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maids, as the term signifies.

on Tipsy tes Saige sts eee oe io re

cording to the stories about. it.

_ the lower extremities like a fish.

  
   
 

_ artificial ornaments,
on the opposite page is the representa-
~ tionof a mermaid, according to the state-
“ments of sundry persons who were so
_ fortunate, if we may credit their story,
as to have seen this monster.

4 “But do you really believe, sir,” I
seem to hear my young reader inquire,
_‘‘do you really believe there ever was
such a thing as a mermaid 2”

__ Well, it seems improbable in the high-

THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

In the engraving

31

 

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

A Chapter on Mermaids.

HERE has been a great deal said,
written and sung, respecting a
certain order of the animal crea-
tion called mermaids, or sea-

An odd

sort of thing a mermaid must be, ac-

It is
_Tepresented as having the head and up-

_ per part of the body like a woman, and

Those
_who profess to have seen them, tell us

; that their face is sometimes as white as

that of a woman, that they have long

_ fine hair, and that they sometimes wear

est degree, I must confess. No, I do
not believe in the reality of the mermaid,
except in the imagination of the poet.
But, at the same time, I am inclined to
the opinion that an animal does exist in
the ocean, so singular in its shape and
general appearance, that, when any one
sees it, with the aid of a little imagina-
tion, the notion of a mermaid may be
very honestly entertained. There is no
good reason why the sea may not be the
residence of monsters—of animals, even,
which bear some resemblance to the hu-
man species—as well as the land. On
the land we have the monkey and differ-
ent species of the ape family—animals
which look provokingly like men and
women, and which imitate them in thou-
sands of ways. Why may there not be
creatures in the ocean, too, extending as
it does, over much the largest portion
of the earth, which look and act like
men? I think it quite likely there are
such creatures, though I have never seen

one, and though such an animal has