but they have all the treasures that have been lost in the deep -ever since men first began to sail the waters. Their soft carpets are -made of sea-green wool that the sea people comb and weave, for they are -skillful in the arts and manufactures. - -They have soft, lace-like fabrics woven of seaweed, silks and satins -that the water does not hurt. There is no coral on our Northern shores, -but they import it, and pay in exchange with oysters and -looking-glasses. The sea ladies dress in the most beautiful things you -can imagine, that is, when they dress at all, for in warm weather they -generally make their appearance in a light suit of their own hair with a -zone and necklace of pearls or jewels. - -This country that I am writing about has a republican form of -government, and is very prosperous and comfortable. It is a long time -since any foreign power has made war upon it, and it has had time to -grow and develop its resources. But at the time of which I write they -had just finished a seven years' war with the king of a country lying to -the east who had tried to annex the sea republic to his own dominions. -This monarch had counted on a very easy conquest because the republic -kept a very small army, not big enough really to keep down the sharks. -Moreover, there was a large "Peace Society" in the country, every member -of which had maintained repeatedly, in the most public manner, that it -was the duty of every member to be invaded and killed a dozen times over -rather than lift up his hand in war against any creature with mer blood -in his veins. The king thought this talk of theirs really meant -something, I suppose they thought so themselves in peace-times, but when -the annual meeting came, about a week after the declaration of war, only -two members made their appearance, and they told each other that all the -men of the society had enlisted and all the women were busy making their -clothes and packing their knapsacks. The king was very much surprised to -find that these peaceable soldiers fought harder than any one else, and -when he was at last forced to conclude peace on the most humiliating -terms, it was the ex-President of the non-resistance society that -insisted on a surrender of his most important frontier fortress. - -"I thought you believed in non-resistance," said the king, greatly -disgusted. - -"So I do, your majesty, for other people," said the ex-President, -respectfully, and the king had to give way. - -But this is not a chronicle of the politics and history of the sea -country, but only of one particular merman's fortunes. Our merman was -young and very handsome, and belonged to a very distinguished family in -his own state. It was said that they were in some way connected with -that royal race to which belonged Gulnare of the Sea--she who married -the King of Khorassan. It was whispered that the family were descended -from a younger son of this pair, who had married a mer lady, and -displeased both her family and his to such an extent by the marriage -that they had left the Eastern seas and emigrated to the English waters, -and from there into the new sea lands of the West. - -All these things, if they were true, must have happened centuries before -my merman was born. The legend was well known, and if it was founded on -fact, the family had human blood in their veins and a cross of sea -genii, for Gulnare was, as you will remember, not quite a -flesh-and-blood woman. However, the humanity in them was at least royal -humanity, and the King of Khorassan, as the story goes, was a very fine -gentleman. - -All the people of that country were fair-haired, big-boned people, with -blue eyes, but the race I am writing about were black haired and dark -eyed, with slender hands. They were rather delicate and slight in their -appearance, and they had a peculiarly graceful way of carrying their -tails, a manner quite indescribable in its elegance, but a family mark. -They were rather more intellectual than their countrymen and were fond -of literary pursuits and the study of magic, which in the sea land is -considered as a very essential part of a gentleman's education. It is -taught only in the higher schools and colleges. - -Our merman's old grandfather (his father was dead) was Professor of -Magic in the State University, and so expert in his own science that he -could turn himself into an oyster so perfect that you could not tell him -from the genuine article. It was said that once while in that condition -he had been nearly swallowed by a member of the Freshman class. For this -offence the young merman was called up before the Faculty. He apologized -very humbly, and said his only motive had been to see if he couldn't for -once get the professor to agree with him. He professed himself very -penitent, and was let off with a reprimand, but he said afterward that -his great mistake had been in waiting for the pepper and vinegar. After -this accident the professor could never be induced to repeat the -performance except in a small circle of his intimate friends. - -Now, there was one curious thing about this family, and one which makes -me think there was some truth in the legend of their descent from -Gulnare and the King of Khorassan. - -All the other merpeople have the greatest objection to human beings, and -shun all inhabited coasts, seaport towns and ships. But every once in a -while a member of this race would show the oddest fancy for the shore -and a kind of longing after human society--a longing which of course -they never could gratify, for they could not live out of the water, and -if they had been able to desert the sea, the forked ends of their long -tails would have been of no use on land. - -A few years before the family left the English coast, a younger son had -actually married a human girl who went back to her friends and deserted -him on the shamefully false pretence that she wanted to go to church. -The poor merman went out of his wits and died, and was ever afterward -held up as an example to any of the younger ones who showed any signs of -similar weakness. To care anything for human creatures is counted -disgraceful in mer society, and the older members of the family for the -most part felt it their duty to express the greatest possible animosity -to the whole human race. The old professor of magic had once said that -he would swim a hundred miles to see a shipwreck if he were only sure -the people would all be drowned, but he was strongly suspected of having -saved a drunken sailor who fell overboard from a Cape Cod schooner. The -professor himself used to deny this story with great indignation, and -say it was of a piece with the slanderous invention about his family's -connection with Gulnare of the sea and her misalliance. - -His grandson, however, if the story was hinted at in his presence, would -look grave and say that he had never supposed the story was true, but if -it were, his grandfather had only obeyed the dictates of mermanity. This -was a shocking speech in the ears of the merpeople. Our young merman, -however, had distinguished himself in the war, and no one cared to -quarrel with him. So they contented themselves with calling him "queer," -and saying that "oddity ran in the family." - - -It was the summer vacation in the sea land. All the commencements in the -mer colleges were just over. All the presidents of those institutions -had made their speeches in languages dead and alive, and told all their -classes what an enormous responsibility rested upon them, how they were -bound to "go forward," and "to conquer," and to "build themselves up," -and to "develop themselves," and be "leaders of their kind," and, in -short, do something in proportion to the expense bestowed on their -education. This is a way they have in sea land. But naturally in the sea -they take things cooler than we can on land, and you wouldn't believe -how very little difference the advent of all these expensively got up -young mermen made in the water world if you had not been there to see. -Now the old mer professor hadn't had a very comfortable time. His class -that year was rather a stupid one, and with all the pains he could take -and all the "coaches" they could use they hadn't passed a very good -examination in magic. One young gentleman upon whom he had thought he -could certainly depend being told to make himself invisible, which is a -very difficult problem, had made a mistake, used the wrong formula, and -by accident transformed the whole Board of Examiners, who were not -expecting any such thing, into cuttle-fishes. There was dreadful -confusion for a few minutes, for the student couldn't remember how to -turn them back again, and as the spell could not be undone by any one -else, the members of the board got all tangled up together, while the -professor, in an awful temper, was trying to teach the young man the -right formula. - -[Illustration: "And by accident transformed the whole board of examiners -into cuttle-fishes."] - -But they were all undone at last, only there was one immensely wealthy -old merman who was never quite sure in his mind that he had got back his -own proper curly fish's tail, and not that of some other gentleman, so -that all the rest of his life he was in a puzzle as to at least half his -personal identity. This incident so vexed him that he did not give -anything to the college funds, as he had fully intended. This -circumstance and a few other accidents had so annoyed the professor that -instead of going to the North Seas with his grandson he shut himself up -in the house and began to write a book. The book was in opposition to a -theory put forth by a learned merman in the Baltic Sea that human beings -were undeveloped mermen. The professor, however, declared that they were -no such thing, but simply undeveloped walruses. He began his first -chapter by saying that, while he had the highest respect for the Baltic -merman's acquirements, intellect, penetration and general infallibility, -he nevertheless felt himself obliged to declare that none but an idiot -or a madman could come to the conclusion of the learned man aforesaid. -He (the professor) wished to lay down his platform in the beginnings and -state that he differed from the opinions of the learned author on this -and all other conceivable points. - -"You'd a good deal better go along with me, grandfather," said the young -merman, swimming into the room where the professor was sitting with his -big books all about him. "Think how nice and cool it will be among the -icebergs this hot weather. Hadn't you better come?" - -"I won't," said the old professor, snapping and switching his tail -angrily round in the water, for the houses there are full of water, as -ours are of air. - -"I didn't say you would, sir," said the young merman; "I said you'd -better." - -"Did you ever know me say I would do a thing when I did?" returned the -professor, angrily. "I mean, did you ever know me say I did do a thing -when I would? Pooh! Pshaw! That isn't what I mean." - -"Yes, sir!" said his grandson, respectfully. - -"What do you mean by that?" said the professor, sharply. "There's that -catfish mewing at the door. Get up and let her in, do, and make yourself -useful for once in your life." - -The young merman got up and opened the door for the catfish, which came -swimming in, followed by two little kitten fish. These, frisking -playfully around the room, soon overset the professor's ink-stand. - -"There!" said the professor to his grandson. "That's all your fault! -What did you let them in for? Open the windows and let in some fresh -water, do. Scat! scat! you little torments! I don't believe the cook has -given them their dinner; she never does unless I see to it myself; your -sisters forget them. No, I'm not going to the North Seas; I can't spare -the time." - -"Don't you think you can, sir?" said the young merman. "What odds does -it make about those forked creatures on land?" - -"Do you know this fellow has the impudence to pretend that they are -undeveloped mermen, that they'll be just like ourselves after a series -of ages when their two legs grow into one, and that our ancestors were -actually of the same type as those low creatures that go about in ships? -But perhaps you agree with him, sir?" said the old professor, with a -look that seemed to say that if he did he might expect to be annihilated -on the spot. - -"Not I, sir. For aught I know we mermen may be undeveloped human beings. -I've sometimes thought so, I have such a sort of longing for the land." - -"How dare you--?" began the old gentleman in great indignation. - -"Come, come, grandfather," said the young merman, smiling. "You are not -angry with me I know; I presume you've felt just so yourself." - -The professor was silent, and swam thoughtfully two or three times up -and down the room. The two little kitten fish went and sat on his head. - -"I won't say but I have," he remarked at length, "but it's best not to -mention it. Where do you mean to go for your vacation?" - -"I thought I should go North along the coast," said the young merman. "I -can't help having a curiosity about the land, and if I am in a way to -observe any human creatures, I may pick up some facts to support your -theory that they are undeveloped walruses." - -"Any one can see that who has ever seen them floundering about in the -water," said the old professor, scornfully. - -"But the men drown and the walruses don't." - -"That's because the men have not yet acquired the habit of not being -drowned," said the professor. "When are you going?" - -"To-morrow, I thought." - -"Very well," said the professor. "Swim away with you now, and tell the -cook to feed these kittens; there they are nibbling the hair off my -head." - -The next day the young merman set off on his travels. He bade good-bye -to no one but his grandfather and his two sisters. His best friend was -away as bearer of despatches to the secretary of state. - -"I wish he wouldn't go near the coast," said the older sister, -wistfully. - -"So do I," said the younger; "I'm afraid for him. But, sister, now -honestly, don't you wish you could see a human creature near enough to -speak to?" - -"No, not I," said the elder, who had less of the family traits than any -of her relations; "I wish you wouldn't say such silly things." - - -Just as the young merman was going out of the front door, he met a huge -lobster coming into it, and without ringing. The young merman felt that -this was a liberty in the lobster, and was sure that his grandfather -would not be pleased. - -"Hadn't you better go round to the back door?" he said, quietly. - -Now the lobster was no less than the old Witch of the Sea in disguise. - -"Round to the back door indeed!" shrieked the lobster. "Do you know who -I am, young man?" - -"I beg your pardon," said the young merman; "I had no idea you were any -one in particular. The servant will admit you if you wish to see the -professor." - -"I do," said the lobster, in a huff, "but I won't;" and she turned round -and swam away. - -The professor saw her out of the window. He knew who it was well enough, -but he did not like the Witch of the Sea. He thought females had no -business to study magic, and he said she practiced her art in a most -irregular manner. Moreover, she could do two or three things which he -couldn't, so he naturally held her in contempt. - -"Ahrr! you old fool!" cried the lobster, shaking her claw at him. - -But the professor pretended to take no notice. "Those low-bred people -always call names," he said to himself. "What an old humbug she is, and -what idiots people are to go to her for advice!" - - -The merman went swimming on his way, but as he swam he passed a garden. -It was rather a large garden, shut in by a hedge of sea flag and tangle, -with pink and white shells glittering here and there among the leaves. -Behind the garden was a very lofty and spacious grotto, where lived a -family with whom the professor's household was very intimate. The merman -paused a minute, for some one in the garden was singing. The singer had -a voice that would have made people on land go wild to hear her. If you -can imagine a wood-thrush multiplied by fifty and singing articulate -music, you can have some idea of the mermaid's voice. But in the sea -every one can sing, and they don't care much more for it than we do here -for public speaking. She was singing a silly little song, but it was -joined to a sweet air, and the words were of no great consequence: - - "My goodman marchèd down the street, - 'Good-bye, my dear, good-bye,' said he; - 'Good-bye, my dear;' it might be ne'er - Would he come back again to me. - - "'Good-bye, my love,' I said aloud; - I kept my smile, I did not cry; - 'Good-bye, my own,' and he was gone, - And who was left so lone as I! - - "It was so long, so very long, - I kept myself so calm and still; - The days went on, the time was gone, - I lost my hope and I fell ill. - - "I could not rest, I could not sleep, - I hid myself from every eye; - And wearing care to dumb despair - Was changed, and yet I did not cry. - - "My goodman came up the street, - And from the street he called to me; - 'Look out, my dear, for I am here, - And safe returned to comfort thee.' - - "My tears fell down like summer rain, - I could not rise to ope the door, - Though once again, so firm and plain, - I heard his step upon the floor. - - "I was so glad, so very glad, - I had to cry and so did he; - But wars are o'er, and now no more - My goodman goes away from me." - -"Is that you?'" called the merman when the song was done. - -Just over the hedge was a little arbor covered with trailing sea-plants. -As the merman spoke, two little white hands parted the broad crimson -leaves of a dulse that hung over the door, then there swam out one of -the loveliest mermaids in the whole sea. Her yellow hair shone like -gold, and was full two yards long as it trailed on the water, for -mermaids never wear their hair any other way. Her complexion was like -the inside of a pink-and-white shell, and her eyes were like two clear, -still pools of water, they were so pure and deep. As for the mer part of -her, the dolphin's tail, I declare it was only an additional beauty, she -managed it so gracefully. I can't begin to tell you how beautiful she -was. She was a very intimate friend of the merman's sister, and he had -known her all his life--ever since they used to chase the fishes round -the garden and in and out of the rocks, and make baby-houses together. - -"Where are you going?" said the mermaid to the merman. - -"Only North a little for my vacation trip." - -"Without saying good-bye?" said the mermaid, smiling as though she did -not care a bit. - -"I didn't know you'd come home till I heard you singing, I sha'n't be -gone long; what shall I bring you?" - -"A tame seal to play with, if you can remember it." - -"Tie a string round my finger," said the merman. - -"You can wear this," she said, holding up a seal ring of red carnelian. -"I found it in the garden; I suppose it belonged to some human being." - -It was a large seal ring, having two interlaced triangles cut in the -stone. - -"That's a spell," said the merman; "it will keep away evil spirits." - -"Then wear it," said the mermaid, holding it out to him, and he slipped -it on his finger. - -"Good-bye," she said; "you won't forget the tame seal?" - -"Certainly not; I'll be home in time to dance at your birth-day party." - -The mermaid swam away to the house, turning at the door to wave her hand -to her old playmate, but he did not see her. His two sisters had watched -their interview from an upper window of their own house. - -"He has no more eyes in his head than an oyster," said the elder, in -quite a pet. - -"It would be so nice," said the younger, with a sigh. "It would be just -the thing for him." - -"Of course, and that's the reason why he never thinks of it," said the -elder, who had more experience. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - _THE FIGURE-HEAD._ - - -In the mean time, a most beautiful thing had grown out of the oak block -in Job Chippit's shop. - -Day by day Job worked at the figure-head of the Sea-nymph, Master -Torrey's beautiful new brig that was lying on the stocks all but ready -for the launch. Job spared no pains on his work, and his wonderful -success really astonished himself. - -Every one wanted to see the new figure-head, but Job kept it locked up -in an inner room, and would admit no one but Master Torrey and Lucy -Peabody. Lucy had been willing to put on a white dress and stand for a -model, but the figure did not look at all like Lucy. It was taller, more -slender, and the features were nothing like hers. Once or twice Lucy had -persuaded Anna Jane Shuttleworth with her into Job's shop. The old man -had studied her face, and worked every moment of the young lady's stay. -He stared at Anna in meeting-time in a way that almost disturbed that -young woman's composure, but she looked straight before her and took no -notice. It was impossible to tell how she felt. Anna was always "very -reserved," people said. They had an idea that treasures of wisdom, good -sense and virtue were at once indicated and concealed by that -statue-like air and silence. - -Master Torrey was delighted with the nymph, which was, indeed, most -beautiful. She stood on a point of rock, leaning lightly forward. Her -rounded arms upheld a silvered vase of antique fashion; her head was -thrown back; her hair, crowned with seaweed and coral, streamed over her -shoulders as though blown by the same breeze that wafted back the thin -robe from her dainty feet and ankles; the face was of the regular -classic type, yet not quite human in its cold purity; the eyes looked -out over the sea toward the far horizon. It was really quite -extraordinary how the old Yankee wood-carver could have accomplished -such a work of art. It looked, also, as if it might, if it chose, open -its lips and speak, but you were quite certain it never would choose, it -was so life-like and yet so still. - -Job had sent to Boston and procured finer colors than he had ever used -before, and laid them on with a cunning hand. He had painted the sea -lady's robe a pale sea-green; over it fell her hair--not yellow with -golden lights, but soft flaxen; the eyes were blue, and the faintest -sea-shell pink tinged the lips and cheeks. It was altogether the most -beautiful figure-head that any one had ever seen. - -"There! I reckon she's about done," said Job as he laid down his last -brush and stood contemplating his work. There was an odd look on the old -man's face, half satisfaction, half dislike. - -"She's a pretty cretur, ain't she?" he said to Lucy Peabody. - -"Beautiful," said Lucy, but speaking with a slight effort. - -"Don't you like her?" said Job in a doubtful tone. - -[Illustration: "'Don't you like her?' said Job, in a doubtful tone."] - -"She's very beautiful, Uncle Job, but--but"--and Lucy hesitated--"I -shouldn't want any one I cared for to love a woman like that." - -"Waal, I can't say's I would myself," said Job. "But this ain't a woman, -you see; it's one of them nimps. They wa'n't like real human girls, you -know." - -"But she is not kind," said Lucy, with a little shiver. "She would see -men drowning before her eyes, and would not put out her hand to help -them. I think she took those pearl bracelets and her necklace from some -poor dead girl she found floating in the sea. She wouldn't mind; she -would only care to dress herself with them." - -"I won't say but that's my notion of her too," said Job. "Do you know, -Lucy," he continued, in a lower voice, "I can't help feeling as if there -was something more than common in this bit of wood all the while I've -been doing it? It seemed as if 'twa'n't me that was making of it up, but -I was jest like some kind of a machine going along on some one else's -notion. Sometimes I am half skeered at the critter myself." - -"You meant to make her like Anna Jane Shuttleworth, didn't you?" asked -Lucy, suddenly. - -"Waal, yis, I did kind o' mean to give her a look of Anna Jane, 'cause -Torrey, he's so set on her, but I've got it more like her than I meant. -Somehow, it seems as if it was more like her than she is herself." - -Lucy gave one more long look at the figure "I must go," she said, with a -little start. "Good-bye, Uncle Job;" and she flitted away by a side -door. - -Just then Master Torrey came into the shop, and with him came old -Colonel Shuttleworth and his daughter. Colonel Shuttleworth was a -pompous, portly man, in an embroidered waistcoat, plum-colored coat and -lace ruffles. - -"A pretty thing! a pretty thing!" he said, condescendingly. "How many -guineas has she cost Master Torrey?" - -"You didn't expect I was going to make her for nothing, did you, -cunnel?" said Job, who stood in no awe of the old man's wealth, clothes -or title. - -"No, no, of course not," said the colonel, trying to be dignified. "Um! -ah! it seems to me this figure has something the look of my daughter. -Anna, isn't the new figure-head like you?" - -"I don't know, sir," said Anna, who had dropped into a seat and sat -looking at nothing in particular. - -"She's so delicate, so modest, she won't notice," thought her lover. -"She is lovely, Job," he cried aloud. "You have outdone yourself. Our -sea lady is no mortal, but a goddess. She has everything noble in -humanity, but none of its faults or weaknesses." - -"Umph!" said Job; "I don't know about that. I've heard some of them -goddesses was rather queer-acted people. Anyhow, I think I'd like the -women folks best, not being a heathen god myself." - -"Why, Job, you don't understand your own work," said Master Torrey, half -angrily. "She is too pure to be moved by our passions, too much exalted -above humanity to be agitated by its troubles." - -"Waal now, that ain't my notion of exaltation," said Job. "'Seems to me -that's more like havin' no feelin's at all, kind of too dull and stupid -and full of herself to keer very much about anything. This wooden girl -of ourn is uncommon handsome, though I say it, but bless you, Master -Torrey! she hain't got no more brains in her skull than a minnow. She'd -be a kind of dead-and-alive sort of a critter always. If she had a -husband, she'd never bother herself if he was in trouble. If she had a -baby, she wouldn't care much for it, only maybe to dress it up." - -The old man seemed strangely excited in this absurd discussion. Master -Torrey, too, seemed much disturbed and not a little provoked. Anna Jane -sat calm and still, and wondered whether that light green color in the -nymph's robe would become her. The colonel, who had not the faintest -idea what the two men were talking about, looked from one to the other -uncomprehending, and consequently slightly offended. - -"Are you talking about this wooden image?" he said, wondering. - -"Yes, to be sure, cunnel," said Job, with an odd sound between a laugh -and a groan. - -"Come, child, it is time to go home," said the colonel, loftily. - -Anna Jane rose and took her father's arm. Master Torrey followed them -out of the shop without looking back or saying good-bye to his old -friend. In a strange passion, Job caught up the axe and looked at the -wooden nymph as if about to dash it in pieces. "What an old fool I am!" -he said. "_She_ ain't only wood, and I'll get my pay for her. -_Creation!_ it does beat all how contrary things turn out in this -world!" - -The figure-head of the Sea-nymph was carried through the streets in the -midst of an admiring throng and fixed securely in its place on the -beautiful new brig. A few days more, and the ship was launched and slid -swiftly and safely into the sea. That night it was bright moonlight. -Silver-gilt ripples were rising and falling along the coast and all over -the bay. Now and then a fish would jump, scattering a shower of shining -drops. Everything was very still around the Sea-nymph. She lay quite by -herself at some distance from any other craft. There was no one on board -but an old watchman, who was fast asleep. If he had been awake, he would -have seen a long, bright ripple on the water coming nearer as some sea -creature cut its way swiftly toward the new craft. It was our merman, -who found himself drawn toward the land by a longing curiosity too -strong for him to resist. - -"It is all so quiet and still," he thought. "There can be no possible -danger, and I do so want to see what sort of houses these human -creatures live in. There's a new ship. I'm a great mind to go and look -at it. What is that standing there on the end of it?" - -The merman swam on slowly, debating whether he should really go and -look. Something seemed at once to warn him away and to call him forward. -He could not tell what was the matter with him. Once he turned to swim -away. Then he made up his mind once for all, and dashed straight on -toward the ship. He said over to himself a charm his grandfather had -taught him: "Aski, kataski, lix tetrax, damnamenous," words of power -once written on the fish-bodied statue of the great goddess of Ephesus; -but, dear me! it did him no good at all. All the while he was coming the -wooden nymph stood up in her place, holding out her silver vase in both -hands and looking over the sea with her painted eyes. - -"What a lovely creature!" thought the merman. "She is looking at me; she -holds her vase toward me." - -She was doing no such thing, of course--the wooden image--but he thought -she was. He did not know that she would have looked just the same way if -he had been an old porpoise instead of a young merman. He swam closer -and closer. The moon shone on the painted face. The ship moved gently on -the water. The merman thought the lady had inclined her head. In one -moment he fell desperately, helplessly, in love with the oaken nymph. It -certainly must have been the doing of the old Witch of the Sea. Some -influence of the kind must have been at work, or else a merman who had -been to college would surely have had more sense than to become enamored -of an oak block. But whether it was the witch's work, or whether it was -the drop of human blood in his veins, or whether it was fate, that is -just what he did--he fell in love with a wooden image. He forgot his -home, his old grandfather, his sisters, his best friend, who loved him -like a brother and who had saved his life in the war. As for the mermaid -who had given him the ring, he never gave her a thought. He didn't care -for anything in the world but that painted image smiling up there and -holding its vase. He saw nothing but that, and, in fact, he didn't see -that either, for he saw it as if it were alive. - -"Oh I wish I knew her name or what she is!" said the merman to himself. -"She can't be human. She is too beautiful." He swam round and round and -read the words "The Sea-nymph" painted under the figure. He gave a jump -almost out of the water. "It is a nymph," he said--"one of the Nereides -or Oceanides. I thought they had left this world long ago. What can she -be doing on that ship?" - -He gazed at the wooden creature with all his heart in his eyes. He -wished he were human that he might at least be a little like this lovely -shape. He hated his own form. Was it likely the divine nymph would ever -deign to notice a creature with a fish's tail? Finally he ventured to -speak. - -"Fairest nymph," he said. - -He got no answer, but as the shadow of a cloud flitted across her face, -and then the moon shone on her, he thought the nymph smiled. If there -had been any possible way, he would certainly have climbed up to her, -though he knew he could not live five minutes out of the water. He did -not think anything about that, the poor silly merman. He was so -infatuated that he would have been glad to die beside her. He stayed -there the whole night talking to the wooden sea-nymph, and when the -image moved with the rise and fall of the water he thought she inclined -her head toward him. He said the most extravagant things to her; he told -her all he had ever thought or felt, things he had never spoken to his -best friend who loved him dearly; he poured out all his heart into the -deaf ears of the wooden nymph. The image kept looking out over the water -with its painted eyes, and the merman thought, "Now at last I have found -some one who can understand me." - -It was growing to gray dawn when a huge sea gull came sweeping over the -water, and poised and hovered over the merman's head. - -"Hallo!" said the sea-gull to the merman, "what are _you_ up to, young -man?" - -The merman was disgusted and made no answer. - -"You'd better clear out of this," said the gull. "If they catch you, -they'll make a show of you and wheel you round the streets in a tub of -water for sixpence a sight." - -"Be so good as to reserve your anxiety for your own affairs," said the -merman, haughtily. He had always been sweet-tempered, but now he felt as -if he must have a quarrel with some one. He had a general impression -that every living creature was his rival and enemy. He didn't just know -what he wanted, but he was determined to have it. - -"Highty tighty!" said the sea-gull. "Don't put yourself out. What have -we here? A pretty wooden image, upon my word!" and the gull perched on -the sea-nymph's head and scratched his ear with one claw. The merman -went almost wild at the sight. - -"You profane wretch!" he shouted; "how dare you? Oh, good heavens, that -I should see her so insulted and not be able to help her. Oh, why can't -I fly?" - -"'Cause you hain't got no wings," said the vulgar bird, flapping his own -wide white pinions. "Why shouldn't I perch here as well as on any other -post? It's none of your funeral." - -"Post!" said the merman, in a fury. - -"Yes, post! Why? You don't mean to say you think this thing's alive?" - -"Alive! She is a goddess, a nymph, an angel!" - -"Well, you _are_ a muff," said the gull, with immense contempt. "If I -ever! Look here! if you don't want a harpoon in you, you had better -quit." - -"I'll wring your neck," said the merman, in a rage. - -"Skee-ee-eek!" screamed the gull. "Will you have it now or wait till you -get it? Take your own way, if you only know what it is;" and the gull -lifted his wings and swept off over the water, laughing frantically. The -wooden lady kept looking over the sea. - -"What noble composure! what breeding!" thought the merman. "She scorns -to notice a creature like that. How much more noble and womanly is this -modest reserve and silence than the chatter and laughing of our -mermaids!" - -It grew lighter and lighter; sounds of life were heard from the shore; a -boat put out on the bay; presently the workmen began to come on board -the brig. - -"Any of those human beings can speak to her," thought the merman. He was -frantically jealous of an old ship carpenter with a wooden leg. - -One of the workmen caught a glimpse of him. "Ho!" said he, "there's an -odd fish! Who's got a harpoon?" - -The merman had just sense enough left to see that if he was harpooned in -the morning he couldn't court the goddess at night. He dived and swam -away, for mermen, although they are warm-blooded animals, are not -obliged to come up to the top of the water to breathe. - -He hid all day long under the timbers of an old wharf, and when it was -still at night he came out again and swam toward The Sea-nymph. Some one -had covered up the figure with an old sheet to keep the dust off. The -merman thought she had put on a veil. - -"What charming modesty!" he said. "She don't wish to be seen by these -human beings, or perhaps I offended her by my staring." - -He called her every lovely name he could invent or think of. He got no -answer, of course, but that was her feminine reserve, the merman -thought. - -"Speech is silvern, silence is golden," he said. So it went on all the -time the new brig was being fitted up. The merman lived a wretched life. -Two or three times he was seen and chased by the fishermen. A talk went -about of the odd creature that haunted the water near the new ship. Some -one was always on the lookout for him, and once he was nearly caught. -They kept watch for him at night. It was only now and then that he could -worship his wooden love for an hour. - -All the time the old sheet was over her head, but the merman only loved -her the better. He hid under the old wharf by day, for though he knew -how to make himself invisible to mermen, the charm hadn't the slightest -effect where Yankees were concerned. He lived on whatever he could -catch, but he had very little appetite. The shallow harbor water did not -agree with his constitution. He grew thin and hollow-eyed, a mere ghost -of a merman, but he was constant to his wooden image. - -Meantime, the ship was finished and the cargo was stowed away. One day, -glancing out from his place, he saw that the nymph was unveiled and was -standing in her old fashion, lovely as ever. She was looking straight at -him, the merman thought. "She is anxious about my safety," he said, with -delight, for he did not know that the image just looked toward the old -wharf because it happened to be in the way. - -"Dearest," he said, "I would follow you over the whole ocean for such a -look as that!" - -That night there were so many men on board the brig that the merman did -not dare go near her. The next morning the ship spread her sails and -went out of the harbor with a fair wind, bound for Lisbon and the -Mediterranean. That same evening there was a great gathering at Colonel -Shuttleworth's. Master Torrey was married to Anna Jane. - -The merman followed the ship at a long distance. He dared not go too -near in the daytime for fear of the harpoon that had been thrown at him -once or twice. Then it came into his head that the lovely nymph was in -some mysterious way held captive by these human creatures. He swore to -deliver her if it cost him his life, for which he cared only as it could -serve his goddess, for that she was a goddess he fully believed. - -He swam in the wake of the ship, and it was very seldom that he could -come up and look his idol in the face. The sailors kept a sharp look-out -for him. They thought he was some sort of monster, the poor innocent -merman, and had harpoons ready to throw at him whenever he showed -himself. But for all this he followed The Sea-nymph across the Atlantic. -He knew he was not likely to meet any of his own people, for the merfolk -avoid ships whenever they can, and do not frequent the highway between -the two continents. - -One day, however, he was so possessed with a desire for the sight of his -love that, utterly reckless, he swam directly before the ship and -stretched out his arms to the wooden image. "I am here! I will die for -you!" he cried, for he thought she was suffering in her captivity and -wanted comfort. There was a shout from the sailors; one flung a fish -spear, another fired a gun. The captain ordered out the whale-boat, and -they gave chase to the merman, for such they now saw it was. It was all -that he could do to get away. He was a very fast swimmer, however, and -as he was not obliged to come up to breathe, they soon lost sight of -him. He distanced the boat, but he found when he stopped that the bullet -from the gun had grazed his shoulder, and that he had lost blood and was -suffering pain. "It is for her," thought the merman as he tried to -stanch the blood with his pocket handkerchief. - -Just then a huge sperm whale came dashing up. - -"Why, what in the world are you doing here?" said the whale, surprised. -"Have those wretches of men been chasing you?" - -"Yes," said the merman, his eyes flashing; "you may well call them -wretches. Do you know who it is they hold prisoner in their hateful -ship? The loveliest sea-nymph in the world." - -"How do you know?" said the whale. - -"I have seen her. I have followed her all the way from home. She stands -holding out a silver vase. Every creature in the sea ought to fly to -deliver her. If I was only as big and strong as you! These men are your -enemies as well as mine and hers. I know how they kill you whales -whenever they can. You can sink that ship if you like and deliver the -goddess." - -The whale was so astonished that he had to go to the top of the water -and blow. "My dear sir," said he, diving down again, "you are under some -strange mistake. That is nothing but wood, that figure on the ship, as -sure as my name is Moby Dick." - -"You great stupid creature, where are your eyes?" said the merman in a -passion, and yet he was rather struck by the whale's remarks too. - -"In my head," said Moby Dick, "and I shouldn't think yours were. Why -they put some such thing on all the ships--women, dolphins, what not. -I've seen dozens of 'em. I know about nymphs. I used to read about 'em -in the old classical dictionary in our school. Every school of whales of -any pretension has one. If she was a sea goddess, do you suppose she'd -stand there in all weathers? Besides, there are no nymphs." - -"Then you won't sink the ship?" said the merman. - -"Certainly not; she's only a merchant ship. If she was a whaler, I would -with pleasure. I've done it before now, but that was in self-defence. -I'm not going to drown a lot of folks because you have lost your wits. -Come, come, my young friend, go home to your family. I dare say your -mother don't know you're out. You are too tired to swim after that ship, -and you are hurt besides. Let me take you home on my back; I'd just as -soon swim your way as any other." - -The merman was a little affected by the whale's tone of kindness, but he -was too much possessed with his wooden love to accept the offer. - -"No! no!" he cried, "I must follow her to the ends of the earth. -Something tells me she will yet be mine." - -"And suppose she should be?" said Moby Dick. "Why, she's only a stick -cut and painted. What would the ladies of your family think if you -brought home a wooden wife?" - -"You are blind," said the merman, swimming away. - -"You are cracked!" the whale shouted after him, but the merman was -already out of hearing. - -"Dear! dear!" said Moby Dick. "What a pity! If I can find any of the -mermen, I'll tell them about him. He ought not to be left to himself;" -and he shook his huge head solemnly and swam away in an opposite -direction. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - _THE BEWITCHED LOVER._ - - -Off to Lisbon went the brig Sea-nymph, and after her the poor merman. He -stayed there as long as the ship stayed, hiding under boats and behind -timbers, chased more than once, in danger of his life every hour, hardly -able to get a glimpse of his idol. The wooden nymph stood straight up in -her place, looking toward the city this time, because her head happened -to be turned that way. - -Once a priest going across the water in a boat happened to see him. The -priest took him for a demon, was dreadfully scared, and solemnly cursed -him, as is the fashion of priests when they are afraid of anything. -Besides, such is the approved mode of dealing with demons in those -countries. The report went abroad that there was an evil spirit in the -harbor. The Spanish and Italian sailors said innumerable prayers to the -saints and bought little blessed candles. The Yankees and Englishmen -hunted him whenever they could, for they had a curiosity to see what a -live demon was like. You may imagine what a life it was for the poor -merman. He was almost worn out when The Sea-nymph weighed anchor and set -sail for Sicily. He followed her, of course, for he was more possessed -than ever. - -And yet away down at the bottom of his heart he had misgivings. When day -after day went on and the nymph stood still in the same place, he could -not help thinking to himself, "What if it should be a wooden image, -after all!" - -But when this thought came into his head he drove it away, and called -himself all the names that ever were for daring to entertain such a -notion about his goddess. Was she not constant? Did she not always hold -out her vase toward him? He didn't or wouldn't think, the poor silly -merman, that it was because he always swam right before her and she -couldn't hold it any other way. - -Not far from the Straits of Gibraltar the merman met his most intimate -friend, who had been looking for him a long time, and had only heard of -him through Moby Dick. - -"My dear fellow," said his friend, "I am so glad to see you!" and then -he stopped, for he couldn't help seeing that the other was not at all -glad to see him, and he felt hurt and disappointed. - -"Are you?" said the merman, coldly, and gazing after the ship sailing -away from him. - -"Why, of course. We've all been so anxious about you. Why haven't you -written? Your grandfather has tried every spell he could think of, but -it all seemed of no use. The dear old gentleman is almost sick, and so -miserable about you that he has had no heart to finish his work, even -though the Baltic merman has come out with another pamphlet. Do come -home." - -Now as his friend spoke our merman felt at once how selfish and -ungrateful he had been. But his passion for his wooden nymph had so -altered his nature that instead of being sorry he was only angry with -himself, and pretended that he was angry with his friend. - -"I suppose I am old enough to be my own master," he said, haughtily. - -"Why, what has come over you?" said his friend. "I'm sure it was natural -I should come to look for you. If I'd been lost, wouldn't you have tried -to find me?" - -The merman felt more and more ashamed of himself and grew crosser and -crosser. "Excuse me," he said, coldly, "but I have business that I must -attend to. I don't choose to discuss the subject;" and he swam away -after The Sea-nymph. - -"But look here!" said his friend, coming after him. "I must tell you -something. I'm going to be married to your youngest sister, and I want -you to come and be best man. The girls are breaking their hearts about -you." - -"Oh, I dare say," said the merman with a sneer. He had always been a -most affectionate brother, but now he had no room in his heart for -anything but his wooden image. - -"And there's a dear little girl next door that will be glad to see you. -She's to be bridesmaid, of course. It's my belief she likes you. The -sweetest mermaid in the sea, she is, except your sister." - -"She's well enough for a mermaid," said the merman, impatiently, for the -ship was going farther and farther away. - -"I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself," said his friend, growing -vexed at last. "I shall really think that absurd story of Moby Dick's -was true when he said you were in love with a wooden statue of a human -being." - -"She's not human," snapped the merman, coloring scarlet; "she's a nymph, -an immortal." - -"Let's have a look at her," he said. - -"You are not worthy to behold her perfections," said the merman. - -"Why, a catfish may look at a congressman," said his friend, quoting a -sea proverb. "Is she on board that ship off there? Come on;" and away he -went and our merman after him. They came up with the ship, and there, as -usual, stood the wooden image staring over the water. - -"She's watching for me," said the merman. - -The friend said nothing. He swam round and round, and looked up at the -figure-head through his eye-glass. - -"Isn't she a goddess?" asked our merman, impatiently. - -"Goddess!" said the other. "My dear fellow, it's only wood as sure as -you are alive." - -"No merman shall insult me," said our merman, in a passion. - -"Who wants to? Do open your eyes, my dear boy, and see for yourself." - -"I do; I see how she looks at me and holds out her silver vase." - -"She'll do as much for me," said his friend, swimming before the ship. -Our merman was wild with rage and jealousy, for he could not help seeing -that she did. He drew his sword (for he wore one), made of a sword-fish -blade, and flew at his friend. "Defend yourself," he said. - -"Nonsense," said the other. "A likely story, I am going to fight you -about a wooden stick. As for looking at me, she'd do the same for any -old turtle." - -The merman couldn't but feel that this was true. But he only grew more -angry. He struck his friend with all his might. There was a dark stain -on the sea. - -"I'm not going to fight you," said the other, turning very pale, "for -you are _her_ brother, but I think you'll be very sorry for this some -time;" and he turned round and swam away as well as he could. - -Fortunately, after a little he met Moby Dick. - -"Hallo!" said the whale in a tone of concern. "What's the matter?" - -"Nothing much," said the other, for he wouldn't tell the story. - -The whale suspected the truth. He sniffed and wiped his eyes with his -flipper, for he was a soft-hearted monster. - -"Come with me," said he; "I'll take you to a surgeon." - -He carried the wounded merman to an old sea-owl who lived in a cave -under the rock of Gibraltar. The old sea-owl was sitting in his door -reading the newspaper when Moby Dick came rushing toward him, supporting -in his flipper the hurt merman, who was too faint to swim. - -"This young gentleman has met with an accident," said the whale to the -sea-owl; "I want you to cure him." The sea-owl laid down his paper and -took off his spectacles. - -"What concern is it of yours?" said the sea-owl. - -"That is none of your business," said Moby Dick. "Take him into the -house and take care of him." - -"You are weakly sentimental," said the sea-owl. "I perceive that you -belong to the rose-water class. What is suffering? A mere thrilling of a -certain set of nerves. It creates a sensation which we call pain. It is -disagreeable. Suppose it is. Are we sent into the world only to enjoy -ourselves? Enjoyment is contemptible; the desire of happiness is base, -unworthy a rational being. Let us rise to more exalted feelings; let us -glorify ourselves in discomfort; and if we see any one basely -comfortable, let us make ourselves as disagreeable as possible, and -raise him to our own platform. What possible difference does it make -whether we live or die, or are cold and hungry? What odds does it make -in this huge universe? Are we nothing but vultures screaming for prey? -Let us cultivate silence, that I may have the talk all to myself;" and -the sea-owl looked at Moby Dick in the most impressive and superior -manner. "What difference, I repeat, does our happiness or misery make in -the huge sum of the universal--?" - -"Look here!" said Moby Dick, "if you don't quit talking and tend to this -young man, I'll swallow you. I don't know as that will make much -difference in the universe, but it'll make a sight of difference to -_you_;" and the whale opened his tremendous jaws wide and showed all his -teeth. - -The sea-owl took the merman into his office on the instant. He bound up -his wound and attended him very carefully, for he was by no means such a -fool as you would imagine from his conversation. The merman was cured -before long, and made the sea-owl a handsome return for his services. -The owl was just as much pleased as though the money had been a large -item in the sum of the universe. He gave the merman a present of his own -poems neatly bound in shark skin. He had several hundred copies in his -office, for he had issued them at his own expense. They had been much -praised, but some way they did not sell. The sea-owl said it was because -all the people in the sea were "Philistines." No one knew just what he -meant, but when he called people by that name most all of them -experienced a sort of crushed feeling, and pretended to admire the -poems. Sometimes they would even buy them, but not often. Moby Dick -accompanied the young merman home, and they made up a story that his -hurt had been caused by a sword-fish, against whom he had run in the -dark. Nobody believed him, for some way every one knew the truth, but -all the members of the family's own circle pretended to believe the -tale, for they were all very high-bred people. - -It had been intended that the wedding of the professor's granddaughter -should be a very brilliant affair, but they felt so unhappy about the -grandson that they resolved to invite only a few intimate friends. Moby -Dick, of course, was among the number. He was too huge to come into the -house, but he put his nose to the window and ate ice cream with a fire -shovel for a spoon. The beautiful mermaid from next door was bridesmaid, -and looked most lovely. She seemed in better spirits than any one else, -and never said a word about her old playmate. Toward the end of the -evening she went out into the garden that was all glittering with sea -phosphorescence. She swam up to Moby Dick and said it was warm weather. - -"So it is, my dear," said the whale, and looking with admiration at the -bridesmaid, who wore white lace and emeralds. - -"You came from Gibraltar, didn't you?" said the mermaid, playing with -her looking-glass, which the sea ladies carry as ours do their fans. - -"Yes, where the bridegroom and I went to see after that bewitched -brother-in-law of his," said the whale, for he was vexed at the merman. - -"Do you think he is bewitched?" said the bridesmaid. - -The whale scratched his head, which is not vulgar in a whale. - -"I never thought of it before," he said; "but now you speak of it I -shouldn't wonder if it was so." - -The bridesmaid whispered in the whale's ear. - -"I wish you'd come with me to the old Witch of the Sea," she said. -"Won't you, please?" - -"I'll go to the ends of the ocean with you, miss, if you want me to," -said Moby Dick; "but what for?" - -"Oh," said the bridesmaid, looking straight in the eye which happened to -be that side of the whale's head, "I'm a friend of the family, you know. -I'm very much attached to the girls and very fond of the professor. I -should like to help them if I could, and I think the witch is a wise -woman, and it wouldn't do at all for the professor to go to her in his -position, but it won't make any difference to me and you. Will you come -now? It isn't far." - -"Of course I will," said the whale. "Just sit on my head, and I'll take -you there in no time." - -Just then the bride's sister came out into the garden. - -"Are you going, dear?" she said to the bridesmaid. - -"Yes, I think I shall. Mr. Dick will see me home," said the other -mermaid. - -"It's been rather forlorn," sighed the bride's sister. "To think of his -loving a wooden thing!" - -"I suppose he had a right to if he chose," said the mermaid a little -hastily. "I'm sure it's nothing to me." - -The bride's sister was not angry at all. She kissed her friend -good-night, and when she and Dick had gone sat down and cried a little. - -"The poor dear!" she said. - -Meanwhile Moby Dick and the bridesmaid were on their way to the old -Witch of the Sea. She lived in a cave in a thick dark grove of seaweed. -She was sitting before the door talking with a gossip of hers, one of -the Salem witches, whose broomstick would carry her through the water as -well as through the air. The broomstick, which was a spirited young one, -was standing hitched at the door, impatiently stamping its stick part on -the ground and switching the broom part about to keep off the little -crabs. - -"Ho! ho!" said the Salem witch. "Here's a dainty young maiden indeed! -I'm a great mind to stick a few pins in her." - -"You better hadn't," said Moby Dick, grimly, for he was not at all -afraid of witches. "Ask the old lady any questions you like, my dear; -nothing shall hurt you." - -[Illustration: "'Ho! ho!' said the Salem witch. 'Here's a dainty young -maiden indeed!'"] - -"If you would be so good," said the mermaid, taking off her jeweled -necklace and zone and holding them out to the witches, "will you tell me -where the professor's grandson is, and whether he cannot be induced to -come home?" - -"And what's your interest in _him_?" said the Witch of the Sea, taking -snuff and looking at her sharply. - -"I am his sister's friend," said the mermaid, steadily; "otherwise it is -not a matter of consequence to me whether he spends his life in the -chase of a wooden image; but I am very fond of the professor, and I -think it a very sad thing that he should be left alone in his old age." - -"Umph!" said the Salem witch. "Just the same, fish-tailed or two-legged, -in the sea or out of it. There's a girl in our town as like her as two -peas." - -"Young lady," said the Witch of the Sea, "I haven't had any hand in this -matter." (But of course I can't say this was true. I incline myself to -think she had had her finger in the pie.) "I can't undo the spell--not -now. If you want to find your friend's brother, you must go West toward -the coast." - -"Take a bee line," said the Salem witch. - -"I don't know what that is," said the mermaid, who didn't know what a -bee was. - -"As the crow flies," said the Salem witch. - -"Crow?" said the mermaid, perplexed. - -"As the mackerel swims," said the sea witch. - -"Oh, I see," said the mermaid. "Thank you very much. Pray keep the -stones. Good-night;" and she turned to Moby Dick. "You'll go with me?" - -"To be sure," said the whale. "That's rather a dangerous coast for me," -he thought to himself. "But never mind; if they come after me I can sink -a whaler as easy as nothing. I'll go with her. She reminds me of a -whaless I used to go to school with;" and Moby Dick looked at the little -slim mermaid in her bridesmaid's dress, and heaved a sigh about a -quarter of an acre in extent. "I'm your whale," he said, cheerfully; and -away they dashed at the rate of a hundred miles an hour. - - -Every one in the sea knew that the professor's grandson had fallen in -love with a wooden image, and was following it about the world. The very -porpoises talked about it to each other. The whole family were -dreadfully mortified. - -"Suppose he marries her!" said his sisters. - -"We never can take her into society. A real human being would be bad -enough, but a wooden one--" - -"I disown him," said the old mer professor. "I desire that no one will -mention him in my hearing. If he would only come home, the poor dear -boy!" - -There was universal sympathy with the family. The very sophomores -behaved like gentlemen for as much as a week, they were so touched with -the old mer professor's trouble. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - _THE SEA-NYMPHS._ - - -After his friend had left him, our merman swam once more after The -Sea-nymph. He felt wicked, ashamed, remorseful and very miserable, but -for all that he followed his wooden goddess. He was so worn out with his -long journeying and with trouble of mind that he could not keep up with -the ship--he who had once beaten a fin-back whale in a race. He had lost -sight of the brig before she went into the harbor of Syracuse, but he -knew where she was going, and he followed in her track. It was a -beautiful moonlit night. The water was all golden ripples. The ruins of -the ancient town stood up white, still and solemn in the flood of silver -light. The modern city did not look dirty as it does by sunlight, but -white and cool and still. Only a bell rung at intervals from the tower -of a convent. - -On a fragment of a broken capital that lay in the water near the island -shore of Ortyggia sat three lovely ladies. They looked young and -beautiful as the day, but they were very, very old. They had known the -place before the first Greek ship bore the first Greek colonists to -Sicily. The broken capital was the last bit of a temple that had been -reared in their honor ages ago, for these were the real sea-nymphs. They -had come back from the unknown countries where they went when men forgot -them, and the monks shattered their beautiful marble statues to replace -them with waxen virgins dressed in tinsel. They were taking a journey -just to see what sort of a place this world had grown to be. They were -all three rather low-spirited--as much so as sea-nymphs can be. - -"This is all so different," said Arethusa. "It was hardly sadder in the -great siege; I could hardly find the place where my fountain was once." - -"And nothing of Alpheus?" said Cymodoce with a little smile. - -"No, thank Heaven!" said Arethusa; "the stream is there, but it has -another name. I wonder what has become of the old gentleman? My dears, -you can't think what a torment he was. I really don't know what I should -have done but for Diana." - -"Maybe you would have married him," said Panope. "He was very devoted to -you." - -"Not he," said Arethusa. "He was determined to have his own way, but he -didn't get it." - -"Sing something," said Cymodoce. "What concerts we used to have on this -very shore! Oh dear!" - -Arethusa began to sing. I only wish you had been there to hear her. - - "Years ago when the world was young, - And this weary time was yet to be, - A little bay lay the hills among - Where the hills slope down to the sand and sea. - - "The shepherd came down to the cool seashore, - Fearless and tall and fair was he; - Careless the cornel spear he bore, - As he paced the sand along the sea. - - "Low in the sky the red moon hung, - The wind went wandering wild and free; - To and fro the foam-bells swung - Off from the sand into the sea. - - "'Come up, my love,' he called, 'oh come! - Give, oh goddess, once more to me - That fairest face in the whitening foam, - On the pebbly marge 'twixt the sand and sea.' - - "The sunset faded like smouldering brand, - And never the nymph again saw he; - The shadow sloped from the tall headland - Off from the sand, out o'er the sea. - - "His was a being that, born to-day, - Grows old to-morrow and dies, and she - Lived on for ages as fair alway, - To sing on the shore 'twixt the sand and the sea. - - "Yet oh, my lover, by this right hand, - It was fate, not I, that was false to thee; - For thine was the life of the solid land, - And I was a thing of the restless sea." - -As Arethusa finished her song, the merman came swimming wearily toward -the three nymphs. If he had been a human being, he would not have seen -them, but as it was they were revealed to his eyes. He knew what they -were in a moment. They were dressed like his wooden nymph, and Arethusa -carried a little silver vase in her hand, but they were not like the -figure-head, for they had sweet, kind faces, and could laugh and cry. -The merman made a most respectful bow, for he knew how to do it. - -"Well," said Panope, kindly, "can we do anything for you?" - -"Lovely nymphs," said the merman, "have you seen a ship pass this way -with one of your fair sisters on its prow?" - -"One of _our_ sisters?" said Arethusa, a little haughtily. "That seems -very unlikely." - -"I assure you she is, my lady," said the merman, reverently but firmly. -"She has her name, The Sea-nymph, written below her." - -"He has lost his wits," said Panope, sighing. - -"What a pity! Such a handsome youth!" - -"You don't mean that wooden figure-head?" cried Arethusa. - -"Surely she is your sister," said the merman, looking at Cymodoce, who -was more like the wooden nymph than the other two, and whose manners -were always a little stiff and prim. - -"My sister!" cried Cymodoce, quite bristling. "Am I related to a log of -wood?" - -Here Arethusa slyly pinched Panope behind Cymodoce's back, for the truth -was Cymodoce had once been a wooden ship, and had been made into a nymph -to save her from a conflagration. She never would allow, however, that -this was a true story. - -"No, of course there is nothing wooden about you, dear," said Panope, -soothingly. "Don't be vexed. Let us help the poor boy if we can." - -"He's very like a Triton I used to know," said Arethusa, aside. - -"I saw a ship pass," said Panope, looking down at him with her kind blue -eyes. "Such a big ship! Not like the ones I used to see here years ago, -and it certainly had a wooden statue on the prow, but it was only a -wooden image; it was not alive." - -"How strange it is," thought the merman to himself, "that these three -goddesses should be jealous of my beauty--just like three mortal -mermaids." - -"Jealous of that stick indeed!" cried Cymodoce, answering his thought. - -"Men!" said Arethusa. "Panope, my darling, they are just the creatures -they always were in the water or out of it." - -"So it seems," said Panope, playing in the sand with her little pink -toes like a mortal girl. - -"I assure you, sir," said Cymodoce, gravely, "that you are under a -serious mistake. That figure is a mere painted figure-head, quite -incapable of a rational thought or instructive conversation." - -"What we admire in woman is her affections, not her intellect," said the -merman. - -"Look at me!" said Arethusa; and the tall nymph stood up before him in -all her immortal beauty and shook down her golden hair till it swept her -ankles. - -"My dear Arethusa," said Cymodoce, "let me ask you to consider if this -is quite proper?" - -Panope only smiled, and Arethusa took no sort of notice. - -"Look at me," she said, "and compare me with that wooden thing. Don't -you see the difference?" - -A difference there certainly was. The merman felt a cold chill go to his -heart. For one instant his eyes were opened; for one instant he knew he -had been worshiping a stick. Then he would _not_ see or feel the truth. - -"Farewell!" he cried, desperately; "I will follow her to the ends of the -earth, whether she is alive or not;" and he swam away. - -"Poor fellow!" said Arethusa. - -"He looks a good deal like the pious Æneas," said Cymodoce, who often -mentioned that gentleman. - -"I don't see it," said Panope, almost sharply. "He may be a goose, but -he is not a prig. I do wish you ever could talk about any one else, -Cymodoce! I am tired to death of the pious Æneas." - -"So am I," said Arethusa; "he was a humbug if ever there was one." - -"What an expression!" said Cymodoce. - -"Never mind," said Arethusa; "suppose we do this poor merman a good -turn, and get Aphrodite to make his wooden thing a live creature. Don't -you think she would do as much for wood as she did for marble?" - -"We could ask her," said Cymodoce. "I have some influence with her. I -was so well acquainted with her son, the pious--" - -"Oh bother _him_!" said Arethusa, who had been a mountain nymph -originally, and was apt to be a little brusque. - -"I don't believe she'd be good for much if she did come alive," said -Panope, looking down. "I've heard that match of Pygmalion's didn't turn -out very well. I saw the marble woman once. She was pretty enough, but -_so_ stiff, and she walked as though she weighed a ton, and hadn't a -word to say for herself. And as for this wooden thing, the woodenness -would always remain in her mind and manners. But we can try. Come, if -you like;" and the three slipped into the sea and went swimming after -the merman, but he never saw them. He had caught sight of his wooden -goddess, and had no eyes for the real ones. He thought he had never seen -his idol looking so beautiful, so lifelike. "_She_ wood!" he thought as -he leaned back in the water and looked up in her face. Meanwhile, some -strange influence was at work upon the wooden image. A kind of thrill -ran over it. It began slowly to breathe. - -"Dear me!" thought the wooden creature, for it could think a little now. -"I must be coming alive! How very disagreeable! I can see--even feel. I -don't like it. It's too much trouble. What is that thing in the sea -staring at me?" and she actually bent her head and looked down. - -The merman, of course, was in ecstasies, for he thought she was coming -to him. - -"I certainly am growing alive," thought the wooden thing. "I won't come -alive; I was made wood, and wood I'll stay; I won't go out of my sphere; -I'm sure it's not proper;" and she stiffened herself as stiff as she -could. "I will be wood," she thought, and wood she was, for even a -goddess can't make a thing alive against its own will. "Yes, this is -much the best way," was the wooden image's last thought, as the breath -of life went away from her and left her more wooden than ever. - -"Let it go, the stupid thing," said Arethusa in a pet which was scarcely -reasonable, as the image was wood in its nature. "Come, my dears, let us -go from a world where no one cares for our gifts. Don't cry, Panope -dear. There are just as many fools in the world as ever there were, for -all they pretend to be so much wiser." - -"It is strange too," said Cymodoce, "considering how long they have had -before them the example of the pious Æneas--" - -"_He_ never lost sight of his interest," said Panope. "I wish we could -persuade that poor merman, but I know very well that the twelve great -gods couldn't do it;" and the three vanished and were seen no more. - - -That night there came up a terrible storm. There was wind and rain and -thunder such as the merman had never heard. From far away came a thick -sulphurous cloud of smoke, and in the air was a dull red glare. The land -shook and trembled, for Ætna was feeding his hidden fires, filling his -inmost furnaces. The gale blew fiercely from land. The Sea-nymph snapped -her cable, and drove out of the harbor before the tempest. The merman -followed her. By the glare of the lightning he could see that the figure -stood in its old place holding out her silver vase. "What wonderful -courage!" he thought, for he did not know it was nailed there. The masts -went crashing into the sea. The sailors threw overboard everything they -could to lighten the ship. One of them sprang forward with an axe and -began to cut away the figure-head. The merman swam, balancing himself on -the crest of the waves; every one was too busy to notice him; he could -not hear the blows of the axe in the noise of the wind and thunder; he -did not see what the sailor was doing; he saw the image quiver under the -strokes of the axe, and thought that at last she was coming down to him. -"Oh come, come," he cried, swimming directly below and holding out his -arms. The wooden image quivered and shook; it bent forward; the next -instant the solid heavy oak fell with a plunge and struck the poor -merman in its fall. He felt that he was dying, but he did not know what -had hurt him. "My own love, my sea-nymph," he murmured; and he put his -arms round the figure-head that was bobbing up and down in the sea quite -unconcernedly. He kissed the painted lips. Then at length he knew that -his idolized nymph, for whom he had given his life, was nothing but a -carved log. It was well for him that his next breath was his last. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - _LUCY PEABODY'S DREAM._ - - -Moby Dick went on his way, "emerging strong against the tide." A -Nantucket ship saw him as he blew, and her boats put out after him. - -"Just get off a minute, my dear," said he to the little mermaid whom he -carried. She did so, and then, instead of swimming away from the boats, -he put down his enormous head and went straight at them. - -"The white whale!" cried the sailors; and they did not throw the -harpoon, but went meekly back to the ship. They were bold enough, but -they were afraid of the white whale, for Moby Dick had sunk two or three -ships in his time and entirely reversed the whalers' programme. - -Moby Dick executed a huge frisk on the surface of the sea, flapped his -tail on the water with a noise like thunder, and then dived down to -rejoin the mermaid. - -"All right, my dear," he said, cheerfully. - -"I'm so glad you are safe," said the mermaid, patting him with her -little hands. - -On they went through the water, and the coast was soon in sight. It was -growing dusk, and the lighthouse showed its red star over the sea. The -mermaid was silent, and Moby Dick did not trouble her to talk. - -Suddenly a beautiful woman appeared to them on the crest of a long -rolling billow. She made no effort; she did not swim, but moved through -the water by her will alone. She seemed a part of the sea, like a wave -come alive. - -"That is not a human being, surely," said the mermaid, startled. - -"It's very like that--you know--that wooden thing--that _he_ ran after," -said Moby Dick in a gigantic whisper, "only it's alive." - -"She don't seem as though she could ever have been wood," said the -mermaid. "She looks kind. I don't feel as though she were that--that -person. Please ask if she has seen our friend." - -"Yes; my dear child," said Panope--for she it was--answering the -mermaid's thought, "I have seen him;" and the immortal sighed. - -"His family are very anxious about him, my lady," said the whale, who -was conscious of an awe he had never known before, though he felt he -could trust the Sea-Nymph. - -"They need be anxious no more," said Panope, gently and sadly. - -"What has happened?" asked the mermaid, turning pale, but keeping -herself very quiet. - -Panope went to her, and the immortal daughter of the sea put her white -arms round the mermaid and held her in a close and soft embrace. - -"My dear," she said, very gently, "your old playmate is dead." - -[Illustration: "'My dear,' she said, very gently, 'your old playmate is -dead.'"] - -"You don't say so, ma'am!" said Moby Dick, with a great sigh; and then -he swam away to a little distance and left the mermaid to the care of -the Sea-Nymph, for he was a whale of very delicate feelings. - -The mermaid looked into the blue eyes of the Goddess, and felt that the -countless ages of her being had but made her more wise and kind. She hid -her face on the immortal maiden's bosom. - -"My sweet child," said Panope, after a little while, "I cannot bring -your friend to life--it is beyond my power--but if you will, I can give -you an immortality like my own. I can carry you with me to a world where -death or pain has never come, and keep you young and lovely for ever." - -The mermaid was silent a moment. Then she looked up into Panope's face. - -"You will not be angry with me?" said she. - -"Angry, my poor darling!" - -"Then, my friends that I have loved have all been mortal. My mother is -dead, my twin brother was killed in the war, and now my old -companion--and I have known him so long! I think I should rather not be -so very different, but go to them when my time comes." - -Panope caressed her hair with a soft hand. - -"I don't know but you are right. Sometimes," said the Goddess, with a -sad, tired look in her eyes, "I think I would be glad to be mortal -myself, except that I am glad to be a little comfort to you. I am sorry -I came back. Either the world has grown a sad place, or else I had -forgotten what it used to be. But I don't know; I almost broke my heart -over Prometheus when I was quite a young thing. I could have helped him -take care of his beloved human race a great deal better than Asia, but -he never cared anything for me. It is all over long ago. Is there -nothing that I can do for you, my dear?" - -The mermaid was silent a minute. Then she said: - -"I think I should like to take him home to his friends. I know they -would wish it should be so." - -"It shall be," said Panope. "Wait here, and I will bring him to you. -But, my dear child, you are so quiet. All the mortal women I ever knew -in the old days, in the sea or out, would have torn their hair and -screamed, but you are so different." - -The mermaid looked up with a little ghost of a smile, half proud, half -pitiful. "I suppose it is because I was born in American waters," she -said. - -"Wait but a little," said Panope. "The whale will take care of you. He -is a good creature. His great-grandfathers were pets of mine long ago. I -will soon come back again;" and the Nymph was gone. - - -Some time after the news had come to Salem of the total loss of the brig -Sea-nymph, Lucy Peabody was walking alone along the sands. She felt -weary, and sat down under the shadow of a rock to rest. The sun was just -setting, the west was suffused with a golden glow, the water lay, hardly -rippling to a low whispering wind, a sea of fire and glass. Lucy leaned -her head against the rock, and sitting there, she dreamed a dream. Along -the sands toward her came old Goody Cobb, whom everybody suspected of -witchcraft. She appeared so suddenly that Lucy in her dream thought she -had come out of the sea. - -"Ho! ho!" said Goody Cobb, with a cracked laugh; "so here is Madam -Peabody's lady daughter come out to cry over her disappointment all by -herself? The man was a fool, sure enough, but I wouldn't mind. Just let -me write your name down in a little book I keep, and you shall see our -fine young madam dwine away like snow in spring-time, and then we shall -see--" - -"You are out of your mind, Goody," said Lucy in her dream; "but such -talk as that is not safe, for there are those in town who are silly -enough to believe witch stories, and you might get yourself into -trouble." - -"Silly, are they!" cried Goody Cobb, growing angry. "But never mind. -Just let me have your name, and we shall see what we shall see. Look at -the pretty necklace I will give you;" and she drew from her pocket a -chain of shining green stones and held it up before the girl's eyes. - -"I will have nothing to say to you or your gifts," said Lucy, steadily. -"Pass on your way, Goody, and leave me alone." - -"So you think yourself too good for me!" said the witch in a rage. "Let -me tell you that my family is as good as yours, and better. My -grandfather was a minister--ay, and a noted one--while yours was selling -clams round the streets." - -It was a very odd thing that while Goody Cobb had become a witch, -renounced her baptism and sold herself to the enemy of mankind, she was -yet very proud of the eminent divine, her grandfather. - -"I'll be the death of you! I'll stick pins in you, and set my imps to -pinch you black and blue!" screamed Goody Cobb, with the look of a -possessed woman, as she was. - -Suddenly, as Lucy dreamed--so suddenly that she seemed to grow out of -the air--there stood on the sand between herself and the witch a tall -and beautiful woman in shining raiment of green and silver, with golden -hair that fell loosely to her ankles. She gazed sternly on the witch; a -divine wrath made her blue eyes awful. - -"You earth-born creature!" she cried as she caught the green necklace -from the old woman's trembling hand. "This girl is a child of the ocean, -and is in my care;" and Lucy dreamed that she felt glad to remember how -she had been born on the voyage her mother made with her father to -Calcutta. "Stay where you are for ever!" continued the stranger lady, -raising her white hand with a gesture of command. "You will wreck no -more ships--you, nor your sister witch." And then as she stood Goody -Cobb stiffened into stone and became a black rock. - -"You need not be afraid of me, my dear," said the dream lady to Lucy. "I -never hurt any one in my life. I am only an innocent Sea-Nymph, and I -am--or I was--the helper of all the sailor-folk, and your father is a -bold seaman." - -Lucy dreamed that she was very much surprised, which was curious, for in -a dream the more remarkable a thing is, the less it astonishes the -dreamer. - -"But I thought there never were any nymphs," she said, perplexed. - -The sea-maiden smiled a queer little smile--half sad, half amused. - -"Do you know," she said, "that since men left off believing in them and -building temples, the gods all declare that there never were such things -as human creatures, and that it was all a delusion of ours? Keep this;" -and she dropped the necklace into Lucy's lap. "It belonged to one who -will not care to wear it now. Farewell;" and the goddess bent down and -lightly kissed the girl's forehead, and the next instant Lucy was alone. -She woke up, as she thought, and sat still for a moment. - -"What a singular dream!" she said to herself. Then she looked round, and -saw a black rock standing beside her, "Was that rock there? I don't -remember it, but of course it must have been." She rose to her feet. -Something fell glittering on the sand. She picked it up. It was a long, -shining necklace of green stones. - -"This is very strange!" said Lucy, thoughtfully. "But I suppose I had -better take them home. They must have been washed up from the sea and -caught to my gown some way. How pretty they are! I wonder if they -belonged to some one who is drowned?" - -She put the necklace into her pocket, and turned to go home. She had -gone but a little way when she met Job Chippit. - -"Uncle Job," she said, "I have found something on the sand. Do you think -any one in town has lost it, or that it was washed up by the sea?" - -Job examined closely the emerald necklace. "This never belonged to -anyone in our town, Lucy," he said; "most likely the tide washed it up -in the last storm. Yours it is by all right if no one comes to claim it; -and be keerful of it, for I expect it's awful valuable. But what's -happened to you?" - -"Why?" - -"You've got an odd look about you, some way, but I never see you look so -pretty. Has anything happened?" - -"No," said Lucy, quietly, "only I sat down to rest and fell asleep, and -had a very strange dream. Good-night, Uncle Job." From that evening -Goody Cobb was never seen in Salem town. - -Job Chippit continued his walk, thoughtfully whittling a little stick. -Before long he overtook Master Isaac Torrey, who was walking along the -shore with his head down, seeming to notice nothing but the sand at his -feet. Master Torrey had quite left off his wild ways. He made no more -foolish, fanciful speeches about nymphs and goddesses, and such -nonsense. "Anna Jane had made a sensible man of him," said his -father-in-law. "He was greatly improved," said every one, with the -exception of Ichabod Sterns and Job Chippit. - -Master Torrey had avoided the wood-carver since his marriage. His -father-in-law thought it a good sign. "He had been quite too familiar -with that person," thought the colonel. But this night Master Torrey did -not avoid him, though he only nodded without speaking in answer to Job's -"Good-evening," and then the two walked on in silence. - -"That's an odd-looking thing on the beach," said Job at last. - -They went up to the dark mass Job had pointed out. There on a heap of -weed, thrown up by the late storm, lay the wooden nymph, the paint -almost washed away, and there, with its arms tightly clasped about her -neck, lay a strange creature, half fish, half human. - -"As sure as the world, it's a merman!" said Job; "and there really are -such critters, after all! Poor fellow! The human part of him was pretty -good-lookin' when he was alive. See what a dent he's got in his head!" - -"And this is the figure-head of The Sea-nymph," said Master Torrey. -"Don't you know it?" - -"To be sure! Well, it does beat all! What shall we do with the merman? -I'd kind of hate to make a show of him. He's a sort of man, and I 'spose -he had his feelings anyhow. Look at the empty scabbard and the -sword-belt; and he's got a ring on his finger." - -Job bent down and tried to unfold the dead hand from its close clasp. At -that moment, though it was very calm, a huge wave rose from the sea, and -came thundering up the beach, covering the two men with spray. When it -retreated the dead merman and the figure-head were gone, and up from the -sea came a low sobbing sound. - -Master Torrey and Job stood watching, surprised and startled. Another -minute, and up came a second huge wave, bearing upon its crest the oaken -sea-nymph. On it rolled--a mountain of water. It dashed its burden upon -the jagged rocks once, twice, thrice, and strewed the shattered -fragments over sea and sand. Job drew a long breath. - -"Waal," said he, "there goes the best piece of wood I ever chipped. Tell -ye what, philosophy won't explain everything. 'Tain't best to be too -rational if you want to have any insight into things in _this_ world. If -that wa'n't done a-purpose, I never see a thing done so!" - -They turned back and walked toward the town. Far away in the offing a -whale sent up an enormous jet, a sea-gull screamed wildly above their -heads. - -"Going to say anything about this?" said Job at last. - -"What would be the use?" said Master Torrey, sharply. "Half of them -would not believe you; and who wants to set all the fools in the place -chattering?" - -"Not I! I'm not over-fond of answering questions. I'd rather ask 'em," -said Job. "Do you know, putting this and that together, and the story of -the queer fish that hung round the ship, I've got a notion that poor -fishy thing fell in love with that figger-head of ourn? You couldn't -expect such a critter as he was to have more sense than a landsman, and -I expect the log fell on him when the brig went to pieces and killed -him." - -"So much the better for him if he had given his soul to a wooden image," -said Master Torrey, bitterly. "Good-night;" and he left Job and walked -slowly back to his handsome new house. Job looked after him wistfully. -Just then old Ichabod came up and saluted the wood-carver. - -"Do you know, Ichabod," said Job, "that Master Torrey and I just found -the figure-head of the poor Sea-nymph, all shattered to bits on the -rocks? The waves brought her all this way to smash her at last." - -"I wish they had smashed her at first," said Ichabod. - -"Why?" said Job, with a curious look. - -"Because," said Ichabod, "she was an unlucky creature from the first. -She was too much alive for a wooden image, and too wooden to be a live -woman, much less a goddess." - - _FINIS_ - - - - - Transcriber's Notes - - ---Copyright notice provided as in the original--this e-text is public - domain in the country of publication. - ---Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and - dialect unchanged. - ---In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the - HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.) - ---Released the other part of this printed volume, Eva's Adventures in - Shadow-Land, as a separate Gutenberg edition, but retained the - original combined title-page as a bibliographic record. - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Merman and The Figure-Head, by -Clara F. 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