Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-11-29

Hew he lnaaatss Il tAs Hes.ieai ~
oola1srs' 1sas Fare.
The telephone discoufsed TURKEY all day
yesterday. ''Got any plump fat turkeys?''
was the query which vas repeatedly waited
over the wires from paterfamilias to the
markets. The urbane dealer would of course
reply Yes" "How much are they WORTH"
would come back. Twenty-Five to twenty
eight cents pound, would be the response.
SO the conversation would be kept up, and
the dickering which was carried ON BY cleo
tricity would astonish the uninitiated. But
the careful and shrewd purchaser always ex-
amines the fowls which he purchases. He is
well aware that there 10 q striking contrast
between eating tough three-year- turkey
which has "got its own living" and a young
six months-old bird which has been brought
up on the best of corn and the yellowest of
meal.
Yesterday was prime day for the Thanks
giving poultry trade. The air had that snap.
coolness and exhilerating quality which car
ries joy to the bosom of the poulterer,
and betokens . brisk trade. From an
early hour in the morning. till high
noon, wagons laden with the fattest Of tur-
keys and plumpest Of chickens, bowled into
town. The anxious dealer whose supply of
Thanksgiving fowl had, perchance. run short,
could be seen keeping . sharp lookout for in
coming poultry teams. The consumer was
also oftentimes on the ground, and when an
opportunity offered he would snap up fat
bird even from under the very gaze of the
marketmen. Much poultry was peddled, the
peddler receiving from two to three cents more
on pound than he could procure at the mar
kets. All things considered there was .
scarcity in the turkey supply, and first class
birds wholesaled readily at % cents. The
quality, taken as an average, vas much bet
ter than usual "Whv" quoth q rotund gro
ceryman, ~ purchased lot of turkeys yes
terday, a. good Is any ever saw in my
life. l had to pay for them though"
Most any turkey which was half decent
would bring 20 cents. Chickens were more
plenty and contrary to the usual course
of things were lower than turkeys, bringing
from l6 to IS cents . pound at Wholesale.
People buy turkeys in preference to chickens
for the Thanksgiving table. but really the lat
ter are fully as palatable as the former. In
water fowls there has been q paucity all
round. There have been few geese or
ducks in the market, and yesterday one Of our
poultry men received a dispatch from Boston
saying that ducks were worth % cents
pound in that market. This 10 q circumstance,
as the price Of this class Of fowls is usually
much less than that of turkeys and chickens.
Turkey dinners will be in order at our sew
aral charitable and other institutions to-day.
Thirteen hundred pounds of turkey furnished
from the Augusta market will be set before
the veterans at the Home, and they will do
justice to their repast. The unfortunate in
mates of the Asylum will not be forgotten,
and 3se pounds of the popular bird, added to
which will be 100 of chickens, will be found
on the Hospital tables at noon. Wealthy en-
ployers will remember their employees and .
turkey apiece all around will be the rule.
There will be gathering Of scattered fami-
lies around the Thanksgiving table, from far
and from near, and hundreds of pleasant re-
unions, bright spots in life's rugged pathway,
will occur Now that bountious harvest
has been garnered in and peace and prosperi-
ty prevail, it is indeed a fitting season to give
thanks and feast on the fat of the land.