Life, 1900-04-07 · page 22 of 32
Life — April 7, 1900 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This humorous poem by Carolyn Wells satirizes domestic life and gossip by transplanting it underwater. Two mermaids—Smith and Brown—occupy their summer days exactly like human housewives: chatting over garden fences, discussing household failures (failed jellies, unrisen sponges), and spreading rumors about a scandalous neighbor, Miss Lorello Green, who eloped with a sea-urchin. The satire's point: mermaids are "very much like us"—all human society shares the same small dramas of "a little work, / A little shirk, / A little fluster and fuss." The whimsy makes social commentary about women's domestic routines and gossip culture. The accompanying watercolor illustrations reinforce the absurdist humor of applying ordinary suburban life to mythical sea creatures, deflating both mermaid romanticism and domestic monotony.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
MERMAID, pooplo somotimes think, Has nothing elso to do But to sit on tho rocks And comb hor locks Tho livolong summer through. But I will toll you of Mermatd Smith, And I'll toll you of Mormaid Brown, Who would oft dispense O'or the garden fence ‘Tho gossip of the town, On summer mornings Mermaid Smith With her apron o’er hor head, And Mermaid Brown Ina calleo gown And a sunbonnet striped with red, At tholr garden gato for an hour or more Would loiter with idio fins; An Aquarelle. Tho little twirls Of their golden curls Done up in crimping-pins. And Mermaid Brown would tell Mormatd Smith How her jellyfish wouldn't joll, It had simmered and boilod, Till sho feared it was spoiled. Sald Mermaid Smith, “Do tell!” And Mermaid Smith had troublo too. Sho had sot her sponge to rise, And it badn’t riz. “What a shame that is!” Said Mermaid Brown with sighs, Then perhaps they'd discuss Miss Lorolio Green Who disappoared ono day; With a gay sea-urchin, While hor parents were searchin’, Sho wickedly ran away. And the two good fishwives deeply sighed, And expressed a heartfolt wish That both of their daughters In calm, placid waters Should attend a polite school of fish, ‘Thon ono would say, “This won't do for me! It's timo my work began.” “And I must away,” ‘The other would say, “I've some ocean currents to can.” And 80 the Mormaids, as you sce, Are very much like us: A little work, A little shirk, A little fluster and fuss, Carolyn Wells, comicbooks.com If it an itis ak Fol Poc hav mat aut are and $10 Eas Roc Cat deq