THE MERMAID’S TEA SERVICE. 21 
of the sweetest strains to life’s music.’ I do 
not know. You may listen and learn for 
yourself. 
“The next room is filled with the singing 
of sirens and laughter of sea nymphs as they 
leap from crag to crag under the sea. If you 
listen well you may catch, too, the sigh of a 
sailor boy as he fell asleep. 
“The outer whirls and the vestibule re- 
tain the pleasant murmur of winds through 
palms and spice trees of a sea-girt island, the 
pleasant lapping of waves upon the sand, and 
the laughter of bathers in the surf. Through 
all and above all is heard the ceaseless roar of 
the ocean. 
“T can not explain to you the mysterious 
union between myself and my native sea, 
whereby sighs and sobbings as from a heart 
oppressed become forever my heritage. 
“But the gray old sea has a secret, a mys- 
terious and terrible sorrow. By the thought 
of it he is transformed, and white with rage he 
breaks rocks to atoms and tears continents ir 
his fury. Again he falls to sobbing so piteous- 
ly that we all sob with him. ‘The secret of his 
sorrow is a long, sad tale; but I will tell it to 
you, and why he moans and raves, why he sobs 
and sighs. Listen!” 
