eep senct I don't know when,' says I. 'I've
been a-threatenin' these tew years t' go and hunt em up, but the
glimpst I've had o' 'em in this 'ere pictur'll dew jest as well,' says
I; 'fur 's I can see, they look promisin', an' gettin' better points 'n
ever for light-weight jumpers,' says I----Sartin ye hit a bone then,
mother! Thar'! I told ye so. Heave 'er eout. I knowed 't you'd
fetch 'er, mother. Did I ever tell ye," said Captain Leezur to me,
"heow sly I was when I went a-courtin'?"

"No," said I. Mother Leezur's face was modest, yet all beautifully
alight.

"Wal neow," said Captain Leezur seriously, "my experience has been,
there ain't nothin' so onpleasant, when ye're eatin' picked-up codfish,
's to feel the rufe o' yer mouth all runnin' in afeoul along o' a mess
o' bones.

"So 't when it got at an age and a time 't I was goin' courtin', I was
jest as sly abeout it as could be, 'nd I never let on nothin' o' what
port in pertick'lar I was steerin' for.

"So 't I was up settin' a spall with Tryphosy Rogers--she 't was; 'nd
says she, 'Neow what shall I get for tea, Leezur?' (The gals all made a
great deal on me in them days.) 'They ain't nothin' I likes so well,'
says I, 'as a mess o' codfish mixed up along o' eggs and thickenin'.'
Wal, she flew 'reound 'nd got supper, 'nd we sot deown together--and I
swan! ef that 'ar mess o' codfish 't Tryphosy heaped onto my plate
wa'n't worse tangled up with bones 'n the maze o' human destiny.

"Wal, I knew 't Tryphosy had bo's enough; 'nd all ain't so pertick'lar
abeout codfish, ye know, as some be. So 't I didn't trouble 'er to get
up no more teas for me.

"'Nd still I kep' sly: they hadn't nobody the least idee o' what port I
was steerin' for. I tried four or five jest in the same way, but they
hadn't moderation enough o' dispersition, ye see, to set deown
beforehand and have a calm previous wrarstlin' o' the spirit along o'
them codfish bones.

"Wal, Leony Rogers--she 't was--cousin to Tryphosy--she was called the
harndsomest gal in them parts, 'nd I had considerable hopes. So 't
when she asts me, 'Neow what 'll ye have for tea, Leezur?'--'They ain't
nothin' I likes so well,' says I, ''s a mess o' codfish mixed up along
o' eggs and thickenin'.'

"Wal, we sot deown together, 'nd she was so purty I stowed away a
mouthful, hardly thinkin'--'nd I run one o' these here main off-shutes
from the backbone of a ten-pound cod, abeout tew inches up into the
shrouds