The Ketchikan miner., 1909-01-30
OLD TIME TURKEY EA].
A Once Popular Feast Ii ths
 Pennsylvania Mountains.
GONE WITH THE WOODSMEN.
The People, Traditions and Associa- tions That Made 1t Possible Are No More, and It Jons In Oblivion the Apple Cut and Quilting Bee.

material in the Blue mountain region of Pennsylvania to provide q turkey eat that we have had the last of those famous festivities" said former dweller of the district described for there are still wild turkeys a-plenty.
 ''The turkey eat has gone cut with the passing of the people whose homes, traditions and manner of life made it possible and with the occupation that was once theirs.
 "In the days when the turkey eat was the great winter festivity in the mountain districts between the Sehuyl- kill and the Juniata watersheds the sparse population was chiefly of rude and rugged woodmen and their fami- | lies, many of them descendants of pure Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Scores of them depended almost entirely on their skill with gun and trap for their food supply.
 "The cabins of these mountaneers were built of logs. the chinks between which were filled in with clay. A huge stone chimney rose at one end of the cabin outside. covering that en- tire end. while on the inside it opened on a broad fireplace across that end of the room.
 "The cabin was banked all around with earth against which hemlock and pine boughs were heaped. Sometimes rows of cord wood were piled up al- most to the caves. the better to keep out the cold. which is always intense during winter on those wind swept l hills.
 "There was rarely cabin with more than one room The walls were dark and smoky, and from rafter or beam hung plentifully strips of ierhed veni- son and chunks of smoked bear meat. along with hams and bacon from the l family pigs fattened in the woods and almost as wild as the bear and the deer But the choicest and best be- loved thing of the cabins larder was the fat and well frozen wild turkey.
 "While the woodsman's cabin was al- ways prepared for a turkey eat. it never knew when it was coming. \ turkey eat began with the making up of a party in neighboring village or settlement Taking along a fiddler, they would appear at this. that CT the other woodsman's cabin of a winter evening. and the woodsman and his l family did the rest.
 Instantly the birch wood pail of ci- der came forth. While the cabins guests drank cider the host prepared and spitted the turkey over the nick ory coals in the fireplace to roast for the feast. When it was ready for the ! table it was placed before the guests on a bic tin platter. Each one carved i for himself. the plates being squares i of birch bark.
 "The turkey eat was not complete, tough without q liberal supply of paan haas and head cheese and with 1t went the sweetest of rye bread and butter. Paan haas is a strictly Penn | sylyania Dutch creation.
 "It is made from the rich juices left after boiling the ingredients for head l cheese. these being thickened to stiff paste with buckwheat flour. This paste ! is pressed in forms until cold and is served in slices. II is a dull blue in color. very rich and very good.
 After the feast the turkey eat was rounded out by night of iollity super induced by the fiddle and maintained by it in it's music for the old fashioned cotilon figures and reels. which were danced until the gray of morning.
 "But most of those old time woods men have passed away, and on those who are still dwellers in the mountains i the game laws have forced a situation ] that leaves them with their ancient oc- cupation gone, and the hunt being no l longer a source of maintenance it's tra- ditions have departed with it. The newer generation of these people is of other tastes and as19ciations. so while the wild turkey is yet in rro2imity in that Blue mountain region to supply l the material for the festive turkey eat the traditions and associations that made 1t possible are TO more. and it is gone, like the apple cut, the quilting bee, the pig killing frolic and others of the old time rural pastimes that are now but memory. "-New York Sun
 Smyrna Figs.
 Smyrna figs ripen by the beginning of August. They are not picked, but when they reach certain maturity they begin to dry. and consequently they drop on the ground. In the morn ing everyb, dy on the plantations goes around with buckets gathering the fruit, which they carry to certain place where the ground is covered with dry leaves and straw (sergeD and on which they spread the fruit, exposing It to the sun, allowing it te remain there from two to three days It takes about three days to dry the fig if north winds prevail, as the at mosphere Is then very dry. If. how. ever. westerly winds are blowing, which means heavy dew at night, the fruit must remain exposed to the sun from five to seven days. This is a dangerous period. as rain or even q shower might ruin hundreds of tons of fruit lying on the ground Heavy dews sometimes are just as detrimental. The proper atmospheric conditions to insure T crOp of large, sound. rich figs are west winds In June and July. fol- lowed hy north winds in August. and from thcn on an occasional west wind every five or, six dnys