The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-05-28
THE 1RAWTIsH,
sts origin. Habits, Uses, IdiOsyncracie,
Qualities ana uDefects.

4UatAbles HHu hSeleebSs
This muscular crtistacean Is cross be-
tween a freak OF nature and the crab tribe.
1t has twenty-one stripes around its tail and
one down the middle of its back. It's eyes are
set on stems and its mouth is placed in its
bosom, in order, we suppose to econolnize
emotional space. II developes when growing
UP proverbial agility for getting out Of bad
places last end foremost, according to the
Scrptural injunction that the last shall
be first which is altogether commendable
The creature is altogether an animal of
retiring disposition. He is first cousin to the
nimble shrimp, but like Abraham and Lot
these two dwelt not together in unity. Hence
the nimble shrimp took up his abode among
the lakes and rivers, and the erawfish dwelt
in the bitches and on the plains, where
the tall chmneys Of his abode may be
seen dotting the landscape unto this
day, signfying unto the beholder that the
animal belonged originally to the Masonic
order and has always been among mud
singers the champion thereof. The most dis
reputable trait Of this beast consists In his
being an unmitigated bore, only equalled
by the parastical office-seeker and excelled
only by the persistent exchange fend. The
red nose Of the crawfish betrays his praise
worthy aversion to water. SO great is the
creatures adherence of this liquid that ever,
since his creation he has been engaged in
laudable endeavors to let all the water out Of
the earth by boring holes through its bottom,
and IL is not his fault that he has not yet sue
ceeded. Crawfish are sometimes eaten. One
way to cook them is to boil them in salt and
water till they are done to a sum
rise turn, then give them to the hogs.
Another way, and this we recommend, Is to
take the crawfish, give them to a good cook,
In sufficient numbers, let him boil them. peel
them, stuff them with proper seasoning, in
sert the stuffing in the cleansed head Of the
boiled animal, and serve the whole upon the
table in the shape of "bisque''-a dish fit
for the most delicately palated among the
gods.
Outside Of being instrumental in making up
the elements of first class bisque, we do not
know what the crawfish is good for, unless 1t
be to take the place of some of the
missing weights III the <otornaf equfpuise
of creation, where, to use a common simile
they appear to be as useful as sand in sugar
Crawfshes cannot be said to be endowed with
keen mental faculties, inasmuch as they per-
NIT themselves to be taken in by such simple
animals as the coons, and this is the way the
coon goes about it: as soon as he discovers a
crawfish bathing he hides his head and drops
his tail over the brink into the water; the
curious as Mother Eve, discovering
a tempting similarity in the number Of rings
that adorn the coon's tail, takes hold for
minutes examination; the coon makes a
spring forward, drawing the unwary crawfish
on dry land, where he devours him at leisure;
thus doing more than any Federal admins
tration or even the Louisiana Levee Company
has ever done toward protecting the fertile
lands of our beloved State from inundation,
and furthermore adjoining it's tale I'VE dom
intend this for a pun with the moral which Is
new only for crawfishes, that "al that glitters
Is not goldp'