CODFISH. ITS PLACE IN AMERICAN HISTORY. 
TAMES DAVIE BUTLER, LL. D. 
The chief bearing on the escutcheon of Massachusetts might 
well be a codfish. It is more than a century since the legislature 
voted that the effigy of a cod-fish “should be hung up in the 
room where the representatives sit, as a memorial of the im¬ 
portance of the cod-fishery to the commonwealth. ” But even 
earlier than that date, which was March 17, 1784, the cod-fish 
had been honored in the Massachusetts legislative hall, for the 
vote was that it should be suspended there “as had been usual 
formerly. ” The truth is such a fish had hung in the Old State 
House which was burned in 1749. This time-honored monitor 
hovering over the heads of legislators became the more ob» 
served of all observers after a witty retort by the ultramontane 
Brownson to the Congregational champion Prof. Park who had 
charged Catholics with worshiping images. 
“Indeed we do, ” answered Brownson, “but what images? We 
worship images of the saints while you worship the image of a 
cod-fish, and that in the midst of your grand temple. ” During 
the recent rebuilding of the Boston State House the ancient fish 
appeared to the building commission out of keeping with the 
modern improvements, and so it was relegated to a corner of the 
garret. This vandalism, however, roused such indignant pro¬ 
tests that the venerable emblem,—reproduced in a more artistic 
style, — was reinstated in its place of honor which it now holds 
more firmly than ever. 
There is no danger of over-rating the influence of cod-fish on 
the course of American history. 
It is held by not a few French writers that Breton fishermen 
chasing whales, unawares pushed on so far west that they 
