say that the
haddock, though now reformed, has not always been what he should
be. The haddock, they say, was once such a young sport and
conducted himself in such unseemly fashion that he was in danger
of hell fire. In fact, the devil, searching the Grand Banks for
whom he might devour, took the shameless youngster between his
finger and thumb and held him aloft in glee, saying, "You for the
gridiron." But the agile haddock, skilled in getting out of
scrapes, squirmed loose and fled in the depths of the sea. In
proof of this adventure if you examine a haddock's body just
behind the gills you will see the marks where the Old Boy's
fingers scorched him, the scars remaining to this day. I am not
sure whether this fable teaches us to be good or to be agile.

With the cod, as often most intimately with him in the boneless
codfish box, come the hake and the cusk, both rated as inferior
fish, though it is hard to see why. The cusk in particular is
esteemed by the fishermen for their own use above any other fish
that is taken from the trawls on the banks. Go down into the
forepeak of any Gloucesterman and ask the crew, while they "mug
up," if they like baked cusk. You will see their mouths water and
their eyes shine in appreciation of the suggestion. Yet the cusk
is hardly a beauty. In fact, the first man who suggested eating
him must have been hungry or else adventurous beyond the common
run of men. If you will take a bilious looking eel and compress
him lengthwise till the becomes a stubby bunch, put on him a pair
of yellow goggle eyes that stare madly as if at ghosts, and seem,
withal to be sadly afflicted with strabismus, you will have the
beginnings of a cusk. Then he must have a broad fin that begins at
the back of his neck, promenades his spine to and including his
tail and returns beneath him to the spot where some people wear
neckties. That is a part of the paraphernalia of this denizen of
the deep sea. Often when brought to the surface this peculiar fish
will swell up with imprisoned air until he is enormously fat and
covered with blisters.

The cod and the flounders, cunners and pollock will make up the
bulk of your catch as you drift along these under-sea moraines,
though now and then a freak may come to your hook in the shape of
a dogfish or a skate. These are to be looked for and welcomed.
Once the horse mackerel struck into Massachusetts Bay. These weigh
a thousand pounds apiece and take live fish of consider