The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1905-11-22
TRIBUTE TO THE TURKEY
SUGGESTION THAT 1T SHOULD BE
THE NATIONAL EMBLEM.
The Domestic Bird Is a Much More
Fitting Symbol of American Life
Than the Eagle.

Than the Eagle.
Why did our fathers choose the eagle
as the emblem of our country instead
of the turkey, which Franklin recon-
mended? asks N. T. Blakeslee 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 moth
ing to be proud of. He has no brilliant
plumage. He cannot sing or walk with
stately tread, as a national bird
should, but waddles along with less
grace than goose or 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 APP
pointment, but by merit, is the turkey.
He is a genuine American without any
foreign prototype. That our fathers
passed him by when choosing an en-
bIem is evidence that they had not cut
loose entirely from subservience to an
cient Rome and foreign ideas Of dig
nifty and did not appreciate fully the
value Of Americas distinct possession.
The turkey did not keep himself
aIoof on a distant mountain top when
civilization came to the United States,
but came to meet it. He was anxious
to be domesticated. When our forefa-
theirs 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 a proud looking bird,
even more so than the eagle. He is as
large OF 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 fight of an expert
ment it was we'll to have it symbolized
by bird on the wing, but now that 1t
is established on sure foundations the
bird standing on terra firma seems
more appropriate.
1t may be argued that the turkey is
liable to a 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, enterprising offspring. The ca
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 plumage 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, it brings to mind recol-
lections of Thanksgiving past and an
ticipations Of one near at hand.
When the eagle at last succumbs to
old age and dies his carcass rots tnglo-
riously in some unseen crevice 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 Thanksgiving.