Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-11-26

turkey, I understand, is like a Boston
Sunday without beans. Isn't it 90,
young MANI"
I assured him that he had hit rather
near the truth Of it, and that the two
made a 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 gneezed at, served
brown and with its own sauce n
''That is SO, but wen 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. Y
That proposition met with my ap-
proval, for it was to study the birds Of
the island that had come to st. Vim
cent, and 1t was while hunting a rare
bird on the mountain top, and living in
a cave the while, that had contracted
the troublesome fever which came 90
near to carrying me away from all the
haunts Of birds as well as Of men, The
day before the date set for Thanksgiv-
ing, just at the breaking of a glorious
dawn, | set off, mounted on one Of the
plantation ponies, for the thigh woods
above the sources of the river that flowed
through Rutland Vale An intelligent
colored boy went along az 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, f" 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 I
yielded them up to the sable cook at the
great house l stripped their rainbow
hued jackets of 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 wits 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 crawfishes Moreover, they
had met with a 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 a 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 is minutes they all jabbered to-
gether, telling me Of their wonderful
Z e
to do but / must 90 with them to the
cookhouse, where Auntie Jude, the old
black cook, was fuming and swearing
at the unwonted accumulation Of wild
provisions all heaped upon her at once
and Unexpectedly. "WhA' all dis about
7 'anksgibin?' she grumbled az though
TO herself as she saw me coming. Done
mex mo- wuk fer ole niger woman.
Ain no T anksgibin fer nobuddy only
de Buckras. Dey's de ones TO- glib
tanks; not we uns We do all de wuk,
wuk, wuk. Dey gifts all de grub. -
'HeIlo, Auntie, y I said cheerfully.
"You seem to have lot of game on
hand today. Hope it isn't going to
make you too much trouble. Tomor-
rows Thanksgiving, you know. We
want one Of those parrot potpies, such
as you used to make when you cooked
for the governor.
She pursed her fat lips up for retort
uncomplimentary, but I just slipped
dollar into her greasy palm and her fea-
lures underwent lightninghke change
Of expression.
"Oh, no, me massa. Ain no trouble
tall Me likes to do de T'snksgibin.
God bless yo', massa. Heah. yo' Ebe-
neezer. yo' Horatiol Come heah quick.
Step libely now. One OBJ yo' pluck dem
pigeons T'udder one shuck dem crab,
an dem crawfish. Gut heap OBJ things
toe do befo' termorrer by sun up, sho's
you's bawn niggers.
There were toll and turmoil all night
long in the smoke begrimed cookhouse,
but in the morning, as fat old aunty
emerged with the coffee and crackers,
her face was shining and her head neatly
done up in freshly laundered bandanna
of more hues than rainbow ever dared
disport since the time of Noah and the
food. She was as neat as pin" and
her long train Of sable hued, half naked
attendants of all ages, from 6 to 16.
were as clean as a souse in the river
could make them. Breakfast was excel
lent, but il was merely a preliminary
spread to the dinner, which was served
at sunset, just as old Sol tipped rs
last wink before he sank (red and
glowing from his all day journey be-
meath the waters Of the Caribbean sea.
The table was set out on the broad We
randa near a sweet scented frangi-
panni and lighted with great candles
shielded from the evening breezes by
huge glass cylinders.
The youngest Of the children had been
put to bed, hut there were half o dozen
left, who gazed expectantly upon the
array Of glass and silver and behaved
like born princes of the blood. Aside
from our own family there were three
poor neighbors who had seen better
days and trembling old man, PEN
sioner upon the bounty of my host.
After all were seated, our entertainer
rose and proposed the health Of the pres
ident of the United States, along with