The Bemidji pioneer., 1901-11-28

eve ] was sitting III my home
steader's cabin i'll the Wilds OF
Northwestern Montana, thinking
of the coming day and how | was
to spend it. Back in old New
England | had been accustomed
to spend the day at either grand
fathers house or some other rela-
tion's. The first thing in the
morning we would drive over to
grandfather's house; then at noon.
there would be a big dinner Of
turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin.
pie, etc. In the afternoon sleigh
ride behind a pair Of prancing
bays, and winding it up in the
evening with a big bonfire. sIt.
was of these glorious times of my
youth that / was thinking, and !
heayed a heavy sigh as | remem-
bered that | was about three
thousand miles from my nearest
relative; therefore, visiting with
some relative on the morrow was
impossible. Again, / had not the
material, even if / had enough ex-
perience in the culinary depart
ment to cook them for dinner.
When | say I had not the material
for the dinner, / mean all but the
turkey. The woods literally
4eemed with wild turkeys, and 1
had only to take my gun and do
IA little hunting to obtain one Of
these luscious fowl. AS to the
sleigh ride, I had a fine time, but
who wants TO take a ride behind
ever so fine a team all by his lone
some2 Now, I had summed up
my situation in the following way:
Visiting relatives was out of the
question because Of the distance
OF that article. The big dinner
was out Of the question because Of
lack Of material and culinary ex-
perience. The sleigh ride was out
Of the question for lack Of a CONF.
paqion. What was I to do? Ny.
bringing up revolted against the
idea Of spending the day i'll an in
different manner, and so after
thinking long ! decided to do the.
best { could and utilize all the.
means at hand for as big a cele-
bration as was possible. The
turkey | resolved to get the next
morning, and if anything else
turned up that would aid in hav-
ing a good time Iwould make use.
of it. And SO having disposed Of
the vexing problem of how |
would spend Thanksgiving, | re-
tired to my bank. The next
morning arose early, and after |
had partaken of breakfast 1
started, gun in hand, to find my
turkey. The turkeys seemed to
u p . ir 4 4.
be unusually wild this bright
Thanksgiving morning, and I
hunted in vain until about IL
o'clock. By this time / despaired
of having turkey for dinner. But
I resolved to have one anyway, if
not for dinner, why, then, for
supper. In a little while | was
rewarded. by hearing a. faint
gobble! gobble! And pushing
through the woods | came to a
large gobbler sitting on the limb
of a young oak tree. | thought
that it looked rather large for a
wild turkey; but being very
anxious to secure one, | raised my
gun and fired. The turkey fell to
the ground, but not dead. | had
only broken a wing, and he no
sooner touched the ground than
he started off running with the
speed of race horse. | followed,
| and the race through the brush
began. The brush was high and
thick. and the scratches received
we're not a few, and all the time
that tormented turkey was keep
| inc Just far enough ahead of me to
aggravate me. Many times ]
raised my rifle to fire at him on
the run, but just as | would OBJ
tain a clear sight of him he would
dodge behind a bush, and then |
| would start forward only to find
my game running ahead of ME
once more. The chase kept IN