Show U t tri I 1 LU A traditions TRAD antiquity of th tho bellet hellet in III tile existence MI of tho sea serpent summer is the time of y year car when the monster ophidian of the sea be beins begins e ins his annual cavorting cavor tinga k 9 atop the waves this evasive creature has come to be one of the necessary features of a well organized summer and it is decidedly an off year when liis his archaic is not seen sporting t with the fancy curls curis of the semi tranquil atlantic the visions of the serpent last year were not altogether clear and decisive that which passed for him turned out to be a dreamily drifting log with a tuft of seaweed sea sert weed caught in its branches an artistic and circumstantial liar did to be sure come to the rescue at the fag end of the season with an all attempt to lasso the fantasy of a beery brain but the simon puro pure article vouched couched for by reliable testimony was not sighted ted the chances are arc therefore very largely in favor of his sinuous excellency being seen in reassuring numbers this propitious summer sincerely is it to be hoped this time noted mystery of the deep will show enough respect to the aoe age of reason and discovery to let himself be discovered unmistakably before the close of the present century and we doubt if lie could select a better time for clearing up age existing doubts than this particular surn summer mer belief in the existence of the sea serpent is is as ancient as marine history aristotle pliny and others of that antique period philosophically accepted tales of him and as long ago as A D he be was carved in stone as in an evidence of faith of liis his actual being he has been spotted at odd times down the ages and gets into positive history as early as 1555 after having survived in scandinavian tradition for a thousand years olaus blit magnus nus archbishop of upsala kupsala a good and pious man not unduly given to prevarication gives very straightforward wa rd accounts of several sea m monsters of the snake order one of which was impudent enough to reach up and take a man out of a full rigged ried single mas ter rev haus hans egide in 1634 saw IL a serpent that raised itself out of the water until its head reached above our maintop main top and though 0 we may make reasonable allowances for the 0 eions of fear there is a minuteness of description that seems to make the pinch of salt sali superfluous bishop bon top of norway describes in his book of natural history a sea serpent six hundred feet long iong as big around as two hogsheads hog hom these are substantial whoppers maybe but in these latter days we have the testimony of captain eleazer crabtree Crabtr ce that lie he saw in penobscot bay a serpent one hundred feet long in 1808 a dead monster fifty five feet long ten feet in circumference fere and having six paddle like liko legs 0 was washed ashore on the coast of on one e of the orkney islands at intervals kinces then there have been appearances so well vouched couched for that scientific men have been much perplexed how to reconcile their skepticism as to a bona fide sea serpent with the unmistakable some things that show up in such provoking 0 fashion the tru th is that liis his alleged euale ship never comes within range for close observation and learned learne d me men are now of the opinion that the snake is really a giant squid squids have been captured that measured fifty five feet in length these monsters when swimming propel themselves backward trailing their long arms after them so that tha t at a distance they might readily be mistaken for g genuine enu ine i serpents until the serpent consents to come into port tor for inspection the skeptical are arc warranted in doing tradition the indignity of believing that it has no other basis for this aliis monster ophidian than the back scuttle of a squid chicago inter ocean mccan |