The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1896-11-25

BEARING BETWEEN THEM A GIGANTIC Plat
| TER.
sturdy stock 20 our pilgrim ancestors,
they could readily appreciate the signif-
icance of this rendering unto the Oliver
of all good heartfelt thanks for the
bounties of the year at il good old
CUSTOM" said my host. slapping me
heartily between the shoulders, land IL
it's good for the Yankees " y isn't it
good for the Scotchmen too? Cad, we'll
have celebration of our own. What
say you, mctherf Have We any fat tur-
keys in the pen? Thanksgiving without
turkey, understand, is like Boston
Sunday without beans Isn't it so,
young MANI"
/ assured him that he had hit rather
near the truth of it, and that the two
made good combination, turkeys being
an American product and beans derived
indirectly from Scotland itself But"
added, "if you haven't any turkeys,
guinea fowl will do; fine plump guinea
pullet isn't to be sneezed at, served
brown and with its own sauce"
"That is so, but we'll have the tur-
keys; yes, and the guineas too. And
what's the matter with your taking
your gun up into the woods aud trying
for few brace Of wild pigeons? Par
rots, too are mighty good, and the
woods above the spring head are alive
with them. I"
That proposition met with my ap-
proval, for il was to study the birds Of
the island that had come to St Vim
cent, and 1t was while hunting a rare
bird OH the mountain top, and living in
cave the while, that 1 had contracted
the troublesome fever which came so
near to carrying me away from all the
haunts of birds as we'll as of men. The
day before the date set for Tbanksgiv-
ing, just at the breaking of a glorious
dawn, | set off, mounted on one of the
plantation ponies, for the "high woods"
above the sources of the river that flowed
through Rutland Vale. An intelligent
colored boy went along as guide and
kept pace with my beast as he climbed
the steep path into the mountain forests.
Beneath the great trees, after the forest
was reached where the wood giants
threw out their broad arms 100 feet and
more above our heads. we tied the pony
and assembled the ridge, where it was
too steep for him to travel. Here the
palms and gum trees seemed to be alive
with pigeons and parrots, the former
the great blue pigeons called there
"ramiers," and inhabiting the higher
tree tops 1t required most careful BUSH
whacking to get within shot of them,
and sharp eyes to detect them ON their
elevated perches, on the topmost twigs
of the trees against the sky. But before
the sun proclaimed the hour of noon Ia
pigeons lay on the ground at my feet,
and parrots These latter, being large
and wary, valuable alike for their flesh
and their feathers, were a species en-
tirely distinct from any others in the
world, and consequently very desirable
as museum specimens In fact, before l
yielded them up TO the sable cook at the
great house stripped their rainbow
hued jackets Off and preserved them in
arsenic by the taxidermist's art, regard
ing their meat as a consideration entire.
ly secondary.
Returning to the house, exhausted
but elated, we were greeted with up
roarious glee by the children, who had
also been out foraging. They had been
wading in the river and had brought
out from the river bed twoscore large and
wriggling crawfshes. Moreover, they
had met with small army of land
crabs and had brought in as many as
they could carry of these fierce looking
but savory meated monsters. And they
had found guinea hens nest under
the bamboo thicket by the bend of the
river, with more than a dozen eggs,
which they had appropriated. and a
wild cashew tree full of fruit, the nuts
of which Auntie Jude was going to
roast for them. and grated mango
tree with just the most delicious golden
mangoes and hog plum tree purple
with fruit, and-and-so on. For more
than 10 minutes they all iabbered to-