The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-05-19
THE CATFISH.

lneTe "eIS ILhuy tulilRS CTtdttHl vi WutCH
it may be said that the wsest men have failed
to discern why. However, they consider their
utility to be purpose of inscrutabe mystery
To speak Of the catfish rs one of these would
be in the leastwise complimentary, not to say
fiattering They are called catfish because
they bear a striking resemblance to cats, in
having several whiskers around their mouth
like dOgfsh are called so because they have
movable tails. All men must acknowledge
that these analogies are conspicuOusly per
spicuous.
The catfish abounds in the turbid waters of
the Mississippi and on the tables of many
select restaurants. In this first place they
have long been celebrated for their raksb
propensities and bibuous habits, which have
given to most Of the males that characteristic
redness of the eye and transformed some Of
them into perfect old bloats Of most dis
reputable appearance. In their last men
toned habitat they flourish under q wicked
-tenderloin trout with tartar sauce be-
ing the chief title which they assume, and
which is O. dellsiOn and a snare, even often
Undecided by our culinary artist, who pos
sesses an extraordinarily discriminating taste
in most respects, and one seldom likely to be
led astray by the gided deception of a foreign
title.
This fish has long been celebrated for the
culture of it's gastronomic tastes; these, in
fact are elevated to an epicurean standard.
For their complete qualification they hover in
the eddies below Slaughter house Point, where
they can enjoy Il perpetual festival OF entrees
and ragouts, with an occasional bonne b0nci,e
OF sausage case. Another epicurean pro
pensty of the catfish may be noted in it's par
tiaity for such provisions as have been some
what melowed by age. In order to afford
complete qualification to this commendable
inclination, nature is supposed to have omit
ted to provide the catfish with olfactory or
gans. This noble fish is also omniverous, and
is celebrated for taking in everything that
drops overheard. There has been perpetual
enulity between the catfish and the whale for
1000 years, probably even more, owing to the
priority of the whale in swallowing Jonah,
and thus robbing the catfish OF what was
deemed, in the course OF time it's own legi-
timate prey. 1t is pity that the fish pos
sesses such an unforgiving disposition; how
ever it has always remembered and re-
preached the whale for it's premature glut~
tony.
eat catfish, catfish will eat each other, thus
exhibiting an exceptional depravity OF palate
altogether to be unexpected from species SO
refined with it's appetite in other respects
| Among it's mental characteristics land in
marked symptoms OF a high order of intel
lcctuality 1t abounds) is most peculiarly
aggressive disposition 1t resentfully objects
to being sat down upon when its back is up.
! The most peculiarly expressive cOuntenanCe
we ever saw was that Of q party who had very
recently sat upon catfish, and who rose to
make profuse apologies to the fish, which we
are glad to say appeared to be com,
pletely modified by the mild a and
courteous language used toTard it, Its
alterations of one of the most cold-blooded
objects of creation may plausibly be consider
ed not out OF place, as the departure might he
suggestive Of psychological research, and thus
many Of which, originating with such. scien-
tific evolutionists as Darwin, tend to demon
strate the plausiblity Of the stated connection
between the crudest forms of bivalvular de-
velOpment and the finally perfected prOpaga-
ton Of the human species.
There has always been marked congo
nialty OF disposition between the trans
planted Ethiopian and the catfish. They
sustain the closest relations OF affection, par
ticularly when the catfish is inside of the
Ethiopian. The pOst-obitum sentiment OF tbs
other party in this affectlorate relationship
has never been satisfactorily ascertained, but
probably, il it could be expressed, would ont
be Indicative of that highest degree of happi-
ness which philosophers inform US is only
produced when affording complete happiness
to Others
This fish has been known to be the sole in
stgator Of one OF the saddest sentiments
which fingers in human hearts. 1t has been
the origin of that poetic disease, rather inspi-
ration, nostalgia. Who has not seen an Afri-
can, first reared by the willowy banks OF the
Mississippi river, and afterwards removed TIC
interior hills, weep at the sweet thoughts of bis
far-away home suggested by a chrome OF a
succulent catfishl Likewise it superinducee
an envabe sedentary disposition for many d
our tawny sons Of toll, who are chiefly noteC
is worn from the top OF their heads and the
bottom Of their pants, acquired this truly