The Dickinson press., 1916-09-23

Te'o TO an Eel hungry Nei9hbor.
Their Former Fame Sung In Verse.
| vas recently carried back to my
boyhood days by a dinner Of lampreys,
locally known in the Oldcn time as lam.
per cells because Of their superficial re.
scmblancc TO the true eel. The struc.
ture Of the lamprcy places it low down
in. the ranks Of the fishes. In fact, a
strict classification excludes it from
them.
The lamprey is a vertebrate without
Il bone. Its spine is but cartilage, and
there are no other tissues that are even
as hard as cartilage. 1t has Il sucking
mouth and eve gill openings on each
side Of the body back of the head. 1t
is the mouth and its peculiar use that
are described in Its scientific name,
PetromyZon marinus, meaning ocean
stone sucker. The color Of the sea
lamprey Ito distinguish it from the lit.
tie lampreys Of the rivers) Is brown
notified with black. It's maximum
length is about three feet.
In the early days Of New Hampshire
lampreys came up the Mcrrimac and
other rivers by myriad thousands and
were caught by the settlers and sailed
down for the years supply Of meat as
were salmon, shad and alewivcs that
came up from the ocean at the same
time early summer and for the same
purpose, the depositing Of their spawn
in the fresh waters Of the rivers and
lakes. Most Of the fish were caught
with seines and dipnets.
The lampreys were caught by hand
The fishermen waded in where the wa
ter was shallow and the current swift
and watched for the ~"eels," as the
lampreys were invariably called. In
q rapid current lampreys progress by
darting for a short distance and then
clinging by the sucking mouth to a
stone while resting for another plunge.
It was then that the men seized them
and threw them to the shore, where
helpers put them into receptacles.
So important was the catching of
fish in those days in the town of Der.
ryleld, now Manchester, that all work
was suspended when they arrived.
There is a story that lacks veriica.
ton to the effect that the man appoint
ed to watch for the advent Of the fish
spied the vanguard On q Sunday morn
ing. He FASTENED to the meeting
house. where most Of the town was as.
sembled, and interrupted the sermon
with the cry: The fish have come
The fish have comet" The preacher
stopped, pronounced the benediction.
and the men all went fishing.
There is another story that General
Stark. who had settled down on his
farm after the Revolution, was asked
by a neighbor for the loan Of q barrel
Of "eels' for the winter. The general
replied that he couldn't spare any, for
he had but sixteen barrels to last him
till spring.
However much or little truth there
may be in these stories, it is a fact
that lampreys formed an important
part Of the food Of the settlers of Man
chester. In 1851 at the centennial eel.
ebration Of the incorporation Of the
town a poem vas read by William
Stark in which he thus referred to the
!ampreys:
Our fathers treasured the Shiny prize
They loved the eel as their very eyes,
And Of one tits said with a Islander rife
For a string Of cells he sold his wife.
From the cells they formed their food in
chief,
And cells were called the Derryfeld beef.
And the marks of cells were so plain to
That the children looked like cells in the
face.
And before they walked it is we'll con-
That the children never crept, but
squirmed.
Such a mighty power did the squirmers
WELD
Ger the goodly men Of old Derryfeld
It was often said hat their only care,
Their only wish and their only prayer
For the present world and the world to
come
Was a string Of cells and a jug of rum.
My fathers boyhood was passed In
the days Of the ~"eels," and long after
the dams in the Merrimac stopped the
ascent of the fish he bought lampreys
whenever they could be obtained from
fishermen farther downstream. Thus
l learned to eat and like them. 1t was
many years since l had tasted them
when recently l al delighted by the
present of a fine mess of them. They
carried me back a generation.
Lampreys are fond in the north At.
lantic as far south as Virginia, besides
being l%andlocked in some Of the lakes
in western and northern New York.
While they are not abundant enough
to make much impression o the pres
ent cost of living. a knowledge of theil
food value and the time and manner
Of catching them, minus prejudice,
would do a little toward solving a mod
ern problem.-W. II. Huse in Rural
New Yorker.
Consistent.
professor, l have made some money
and I want to do something for my old