Lyr. Add: (String of Eels)
John A. Stone (credited to a Down-East poet)

"In former years, eels were a staple commodity of food among the people of Derryfield, New Hampshire. A Down-East poet thus immortalized the fact:"

Our fathers treasured the slimy prize,
They loved the eels as their very eyes,
And of one 'tis said, with slander rife,
For a string of eels he sold his wife.

From the eels they formed their food in chief,
And eels were called the Derryfield beef,
And the marks of eels were so plain to trace,
That the children looked like eels in the face;
And before they walked it is well confirmed,
That the children never crept, but squirmed.

Such a mighty power did the squirmers wield
O'er the goodly men of old Derryfield-
It was often said that their only care,
And their only wish, and their only prayer,
For the present world, and the world to come,
Was a string of eels and a jug of rum.

Untitled poem, John A. Stone, 1858, "Put's Golden Songster," p. 55.