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2HANKSGIVING with out the turkey is al most unthinkable. For this great bird, which has become inseparably associat peculiarly an Ameri can bird and as much an Amer ' can lnstltu- Hon as Thanksgiving great national bird ture of the feasting which is an Important part of the fes tivities of the day. The fact is, of course, that turkeys don’t come from Turkey, and were un known before the discovery of Amer ica, In the north of which continent the wild turkey still roams in unre strained freedom, though not, alas, in undiminished numbers. When the enterprising Spaniards began to explore the resources of the new world that Columbus had opened out for them, they found that the na tives had tamed a big bird, which they regarded as a sort of peacock; and it was not long after the discovery of America that the new bird made his appearance in European poultry yards. Great must have been the disgust of the original occupants of these when the invader appeared. For one thing he was much bigger than any of them, and could look down on them in the most literal sense. He was also fully aware of the importance of his expensive personality and lost no time in impressing it on all and sundry. The peacock, who had reigned supreme both as an artist in posing and as a table delicacy—the Homans used to talk of having “ham and peacock” as we would speak of bam and turkey—found himself con fronted with a rival who made up for Inferiority of plumage by displaying with much greater energy and fre quency what he had got, and by a JZ’CSjZZ.Zr ' Tpla.v of expression which nothing in the animal world can equal. It is all very well to talk of the wonderful mobility of the human countenance, sensitive to every change in the emotions of the soul; it is nothing to the turkey cock’s. See him elongate his nose till it comes down to his chest, and ob serve the number of double chins he can pro duce to add to his importance if he wishes to Impose on a presumptuous rooster or to impress a fair young turkey pullet Then, as to blushing, there was no debutante ever floated on the social sea who could blush as our gobbler can; his complexion plays through all shades between livid blue and ghastly white to a lively scarlet, and, taken in connection with the changes in his features, makes him a quick <awmge artist of the first order, before whom the chameleon collapses ashamed. If anybody wants to practise drawing por traits, let them get hold of a turkey gobbler for a sitter, and if they can succeed in getting his features properly fixed on canvas I will undertake they will find anyone else’s easy in comparison. Cut it is not only in the display of his charms that the turkey proclaims his advantage over the world of our feathered dependents; his stentorian gobbling arrests the attention of all. The said gobbling, by the way, has given rise to the only bit of folk-lore about the turkey that I know of. Being an American, he is too modern to have legends associated with him as a rule; but Indian Mohammedans profess to hear in the turkey’s voice a blasphemous mockery of their brief creed as spoken in Arabic. Hence, when a turkey has to be killed in India, the native takes a cruel pleasure in executing it by cutting out Its impious tongue; and so widely spread is the boltef, that a little native boy, a retainer of an animal dealer in Calcutta, replied to me, when I asked him —just by way of trying his knowledge— the name of an American curassow bird that was In the yard. "That is a turkey, sahib, but it does not repeat the creed!” What with strutting and gobbling himself, and with proving congenial to the gobbling process as conducted by human beings, the turkey fairly bounced the poultry world in general, and actual ly ousted the goose, the most ancient member of the poultry association and the savior of Rome, from popular estimation as a holiday dish. The turkey is a good type of the product of his native continent in more ways than one, and som* Americans, impressed by the fact that the na tion’s emblem, the white-headed eagle, is not ohly a “bird of freedom,” but a freebooter, rob bing the s respectable flshhawk of his catch, and «eber&Hy playing the needy sharper, have claimed of SEASON by FrctivK. Firvrv that the turkey would better represent the United States, and he certainly better suits the Ideals of an emi nently practical people. Go-ahead as he Is In his methods, how ever, the turkey gets “scored off” now and then. A century or so ago, when geese and turkeys used In the absence of present-day facili ties for transport to be driven long distances on the roads, a couple of noble sportsmen laid a wa ger as to the speed of turkeys and geese over a course which it would take a matter of days to traverse. Each nobleman was provided with a little flock of four of the fowls of his fancy, and of course betting was high In favor of the tur keys. And at first they seemed to justify their backers, for they soon stalked away from their waddling rivals and left them far behind. So things went on all day, but as dusk came on the aristocratic turkey herd found his charges becom ing passive resisters, and displaying an incurable desire to go to roost—no amount of coaxing would propel them farther. Meanwhile the despised geese, with whom night and day were not of any very great importance, waddled sedately past, and ultimately won the race with plenty to spare. It was pretty nearly the old tale of the hare and tortoise over again, In fact. I have known the farmyard bully pretty well bested on two occasions myself—tragically so, in fact. One of the most valued possession of the Calcutta animal dealer I have mentioned was a fawn-colored European-bred turkey, w r hose color much commended it In his eyes, since turkeys of this hue seem not to be found In India. This privileged fowl used to circulate about his mas ter’s chair, strutting and gobbling; and though he often resented the entrance of natives into the compound he respected Europeans, a piece of dis crimination one does not expect in a being of such limited intelligence as a turkey. Another inmate of the menagerie was a young cassowary, and he wrought the turkey’s downfall; for, coming into the compound one day, I missed the glnger-hued gobbler, and asked what had become of him. “Ah, my poor turkey!” said the dealer; “he gave cheek tc the cassowary, and the cassowary kicked him and burst his bag!” It sounded as if the impudent bird had been collapsed like a toy balloon, but 1 did not inquire Into details. The dealer, however, consoled himself with a pair of local turkeys or the ordinary dark color, and the gobbler was beginning to take the place of his deceased nredecessor in the economy of the 3§ l wm &rc?sa. turkevs into this, and when they are inside and have'eaten up all the corn. It never occurs to them to stoop under the bridge beneath which they passed In. but they continue to wander round and round till the trapper comes and gathers them in-a proceeding which does not argue any great amount of Intelligence on their part. One can even get a turkey by hunting him with a dog, circumstances being favorable. The said circumstances are the fact of the turkey s being a little way off from their woodland retreat, feed ing out on the prairie, and one s dog being a grey hound ; moreover, one’s horse should know how to go. The turkey, even when wild, is not a long distance flier, but he has not sense enough to re member this when he finds his foes between him and the wood, and tries to fly straight away from the pursuing hound instead of turning about over head and coming back to cover. After about a mile he has had enough of flying and takes to his legs, only to find that his four-legged opponent is close behind, and he must perforce take to the air again. But this time his flight is not for so long a distance, and he is ignominiously “run into,” a victim of misplaced confidence in himself as an aeroplane. Let us be thankful that we have got the tur key as he is, with all his comic extravagances, and that in one respect, at all events, he can challenge comparison with many worthier people; his last appearance is always creditable, and no one can deny that he cuts up well! Cause for Thankfulness. Thanksgiving day is the one day in the yeap when the nation turns to heaven in thanks for ita preservation. The life of the nation is the principal consideration; not only Its life, but its health, and Its preservation In that condition in which it was established by the fathers of the country. Men can thank God for their own accumulations or sup plicate him to lighten their burdens, but that is not the purpose of a national thanksgiving. The nation itself, the political structure which was framed and handed down —it is the preservation of this for which the neople are to be thankfuL menagerie, when he a’so met bis end from a far different adversary. This was a gamecock of some In dian breed, the most blackguardly looking fowl I have ever set eyes upon, with beetling eyebrows, a bulldog type of beak and pillar-like legs, his athletic proportions set off by very tight-fitting plumage. How ever, he was only a fowl, thought Ihe two turkeys, and with Oriental Indifference to the rules of fair play they both set out to tackle him to gether. The gamecock acquitted himself in a manner worthy of his breed, and bowled them over with one blow apiece. Perhaps his natu ral magnanimity—for chanticleer is seldom anything but a gentleman— made him lenient with the hen; at any rate, she was only “knocked silly.” But he gave her husband a fair knock-out blow; gripping his wattle with the bulldog bill, he brought the columnar shanks down on the bulky adversary’s neck with such force that, when I saw the de feated bully he was sitting in a state of paralytic collapse, and not long after inglorlously expired. Such is the part the turkey plays as a tame bird—a pretentious and pushing person who occasionally col lapses ignominiously. Nor are his aspect and career as a wild bird different, for he is one of the few creatures which have altered very little in domestication; and though he may be regarded as the premier bird of America, and gains a cer tain amount of dignity and consid eration thereby, there Is a comic element In his performances and misfortunes which robs him of the dignity of the feathered nobles of the older world. The blackguardly tendencies which, seen in domesti cation, have caused some people to suggest that he Is called a turkey because he behaves like the prover bial unspeakable Turk, are In full swing In his wild ancestor, who is altogether born In sin. His wife, or wives—for tyi Is an inveterate polyg amist, evert In his primitive teondl tlon —have to keep their infant poults out of his way, or he will crack their little heads for them; and when he conquers and slays a rival gobbler, he tramples him when he Is down and done for. His court ship Is every bit as absurd In the wilds as It Is in the farmyard, and ancient turkey dowagers emulate his absurdities In strutting to win his regard, though the pullets main tain a proper modesty of demeanor. Moreover, the wily hunter brings about his downfall In ways which make him look undignified—no other bird Is lured to his end In such queerly discreditable ways. One Is to call him up within shot by Imitating the voice of her he loves for the time being. On a small pipe, often made of a turkey’s own drumstick bone, the sportsman imi tates what he ungallantly calls the “yelp” of the hen turkey, and the infatuated gobbler, lured by the soft Invitation, is often decoyed within range. To his credit be it said, how ever, he displays a fine ear, and If he detects anything suspiciously in sincere in the accents of the con cealed charmer, it will be a clever impersonator who gets him to an swer another matrimonial advertise ment for that season at all events. Another plan is the turkey trap, which is a pen made of logs and en tered by a trench, across which there Is a bridge just Inside the en trance. A train of corn leads the NOT A PENNY FOR FULLEST MEDICAL Ell ProfV'v- >r Munvon lias engaged a stall renowned leaders in their line. 1 There is no question about their abilit«fl : I v ' h i ■’.- • - •-T'lla.e i.a-.c turrici^Hj ealaries. ,* ■ ‘ “f\*K • lie off.-rs '■ T s.-rv: • • to von JY ■ vTat your •: - ■ r -v. \ • •■vtnrs yoniH %jl' * 'f\ s r M _\w ' s ] , _ 1 v an••mion ! advise ' what t • ■!<•.. You an*-f i, :, . them. 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