Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-02-25
WHY is A HADDIE
CALLED "FINNAN"?
a Couple of Incorrect Answers
and One That Seems to
Ring True

fTNIlEisE seems 20 he something III the food
l. furnished by certain restaurants which
makes tho habitues dIsputatious, We name
no names, but this appears to be partcl-
larry true Of a house on Tenth street abova
Chestnut, famous for tho excellence Of its
cooking and the cranl<lness Of the guests.
Three of these guests seated around table
at lunchtmc on Saturday took another to
task for a little tale he had written about
Findon Haddie "Iu the first place" said
one, you don't even know how to spell II.
II isn't Findon Hadde.' but I'inran.' Any
dictionary will tell you that"
(Which, of course" chimed in another, is
merely a corruption Of Finland
Then the fight began and the noise attract
cd Frank Dooner. who is no guest but sort
Of policeman in that district.
81 think you're right" said hc to the
second critic; that species of dried haddocli
IS 80 called because that's the way it's pre-
pared in Finland At least, il was in fathers
time, and things haven't changed much here
Or anywhere else--succ his day"
Nonsense :" snorted DR.. Peter IT. Lane,
who was speaker number one Finland has
10 more to do with this than she will have
with the final defeat OF the Hun. This fish
was born in New England, where all the best
food fish come from. and here's tho way of
il: ! mind when l was a small lad in
Massachusetts they were still talking OF the
invasion of Canada made a few years before
by some Of the citizens Of those parts YOU
. certain irish gentlemen to conquer the Do
miniOn Of Canada in the year 1868, or may
be il was 1869. There are several stories pur-
porting TO explain why the expedition failed,
but there is only one that's true, and have
it, When tho Irish crossed the border they
had guns and ammunition enough 20 accom-
plish their purpose, but their conmissary de-
partment fell down. They had provided them
Selves with great quantities of dried had
dock: plenty they thought, to feed them
fn f,I,
time they had figured upon for the conquest
OF the country. But haddocls. no matter how
it's prepared has q bad habit of misbe-
having itself in warm weather. and il wasn't
long before the Commissary department was
Iii bad odor. An army, you know, travels
upon it's stomach, and after the third or
fourth day nobody was able to stomach that
haddock. SO the expedition failed. and ever
since that brand Of fish was called 'Fenan
Cor FinnanD IIaddie,' after the IrAhmen who
trusted and We're betrayed by it."
THE only gmmer of truth in that expla-
nation, put in George Donnelly. "is the
suggestion Of Irish origin. But il goes back
hundreds Of years before tho Fenan invasion
of Canada. once upon time there was an
Irish fisherman named Finton. who was adj
venturous as his race always has been. lie
sailed far into the North Sea upon one occa-
sion and captured a great quantity of strange
fish, which he couldn't name at all, because
he spoke only tile Gaelic and. anyway, lie
scorned to give them the English name for
them, which was haddoclt.' Well he landed
in Scotland with his catch, and the Scots.
who have always had a habit of getting
ahead OF the Irish ,see Scotch-Trsh), stole
his fish away from him. Eut when one of
Finton's men saw the fine fish displayed il
the market he spoke up bravely and said:
Sure Flnton had them first. Had he? said
the Scot. Yes, had hc,' retorted Finton's
man. SO ever after they were called ''inton
IIaddie.'"
The third guest, who hasn't figured before
in this recital for the very simple reason
that he had said nothing. now takes a hand
My Eame. as YOU know" said he sis
George c. Watson, and was born in Aber-
deem ana lived there until ! was close upon
my majority I'll tell you the truth about
'Finnan, Findon Findhorn Haddie' for all
that the others have said is mere foolish
ness. When l was lad in Aberdeen used
often to buy for teLpence-that Is to say
as often as ] had tenpence to spare-a fine
dish of fish which came from a small fishing
village few miles away called 'Findon' or
Tindhorn," or. az il was most frequeLtly
shortened, Finnau.' II was a small haddocl
partially sated and smoked which was pre-
pared by the folks of that village, and no.
where else 1t was, not n good saver and |
remember that for a lorg time II never got
further ihto England than Liverpool. II
wouldn't Keep good long enough to be carried
TO. London. When / came over here, in 1884,
! was surprised TO find 1t in Bsoton. !
learned. upon inquiry, that number Of Fin
don fishermen. emgrating TO Nova Scotia, had
brought with them the secret OF preparing
the fish and had found n ready market for
II in this country. The climate, perhaps has
something 10 do with It, but the fish always
keeps longer here than In the old country
though even here it is classed as perish
able Wherever it is there's no Disgusting
it's goodness, when It's right, and when it's
right it's Scotch, and there's nae doot
about it,"
After carefully weighing all the evidence
there is nothing to give but a Scotch verdict