The Portland daily press., 1871-04-20


SHAD.-"Life is a shad-Oh how it flies"
There are two kinds of shad, the street shad,
and the salt water shad. We intend to tackle
the latter class not being posted on the habits
of the former.
Our bay Is regularly established fish
boarding house. Many varieties of fish
board by the year, while Others oulv snepd
the summer here. Among the regular board
ers are the founder, eel, cod, scuIpin and cnn-
ner, and the summer visitors are the sbad
salmon, tinker, horse mackerel, porgie and
Penobscot Indians.
The shad was named fol old Shad.ra racb
whom Nebu chad-nezzar considered scaly
chap, till after he passed through his fiery fur.
mace when he was found to be maa of
much back bone, and in this respect the shad
resembles him in great quantities. Shad are
natures pin cushions flor bones. They are
built OF the refuse stuff that was left after all
the rest OF the fish were concocted. The in
terror OF shad looks like a fine tooth comb or
Wooi card, and the best way to get the meat
out is to use a tooth pick. A little later in
the season and the shad will make their ap-
n
good deal, there is many of him he is multitu-
dinous. We are not read up as 10 where the
shad lives before he comes this way, but he
boards where they set poor table. When
he first puts in an appearance he is extremely
emacated. He is so thin that his skin don;t
fit him, hence the phrase "thin as a sbad !"
You can't get anything thinner than sprino
shad, unless you take couple of them, when
OF course they will be twice as thin. They
look much like porgie-about twice as much
but they are not quite as high scented Shad
fishing is lucrative business, If the fisher
man has good luck they will net him consd-
cradle, or he will net them considerable We
are a little doubtful which. Like their name
sakes on shore they are fast, they don't sion
10 LOAF any more than thoroughbred pill,
but just keep right on about their business.
They are subject to the laws of the State
just the same as New England rum. In Sec
81 is an act "to regulate shad," and there is a
man appointed by the State who regulates
them, Just as we have man to regulate tbe
town clock, so as to have them 90 correctIv
They can come into our bay at lust such a
time, stayjust SO long, spawn so much, and If
one allows itself to be caught within a GER
tain time, the penalty is to be cut open from
belly to back and broiled on hot grid-iron.
Aperson to like shad wants to eat them of
ten, at intervals, once every twenty-four
hours for eleven or nineteen weeks The
champion place for getting up an appetite for
shad is at Brooklyn boarding house. The
thing there is reduced to a science. AS soon
as shad become cheap and plenty the landa-
dy announces at the breakfast table that she
will have shad for dinner. The boarder i'm
mediately goes to his room and puts on the
poorest shirt he has, and when he comes
home to dinner he has provided himself with
magnifying glass which makes the bones
look larger, small basket TO put the bones in,
tooth pick and a pair Of tweezeis. When
| one eats shad he wants to eat it; he don't
want to talk or discuss the state OF affairs in
France, as he will get SO full of the bopey
parts, that he will sigh for little more Bour-
bon. When he swallows bone all he has to
do is to take his tweezers and pull it out; al
ter the last shad is destroyed, he tears off his
shirt, sandpapers off the ends of the bones
which are sticking out through his skin, dons
clean linen, and is himself again. We are an
educated shad eater, and we like shad. They
are sweet and toothsome, and if any of our
friends want to know how to eat them with
out choking, just broil nice one and call us
in. Ii we have in our remarks said aught
that looks as though we had wandered from
the truth, we are willing to vouch for correct
ness by furnishing all sceptics with written
affidayit.-BeJdst Journal