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paintings which symbolized the name of the vessel. 
Whatever the design might be, it was customary to paint 
upon the prow a pair of gleaming eyes in order that 
the good ship might be able to look out for danger 
lurking in the vasty deep. The Chinese still use these 
eyes upon their prows. The Norsemen had the forward 
part of their craft very high, and shaped into the like- 
ness of some monster. 
From these early times, the custom of adorning the 
yessel’s prow with a figurehead came down through the 
ages to our modern times. It flourished especially in 
the colonial period of our country, and was at its height 
when Drowne carved his wooden image, as told in one 
of the most charming of Hawthorne’s briefer romances. 
For many years, the most popular form of the figure- 
head was either the bust or the full length figure of a 
woman. It frequently happened that the vessel was 
named for some member of the owner’s family, and in 
that case, the figurehead usually bore some resemblance 
to the lady whose name the ship bore. Reference is 
made to this custom in Longfellow’s poem, ‘‘The Build- 
ing of the Ship.”’ 
Those who have delved into the archives in whieh 
is recorded seafaring lore have discovered many a stout 
ship sailing from New Bedford, Provincetown, or Nan- 
tucket, adorned after this fashion. In the old days of 
ithe merchant fleet, many a jaunty ship left Boston Bay 
jor the Indies, or for China, bearing beneath her bow- 
sprit the effigy of some beautiful living divinity or some 
mythical sea goddess. One of these famous whalers was 
the ‘‘ Alice Knowles,’’ which bore on her prow the effigy 
of the daughter of the owner; the barque Mable, bore 
the likeness of little Mable Lewis; the ‘‘ Emily Wilder,”’ 
and the ‘‘Eunice Adams,’’ sailed out of Nantucket bear- 
ing the brilliantly painted effigies of the wives of their 
respective owners; while ‘‘The Glory of the Sea’’ was 
adorned with the full-length figure of a woman bran- 
dishing in her extended arms a gilded trumpet. 
Many of these ancient figureheads were lost with 
{he vessels whose prows the adorned. Some were des- 
troyed when the buoyant barques, who had so gaily 
borne them over many seas became at last unseaworthy, 
and were beached and burned. Many were ripped from 
their places and stowed away in attics, where gilding 
and gaudy coloring soon grew tarnished and dusty. 
Some of these ancient carvings still exist, set up 
here and there as bizarre ornaments and relics of a 
strenuous past. At Brewster, on the northern shore of 
Cape Cod, lies the garden of Captain J. Ilenry Sears, 
of the old-time merchant service, who for many years 
toak his merchantmen. out of Boston and into the ports 
of Singapore and Calvutta. In this garden, fixed into 
the sand, stands the broken prow of the good ship 
‘‘imperial,’’ still bearing, as of yore, its figurehead in 
the form of a lovely woman of majestic mien. As she 
sailed the seas of old, for many a year, she gazed ever 
downward into the water, as if meditating upon the 
uneertainty of earthly things; but now, set firmly in the 
sand, with the long beach grass growing up about her 
‘eet, she looks forth across the sea toward the distant 
horizon, with a firm and hopeful look unmindful of storm 
«aS of sunshine, rejoicing in youth that is perpetual. 
At Provincetown, the porch of Mr. A. L. Putnam’s 
house has an unusual decoration in the shape of a figure- 
head with a curious and pathetic history. One bright 
day, many years ago, the crew of a vessel which bore 
Mr. Putnam’s name upon the stern found this gaily- 
painted, energetic figure floating alone in the Indian 
Ocean, with no clue to tell them whence she came. We 
tay hope that the figure became loosened in some heavy 
storm, and dropped to the sea below; but the chances 
eve far greater that in some terrific typhoon the good 
ship that bore her went down, with all on board, leaving 
this lifeless figure to speak dumbly of that unwritten 
tragedy. 
At Marblehead, the delightful estate of Mr. R. S. 
Peabody is decorated with these interesting relics. At 
the end of the rose garden, six rough steps lead to a 
semi-circular seat, shaded by a vine-draped trellis. In 
the middle and at each end are figureheads taken from 
dismantled merchant ships, the three supporting the 
ivellis and serving as quaint and nautical caryatides. 
Another Style of Figurehead 
The figure upon the axis is from the ‘‘ Westen 
Iselle,’’ a clipper ship built at Bath, Maine, in 1876. it 
is a full-sized figure of a woman with left arm _ ex- 
tended and left hand holding a few spears of wheat. 
lier right hand gathers the folds of her skirt, which is 
draped in flowing lines of unusual excellence. These 
and the careless curl that hes along the breast, together 
with the fine, free, general outline, hitit that this carver 
must have worked in marble and possessed more than 
usual abiliy, for wood is not receptive material. 
We know very little about him. His name was 
Sampson, given name unknown. He lived and worked 
in Bath, and many ships sailing from that port carried 
his handiwork to the uttermost ends of the earth. Some 
specimens of his skill were particularly pleasing to a 
certain South Sea Island chief, who sent him by a skip- 
per friend a commission to make a fine collection of 
idols for his subjects to worship. 
A peculiarity of this figurehead of the ‘‘ Western 
3elle’’ is that the left arm is detachable It was un- 
serewed during voyages, so that the sea might not break 
it, and was replaced when the ship was about to make a 
port. It seems that this characteristic was not unusual 
in the more elaborate wooden figureheads, especially 
those used on men-of-war, where there was great danger 
of mutilation. 
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