As general editorial roustabout, to find each week a "leader," a
translation, say, from _In Allgemeine Fishcherei-Zeitung_, or _Economic
Circular No. 10_, "Mussels in the Tributaries of the Missouri," or the
last biennial report of the Superintendent of Fisheries of Wisconsin, or
a scientific paper on "The Porpoise in Captivity" reprinted by
permission of _Zoologica_, of the New York Zoölogical Society. To find
each week for reprint a poem appropriate in sentiment to the feeling of
the paper. One of the "Salt Water Ballads" would do, or John Masefield
singing of "the whale's way," or "Down to the white dipping sails"; or
Rupert Brooke: "And in that heaven of all their wish, There shall be no
more land, say fish"; or a "weather rhyme" about "mackerel skies," when
"you're sure to get a fishing day"; or something from the New York Sun
about "the lobster pots of Maine"; or Oliver Herford, in the Century,
"To a Goldfish"; or, best of all, an old song of fishing ways of other
days.
And to compile from the New York _Journal of Commerce_ better poetry
than any of this, tables, beautiful tables of "imports into New York":
"Oct. 15.--From Bordeaux, 225 cs. cuttlefish bone; Copenhagen, 173 pkgs.
fish; Liverpool, 969 bbls. herrings, 10 walrus hides, 2,000 bags salt;
La Guayra, 6 cs. fish sounds; Belize, 9 bbls. sponges; Rotterdam, 7
pkgs. seaweed, 9,000 kegs herrings; Barcelona, 235 cs. sardines; Bocas
Del Toro, 5 cs. turtle shells; Genoa, 3 boxes corals; Tampico, 2 pkgs.
sponges; Halifax, 1 cs. seal skins, 35 bbls. cod liver oil, 215 cs.
lobsters, 490 bbls. codfish; Akureyri, 4,150 bbls. salted herrings,"
and much more. Beautiful tables of "exports from New York." "To
Australia" (cleared Sep. 1); "to Argentina";--Haiti, Jamaica, Guatemala,
Scotland, Salvador, Santo Domingo, England, and to places many more. And
many other gorgeous tables, too. "Fishing vessels at New York," for one,
listing the "trips" brought into this port by the _Stranger_, the _Sarah
O'Neal_, the _Nourmahal_, a farrago of charming sounds, and a valuable
tale of facts.
As make-up man, of course, so to "dress" the paper that the "markets,"
Oporto, Trinidad, Porto Rico, Demerara, Havana, would be together; that
"Nova Scotia Notes"--"Weather conditions for curing have been more
favorable since October set in"--would follow "Halifax Fish
Market"--"Last week's arrivals were: Oct. 13, schr. _Hattie Loring_, 960
quintals," etc.--that "Pacific Coast Notes"--"The tug _Tatoosh_ will
perform the service for the Seattle salmon packers of towing a vessel
from Seattle to this port via the Panama Canal"--would follow "Canned
Salmon"; that shellfish matter would be in one place; reports of
saltfish where such should be; that the weekly tale of the canned fish
trade politically embraced the canned fish advertising; and so on and so
on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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