MISS DELPHINA'S SCHOOL.
HALICORA, THE MERMAID.
BY E. MULLER.
Little Halicora Cetacea lived in the Mediterranean Sea, near the south coast of Italy. She went to Miss Delphina's school, with other nice little mermaids, and learned how to knit sea-weed lace, and how to do up her hair becomingly, and many other useful things. Miss Delphina had a good deal of trouble with her pupils, for sometimes they were very full of mischief. They used to bring oysters to school in their pockets, and eat them slyly, and some of the pupils had a perfect passion for pink and purple jelly-fish, though Miss Delphina always forbade them to eat sweetmeats; and others used to bring their pet sea-horses with them, and play with them in class, which kept Miss Delphina always scolding. The merboys, too, gave her trouble, for they hid among the rocks, and threw sting-rays and sea-eggs at the mermaids, making them jump and shriek and drop stitches. Then Miss Delphina would unchain Cephalopterus, and set him at the boys. Cephalopterus was a large devil-fish, which Miss Delphina kept as a watch-dog, and when he laid hold of a merboy, that boy was sorry. But merboys were not the only troubles that Miss Delphina had; there were great rude dolphins and porpoises and sharks and sword-fish, and other sea creatures, and, worse yet, there were land creatures too, which came to annoy her. One day, while the knitting class was at work, there suddenly descended an awful monster right before them. It was a diver in a diving suit, with a long air-pipe leading from the top of his head to the surface of the water, and any creature quite so ugly not even the oldest mermaid, not even Miss Delphina, had ever seen. Every mermaid shrieked, dropped her knitting, and hid behind the rocks. The diver was looking for a place to lay a submarine cable; he walked about, getting his feet entangled in the knitting-work, mixing up every one's ball, and pulling out rows and rows of stitches. This was too much. Miss Delphina called to the oldest and bravest mermaids to come to the rescue, and told Halicora to unchain Cephalopterus. Then they all rushed at the diver, Halicora with the devil-fish first. The diver only gave one look; that was enough; he gave such a pull at his air cord that his friends up in the boat thought he was dying, and hauled him up in a twinkling, and the mermaids never saw him again. Halicora was the brightest and prettiest of all Miss Delphina's mermaids, and after she showed herself to be so quick and brave in setting Cephalopterus at the diver, Miss Delphina said she might go up on land to bring down the offerings from the fishermen. These offerings were fruit and flowers left on the shore for the mermaids, because the fishermen believed they would send them good luck in fishing, and a safe return from their voyages, if presents were given them; so every week a large basketful was left on the shore, and some of the older mermaids usually went up just at dawn and brought it down.
On the shore lived a very good fisherman named Pietro Monaldi, whose little boy, Leonardo, used to gather the fruit and flowers, and leave them for the mermaids. Leonardo had always longed to see a mermaid, though his father said they were invisible, and he had often watched on the shore at dawn, but had never been able to catch a glimpse of one until Halicora came up. Perhaps Halicora had forgotten that she was to seize the basket and instantly plunge into the water, or perhaps she felt too curious to be quite obedient. At any rate, when she saw a nice black-eyed boy peeping from behind a rock, she did not hurry away, but said: "Good-morning. Is this the offering I am to take?"
Leonardo came from behind the rock, and bowing politely, said, "Yes; and I am 'Nardo Monaldi, at your service."
"And is it you who brings us these nice things?" asked Halicora.
"It is," answered 'Nardo. "And I beg you will take care of my dear father, who is now out fishing."
Halicora thought she had never seen such a handsome, well-behaved boy. She was sure he would never hide and throw things at his cousins the way her cousins, Manatus and Rytinus Cetacea, threw sting-rays at the mermaids.
"Tell me your father's name, and he shall be taken care of," she said.