Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-04-21
LovE-A KITTENS CHIEF ATTRACTION.
sHAD-CATCHING AND EATING.

We extract from an article in the Round
Table on spring fish, the following readable
notice Of the shad:
Just as the petits salunons are preparing for
their exodus from our bays and iniets, enter
the dJoSd. A few strengthened pioneerspr
cede the grand column, each anxious, no
doubt, 10 achieve the honor Of being the
first shad." The serried battalions follow
fast in the wake of the single spies, and to-
wards the close Of April they swarm in our
tidal waters from Maine 10 Georgia-the
meanest running up the Savannah river and
the latest and finest dashing into the Con-
necticut. Some people suppose that the shad
improves while in port. But that's a shall
low mistake. The unctuous creature is in
its primest condition when il arrives Then
ITS eyes are brightest, its silver scales more
dazzling, its membranous frillings Of the
deepest scarlet, and its flesh of the most en-
raptuTing flavor. That il loses its appetite
on the coast seems certain, for no shad has
ever yet been taken with n bait. A few
years ago somebody announced through the
papers that it could be taken with Fly made
of the wood-duck's feathers, but the story
proved 10 be canard. II has, however, a
tatuous propensity for running into cuLs de
sac and thrusting its head into flexible pill
tories, and our reticuidrii, understanding the
particular weakness Of the tribe capture
them by tens Of thousands
There he Goths-abhorred Of tasteful aris-
tOlogists-wlo will hack shad TO pieces,
and cook the fractions in n frying pan. The
fish ahould be split open, carefully cleaned,
brolled whole on "a large gridiron, anointed
with fresh butter, and served smoking hot.
No condiments are needed except salt and
white pepper, for broiled shad hath a SAVIOR
that no sauce can improve. The more in
sipid Goldfish and the dryer bass may require
dash of agchovy or soy TO give them zest,
but your broiled shad contains within itself
Hmbrosial elements, which it were treason to
the palate To disguise. Some epicures pre-
Ter the fish baked, and really, if the stufiing
be iudiciously compounded of egg, bread
crumbs and lemon thyme, and duly season.
ed, baked shad is not to be despised. The
barbed bones Of the diOsd are its only blem-
ish; but the man who would fOrego the lux
ury rather than take the trouble to weed
them ont, is being whom il would be mere
Fycophancy to call an indolent imbecile.
With the exception of the salmon, no fish
Of passage better deserves poetic welcome
from the voluptuary than this delicious Wis
itor. So, not withstanding the fact that the
genus affords no sport 10 the angler, we will
venture TO drop few
LINES TO THE FIRST sHAp.
Filo-leader bright, of a silver mailed host.
Bound from the iathOmiess depths 20 the coast
Through the broad sea, with rush like the ar
rows,
How couldst thou shape a straight course for the
Narrows.
Composites, seKtautless, knowing no guide,
Save the mere impulse by instinct supplied.
How didst thou manage 20 get here in season.
Where hast thou wandered since midsummer
last2
How have thy submarine moments been passed?
What OF thy thoughts was the prevalent hue2
Out In mid-Ocean, things needs must look blue;
Yet art thou plump, shAd could well be.
Which. IN fish, Is a merit per o.,
Did not thy specie like scales bright sparks,
Draw-as the silver of earth dOes-the sharks?
Saw'st thou the nnrwhal. like knight of romance
Charging amain with his terrible lance?
krakens-did any Of these cross thy course,
Tailed like the serpent and named like the horse?
What Of the syrens while sculling along.
Didst see their silly dupes sold for a song2
How are the mermaids, halt.green and half gold,
tales about whom Yankee showmen unfold,
Are they mere jilts, or all constant and moTnl2
Do the morbabies their teeth cut on coral?
Smile the sea bellies whom young Triton pets
emf
Are shipwrocled sailors their hotsam and jetsam?
Hast thou the cable beheld where twas Sliced2
When will the strands so long parted be spliced?
Bah thou art dead, thy last culver is DER,
Cook. take this fish. will question no more;
BrOil him for breakfast. the delicate elf.
Ihen-though now dumb-ho will speak for him
self