Page 221 - Adventures in shadow-land

said to himself, u 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 tnarcliid 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.