Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1882-05-04
A BIZ Of Table Lore

~ Stt " A@~AS -pt ~n
Did you wonder, as you sat ~ Tie
table last Thanksgiving Day, Why ths
great fowl before you was called after
country of Europe2 Perhaps you did
not, but others have wondered. Prob
ably you know that the turkey y in
digenous to America, ana that II came
very near being the emblem Of the
United States, instead Of the eagle.
Benjamin Franklin, who suggested IT.
was sagacious man il most respects,
but he argued that this bird vas \
native Of the republic and was common,
while the eagle had been all through
the ages the symbol of royalty.
The turkey was first introduced into
Europe more than three hundred years
ago, and became almost Immediately 4
favorite on the table, but people seem
to have forgotten where it came from.
The French called it Finde, meaning
that it came from india Some have
thought that they have meant West
India, but as the Germans called it the
Calcdisher hahn Calcutta foWl,) there
Is reason to believe that ID was gener-
ally thought 10 come from East India.
There is d difference Of opinion about
the meaning Of the name of the grain
from which our buckSheat cakes are
made. In Worcester's dictionary wa
are told that Daniel Webster said that
it was named because it looked like the
beechnut, and 7 am inclined to think
that hs is right but I have book bJ
q learned man which says that there is
tradition that it was named becau1e
the first specimens were brought from
the East hidden between the leaves or
book, so that it was not efbeach-wheas, "
but 'sbook-wheat." No doubt buck
wheat did come into Europe from the
East, and it is called by the French
''Saracen wheat (ble Sayrasin,) but IL
is called BY the Germans beech-vheat
(buchweizen.l
Twill tell You another word the true
history OF which was long unknown.
The best kind Of almonds were called
'Jordan almonds, and as lately Is 1705
a writer who wrote book called "a
New World of Words" said that the
tree that produced them ''grows chiefly
in the Eastern countries, especially in
the Holy Land, near the river Jordsn;"
and in 1857 another writer, who vas 4
celebrated English botanist, made the
same remark. In 1877 the statement
was repeated in Smiths stBible plants,
where we read that ssthe best eo-called
Jordan almonds come from Malaga,
and none now come from the country
of the Jordan" Il might have been
added that none ever came from that
country, for we have learned from am
old book that Jordan almondsare simply
almonds that ale raised ii gardens the
French for garden being gGrdin, which
was corrupted into Jordan very easily,
and the man who corrupted it forgot
how he made the mistake, or, perhaps,
he never noticed his error. IT is = great
deal easier to make mistake than Il Is
to correct one. This shows, too, how
readily people follow one another. No
one thought for centuries whether Jor-
dan almonds actually came from the
country Of the river OK not. They Be-
lieved what they had been told, and
when one man found that there were no
almonds in the Holy Land, he did not
for moment think that il might be
that none hal ever been raised there.
It shows that We ought to Be careful To
know what we are talking about, and
that it requires a good deal Of study to
be sure of anything.