328 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



COLUMBUS SAW MERMAIDS 



in the ocean. 



A man who would see mermaids today would 

 be put in the alcoholic ward of a hospital or a so- 

 called sanitarium for "nervous patients"; in plain 

 language a lunatic asylum. 



Although skillful photographers can make the 

 camera tell some terrible and over-powering false- 

 hoods, 



THE CAMERA ITSELF IS HONEST 



and straightforward. Had Columbus and his 

 predecessors taken snap-shots of the mermaids and 

 the old illustrator done the same with the narwhal, 

 the unicorn fish and the mermaid would have found 

 no place in our books. 



There was a truthful, matter-of-fact old lady 

 up the Hudson River who 



SAW A HOOP-SNAKE 



roll down hill beside her; of course there is no 

 such thing as a hoop-snake, but that makes no dif- 

 ference ; the old lady had been taught from child- 

 hood to believe in this fabulous reptile and when 

 a blue racer or some other snake swiftly glided 

 out of her path, her imagination immediately con- 

 verted it into a hoop-snake and 



SO SHE SAW ONE 



with its tail in its mouth roll down the hill. 



All of us have our own preconceived notions 



