Show the L he story of the turkey y in N 1620 the puritans dis covered new angland and the next year when they were going to have their first thanksgiving dinner they discovered the turkey wrote a small boy in his thanksgiving ali composition thus he set tied to his own satis fac tion at least a long dis buted question when and where the first turkey was found A century ago wiser heads than his did not find the question easy to dis I 1 ose of and their discussion was fm im enough to attract the atten tion of the learned prof bechmann beckmann some claimed it was first found in africa whence it was brought in early days tor for the banquets of the romans others believe that because of its name it must have come from turkey a term then applied vaguely to tar tary and even to asia in general its german name kale kuter led to the assertion that the first specimens had been shipped from calcutta but those inclining to this opinion were laughed at by others who said that kale kuter was simply the german attempt to express the bird birds s cry A few believe that the bird was an importation from the new world and while learned heads wagged over the problem the turkey went straight on gobbling its way into european barnyards it was introduced into england as early some say as 1524 and at a ban given by queen mary in 1565 young turkeys are mentioned as the greatest delicacy on the table in a curious old book called five hundred points of husbandry by aro are to be found the lines beete mutton and pork shred pies ol 01 the best pig veal goose and capon ad and well cheese apples and nuts jolle jolla carols to heare As then in the coun countries trie le Is counted goods cheers here is proof that the modern up start of a turkey was already rivaling in favor the classic capon with the british farmer the jesuits long were credited with having introduced the turkey into france from spain this may ac count tor for the lifelong animosity to the jesuits of the great critic boileau of louis XIV s time for boileau as a child fell one day in his father fathers s barnyard and before he could pick himself up was so severely bitten by two old turkey he suffered from the effects for many years aft erward what more natural than that he should hate the Jesuits 7 the first official mention of our na lional bird in italy Is in 1557 when the magistrates of venice in an ord nance to suppress luxury forbade its presence at any tables but those of the clergy the nobility and their own in 1570 Bartol lomeo chief cook to pope plus V gave in his cookery book several recipes for roasting tur keys and dressing them with chest nuts and garlic which have not been improved upon to this day in italy at least J IF D smythe who wrote in 1784 a tour of the united states of amer ica declared that in the unsettled country back of virginia he saw wild turkey flocks of more than 5 while in the woods of pennsylvania they were so numerous that their eggs were easily found by the farmers children and carried off to be placed under setting hens no doubt tur keys were abundant enough within gunshot of the plymouth settlement and for this very reason would have formed even had they been less dell clous in flavor the piece de resist ance ot of that first thanksgiving feast with which ever since they have been inseparably connected |