what like for fish have you?"

"Cod, haddock and bass," replied the fishmonger, who seemed as lean
and well starved as his horse, which was of a light sorrel color,
and presented so pitiable a pack of bones that no real
philanthropist could have looked upon him without shedding many
tears. The two tradesmen now got down from their respective wagons,
and approaching each other with hands extended, presented a
corporeal contrast one seldom sees in the rural districts of New
England, inasmuch as the fishmonger stood six feet in his
grain-leather boots, and was so lean of person that one might easily
have imagined him fed on half-tanned leather and Connecticut
nutmegs, while the major stood just five feet two in his stockings,
measured exactly twenty-seven inches across the broad disc of his
trousers, and had a belly equal to that of three turtle-fed aldermen
rolled into one. The major too, had a head very like a Wethersfield
squash stunted in the growth, with a broad, florid face, and a
spacious mouth, and two small eyes he could see at right angles
with. The fishmonger, on the other hand, was hatchet faced, had a
dilating jaw, and a vacant look out of his eyes, which were well
nigh obscured by the battered hat slouched down over his parchment
colored forehead.

They began at once to raise their wares, to shake each other
cordially by the hand, and to exchange salutations of mutual
confidence. Old Battle, who had a deep fellow feeling for his
master, must needs imitate the affection he displayed for the
fishmonger, and to that end began to make free with his horse,
which, after sundry friendly bites of the mane, and otherwise
exhibiting himself in a manner very much unbecoming a horse of such