go.
There is, for instance, old Mister Storm-Along, of whom the chanty-man
sings:

'When Stormy died, I dug his grave--
I dug his grave with a silver spade;
I hove him up with an iron crane,
And lowered him down with a golden chain.'

Who was he? And who was the famous Captain Cottington, of whom it is
related, in stentorian tones and with tireless repetition, that:

'Captain Cottington, he went to sea,
Captain Cottington, he went to sea-e-e-e,
Captain Cottington, he went to sea,
Captain Cottington, he went to sea-e!'

Who, also, was 'Uncle Peleg,' of whom a somewhat similarly exhaustive
history is chanted? And, still more, who was the mysterious Reuben
Ranzo, with whose name every fo'cs'le of every outward-bound British or
American ship is constantly resounding?

'Pity Reuben Ranzo--
Ranzo, boys, a Ranzo!
Oh, pity Reuben Ranzo--
Ranzo, boys, a Ranzo!'

He had a remarkable career, this Reuben, according to the song. He was a
tailor by trade; went to school on the Monday, learnt to read on
Tuesday, and by Friday he had thrashed the master. Then he went to sea,
and, after some ignominious experiences, married the captain's daughter,
and became himself the captain of a whaler. But who was he? And how does
he come to exercise such a fascination over all mariners, even unto this
day?

This is one of the mysteries of the ocean. The sea is covered with
mystery, and with phantom shapes. Every ship that sails is peopled with
a crew of dim shadows of the past that none can explain.

CHAPTER IX.

SOME FLOWERS OF FANCY.

That the lily should symbolize purity seems appropriate enough, but why
should parsley in olden times have been associated with death? It is
recorded that a few bundles of parsley once threw a whole Greek army
into panic, because in Greece the tombs of the dead were strewn with the
herb. With them 'to be in need of parsley' was equivalent to being
beyond hope.

The name itself offers little explanation of this superstition, for it
is derived from the Latin _petroselinum_, which, again, was taken from
the Greek name signifying the 'plant of the rocks.' According to the
myth, however, it sprang from the blood of Archemorus, or Orpheltes, the
son of Lycurgus, King of Nemaea. Archemorus was killed by a serpent while
his foster-mother was showing the soldiers of Adrastus where they might
find a fountain. On the place where he died there sprang up the parsley,
whi