Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-11-14
TRIBUTE TO THE TURKEY
Suggestion That It Should Be
 the National Emblem.
STATELY OF STEP AND USEFUL
Domestic Bird Much More Fittins symbol of American Life, Says N. T. BlakesIee, Than the Eagle, Whose Dignity and Existence Civilization Has Encroacked Upon.

BlakesIee, Than the Eagle, Whose
 Dignity and Existence Civilization
 Has Encroached Upon.
 Why did. our fathers choose the eagle as the emblem of our country instead of the turkey, which Franklin recom- mended? asks N. T. iBlakeslee in the Chicago Tribune.
 The eagle keeps himself at distance from civilization and is seen only oc- casionally by hunters, who crack at him with their rifles without reverence for his symbolical character. He can not be tanned so as to be of any value as pet He sits on dry limb in the geological garden and looks ashamed, knowing that near at hand he has noth- ing to be proud of. He has no brilliant plumage. He cannot sing or walk with stately tread, as national bird should, but waddles along with less grace than goose or q duck.
 It must be confessed he has some good qualities. In his native element he can soar and so has become an ex- ample to Fourth of July orators. He has given a name to one denomination of our national currency and in that form Is not to be despised. He adorns one side of the silver dollar, on which he has struck an attitude suggestive of death.
 But the true national bird not by ap- pointment, but by merit, is the turkey. He is genuine American without any foreign prototype. That our fathers passed him by when choosing an em- blem is evidence that they had not cut loose entirely from subservience to an- cient Rome and foreign ideas of dig nity and did not appreciate fully the value of Amerlca's distinct possession.
 The turkey did not keep himself aloof on distant mountain top when civilization came to the United States, but came to meet it. He was anxious to be domestlcated. When our forefa- thers appointed Thanksgiving day in Plymouth, where meat shops were scarce. they had only to go out into the woods, and there were the birds ready to be slaughtered.
 The turkey is proud looking bird, even more so than the eagle. He Is as large or larger. If he has not so much spread to his wings he has more to his tail, and when that is fully extended and his head is thrown up in proud consciousness of his dignity and useful place in civilization he acknowledges inferiority to none. His step is stately and emblematic of the on marching of a mighty nation.
 In artistic representation his picture is naturally painted in a different pose from that of the eagle. The latter ap- pears to better advantage in a front view, the former in profile; the latter poised at distance in midair, the for mer maintaining an easy equilibrium upon fence or tree. So long as our re- public was a wild flight of an expert ment it was well to have 1t symbolized by bird on the wing. but now that it is established on sure foundations the bird standing on terra firma seems more appropriate.
 It may be argued that the turkey Is liable to brief existence. That would be an unfortunate idea to weave Into a national emblem, but the objection dis appears upon second thought. He per petuates himself by yearly brood of young, contemplating offspring. The ea- gle becomes more rare with receding frontier, but the turkey gives no indi- cations of race suicide. While the greater number of eagles are old and tough, the turkeys are ever young and tender.
 In the matter of plumsge the turkey is variegated and attractive. As to voice, his gobble may not be any more musical than the scream of the eagle, but it is more frequently heard. Fall ing on the ear. 1t brings to mind recol- lections of Thanksgivlngs past and an- ticipations of one near at hand.
 When the eagle at last suceumbs to old age and dies his carcass rots lnglo- riously in some unseen creyice on the mountain side, but the turkeys useful ness is not past when his days are numbered. In death he is still dear to those who have nourished him. and they gather to do him honor in rites and Thauksuiyfar