AMERICAN MARKETS. 259 



" Not a trout. I took a bat on the wing. Did you 

 ever eat bat ?" 



" Never. I suppose it would be about the same thing 

 as mice. Mice are not good ; the flavor is musky. Rats 

 are much better, and very decent eating, if they are prop- 

 erly fed. I don't know why bats might not be made eat- 

 able. They are carnivorous ; but dogs are good food, if 

 well cooked. However, we don't need to try experiments 

 in this land, where the markets are better than in any 

 other country on earth." 



" I'm glad to hear you say that, Major. I have said 

 it often, and it's pleasant to be backed by a man of your 

 gastronomic taste." 



" Who disputes it ? Surely no one who knows any 

 thing about eating. There are articles, of course, which 

 are to be found in other countries superior to the same 

 article here ; but America is the only land for general 

 good eating. One gets fearfully tired of a European 

 kitchen, even with all the resources of Paris in the palmi- 

 est days of The Brothers. But here the varieties of fish 

 and flesh are inexhaustible ; and fruit — nowhere in the 

 world is there a fruit market comparable with that of 

 New York. An English sole is not equal in flavor to a 

 flounder taken in clear water at Stonington, and a turbot 

 is no better than a tautog. Shad, sheepshead, Spanish 

 mackerel, red snappers, bass, blue-fish — a fresh blue-fish 

 is glorious — where will you stop in the list of fish that 

 abound on our coast, every one of which is better than 

 any salt-water fish known on the other side of the At- 

 lantic?" 



" Excepting sardines." 



"Well, I may perhaps except sardines." 



"May? None of your prejudices, old fellow. There's 



