The Winslow mail., 1899-05-27
BEZ SAMUEL IS
DANCING TURKEYS
THERE were seven turkeys. all large
By G. A. Stephens

HERE were seven turkeys, all large
ones, six bronze ard one white
On beard over the wire front of their
cage was painted the announcements:
Seven Dancing Turkeys; Exhibited
For the First Time; Round and Square
Dances and the Highland Fling"
The exhibitor was sallcw-Iooking
boy about Is years Of age, with & droil
droop of his left eye. In connection
with his cage of educated turkeys"
which he was showing at the county
fair, he had sweet-cider and peanut
stand. The peanuts were excellent. foI
he had a stove, kept hot with coal fire,
AID roasted overtul after ovenful. The
stove and fuel box were partly hidden
from the public eye by curtain al one
end; and both stand and cage had just
behind them the high board fence OF
the fair grounds.
Few people knew the owner. Those
few called him BeZ Samuels. He had
been at the fair the year before with
''whirling table," which, after the first
day, had been excluded by the manage
ment as something too nearly akin TO
gambling.
But this time he had brought Il lock
of educated turkeys, which spoke so
well fer his patience and skill that his
show was admitted to the grounds
without question.
During the first day the cage did not
attract much attention, for the people
30 4oI -, 1,,{
soon they began to talk about it.
Bez' plan of exhibiting was not the
usual one. He had no tent, but merely
a slide curtain inside the wire front of
the cage. Whenever the passing crowd
raised so cents Bez opened the curtain
and gave brief performance. Of
course many saw it who had paid moth
ing; yet as many newcomers were con-
stantly arriving the plan worked we'll.
During the forenoon Of the second
day of the fair my friend Tom and I
and ten or dozen other young peo-
pie contributed the so cents requisite
to see the turkeys dance
There was a rafting sound as Bee
pulled the curtain aside, and mme-
diately those seven turkeys began to
hop, first on one foot, then on the other,
constantly shifting aud moving around
the cage. One could scarcely say that
they executed a regular figure; but
they went round and round, hopping in
a very curious and 1udicrous manner
Moreover, it was hard to guess the mo
tive for their antics. The bottom of
the cage inside the wires appeared to
be of old zinc or sheet iron. Occasion
ally Bez either struck the bottom of
the cage or ratified beneath If as if with
an iron rod, 'To changc the time of the
Dance" as he explained.
At once, then. the turkeys began to
leap higher. using their wings to assist
them. At every hop they rose to the
top of the cage, height Of certainly
six feet. Their feet seemed scarcely
to touch the ground at all, SO rapidly
did their leaps succeed each other. Up,
up. and up and around they went in a
maze Of leaping and tapping! This
was the 'Highland Fling" and 10 one
who saw it could help laughing.
After minute or two BeZ pulled the
curtain, and, thanking Us, declared the
performance over. Nearly everyone
went away remarking that there never
was such a turkey dance, and IN the
course of ten minutes another 50 cents
were collected. People wondered how
bird so stupid as a turkey could ever
have been trained to go through such
performance Music had nothing to do
with it; Bee had merely raped on the
floor as signal for the dance to begin,
and had ratified louder for the High
land Fling"
SIT must have taken no end Of time
and patience to teach them" / remem-
Der saying to my companion.
maybe; but doubt it." he replied.
Il don't like the looks of that Be-
he continued. Il think it's a trick"
Some discussion cnsued; then we
went back to ask him how he had
trained the turkeys.
The fellow looked at us attentively,
and then gave an account Of the gift
he possessed of communicating his
''wilI'' to birds and animals. 1t re-
QuIIcQ lAOAtiAS, SOlO Dul RIi.HtSS
and perseverance accomplish wonders.
We said to him that-it was truly
wonderful gift, and left. well satisfied
that he had not told us the truth.
Hes fraud" remarked Tom as we
walked away. 'If be had said fatty
that he did not wish f tell Us about il
] shouldn't have blamed him. for cf
course it's his secret. If he wants 10
keep it, he has a right 10. | wouldn't
spy round to find it out, either; but
now that he has oone on aud told US
such falsehood I'll find out his trick
If ! can"
| have always felt ashamed Of the
artifce 10 which we res0rted, fo; 90
not think that it was quite honorable,
even with the motive Of exposing de-
ception. What we did was TO 60 out
side the fair grounds fence ard come
round in the rear of the cage. Bee
"show" was placed on one side cf tbs
grounds near the fence. Through
chink in the upright boards we watched
his operations for an hour or more. 1t
was some time before we gained the
least hint as to the true nature of his
cfrt hut >ve noticed thai the cage had