American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1878-12-14
How to Carve Il Holiday Turkey.

1t makes no difference whether you
buy turkey, goose, duck or chicken
the result will be the same In other
words, these remarks will be so shaped
as to apply to all manner of fowl hav,
ing wings.
1t is better to buy the fowl and pay
| for it, but this advice is not intended to
prejudice any one from obtaining then
| chickens in the usual manner. Having
secured the fowl and baked or roasted
it, il becomes the duty of the head OF
the family to prepare it for eating
Some people use 40-penny nails to
spike the chicken down to Il plank, and
then do the carving with buck-saw,
but there are other and more convent
ent ways. Place the fowl on the kitch-
en-table. Attach n chain to either leg,
and make fast to the legs of the table,
or to eye-bolts driven into the wall.
A third chain should pass from the neck
of the fowl to the opposite end of the
table. The victim is then in that con
dition commonly known as "where he
can't wriggle." If ropes are used in.
stead of chains, they should not be less
than an inch in diameter and of the best
hemp.
1t is now question of how you want
the fowl carved. If company is expect
ed to dinner it should be carved in a
way to leave the fowl to the family and
the bones to the company. If it is for
the family alone the wish-bone should
be given to the baby, while the head OF
the family should take the neck and be
thankful that he has been spared to live
another year. A fowl carves up like
clock-work if one only knows where to
begin. As every man has his weak
point, SO hath a fowl, and there is no
use spending over half an hour looking
for it when the balance of dinner is
waiting. Some men spit on their hands
before picking up the carving tools.
They might as we'll spit on the fowl. II
carved with knife but little prepara-
ton is needed. The carver should re-
move coat and vest and secure firm
grasp for his feet, and muscle and faith
should do the rest. There are carvers
who seem to imagine that if they can
get under fowls wing the question is
as good as settled for toe fowl. Such
carvers have not studied anatomy,
either human or animal. You
might as well expect to
stop 3 woman's tongue by breaking one
of her fingers. Nearly all the fowls
have about 60 different bones in their
makeup, and you have doubtless seen
many which appeared to be all bone.
These 60 bones are the brick-work, as it
were, for the remainder of the fowl to
be erected on, and Nature makes no
mistakes. If you strike the right bone
in carving, the whole brick-work gives
way in a heap and the carving is the
work of only five minutes. If you don't
you may saw away and jump up and
down and blast the man who sold it to
you as long AS the table can stand up
under it. The man who takes an ak to
dissect well cooked fowl is resorting
to brute force needlessly, and instances
have been known where the AK has slip
ed son just returned from Yale Col
lege, polished boxer and oarsman. Ii
the fowl has been feed on hoop-iron,
buckshot and army overcoats, Ratchet
will still answer all purposes. A man
who will pull up his sleeves and deliber-
ately stab baked goose to the heart de
serves the contempt of every human be-
ing who doesn't go fishing on Sunday,
and he will receive it, too.
The fowl should be approached kind
ly and without any outward evidences
of trepidation, but resort to undue
violence is to be discouraged and
frowned upon by all lovers of fair play
The vulnerable point of rhinoceros is
under the fore leg, but it does not
necessarily follow that the chicken should
be attacked there. On the contrary,
the experienced carver will avoid that
locality altogether and begin just below
the breast-bone. Anguish sometimes
fills the breast of human being, but it
and if rightly prepared it will not OBJ
struct the free use of the knife any more
than SO much sawdust would. Having
thrust the knife in below the breast
bone, seize the left leg nyour left hand.
give a pull and sort of agitated yank
at the same moment, and the starboard
bulwarks of the fowl ought to fall over
right in body, leaving the carver to
simply divide up the sections into con-
pieces. This ought to happen.
If it does not, the saw and Ratchet can
be used, or the fowl can be blown up
with small but effective cartridges OF
giant powder. The family which pre-
fers oysters to fowl for Christmas din
ner is not only level-headed, but will
need no carver and have no reasons
why darkness should settle down over a
able upside down, and family fight
going on in every room in the house.
Detroit Free Press.
The Diplomatic Corps.