Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-11-20

OdSh OOO1 bCAOAC
- the h ndball
Henry MeLemore. court and swim
ming pool collapsed. -.
And more recently the ties have
been strained by long line OF
American tourists a-whooping and
a-yelling over Westminster Abbey.
and a procession to these shores OF
English authors and lecturers, and
all the impressed pants. monocles
and advanced nasal twangs. |
But through it all, like a brave
barque in high wind, Anglo-Amer-
lean friendship has sailed on. q
Now comes another test. The
test will come on Thanksgiving Day.
and the turkey will be involved.
Not the turkey of the fez. the hey,
the harem, the spire and the almost
impossible neutrality, but the turkey
of the big red comb, the big gobble-
gobble- gobble, the feathers that
make magnificent busters and sue
culent drumsticks.
Thousands of American turkeys
sent to England for the Thanksgiv-'
ing dinners of our soldiers have been
turned over to the English people
as "a small token to mark the
sincere friendship and close CO.
operation between the American
armed forces and the people of the
British Islands.
Theoretically. it's lovely gesture
Our boys are to go without their
turkey and eat the same fare as
the British soldier to show equal
footing. But 1t may not work out
so beautifully. There is a good
chance that the British do not know
how to handle the turkey and that
the day after Thanksgiving British
civilians will be abroad on the
streets, striking our soldiers over the
heads with wings, thighs, necks and
drumsticks.
To the unskilled Britisher the kill
Ing OF turkey is likely to be ire
mendous task. He may elect to
wiring the turkeys neck. Only those
who have tried this know the con-.
sequences. While one is trying to-
wiring a turkeys neck he will give
you abrasions, Commissions and a.
possible conclusion with his wings.
When it comes to a straight right
hand punch or an uppercut, only
Joe Louis is match for a turkey.
In our family plot simple stone
marks the final resting place of a
first cousin of mine who tried to
wiring turkeys neck. A fine, young
boy, cut down in his youth. If he
hadn't tried to wiring the turkeys
neck he undoubtedly would have
gone on to become the owner of
two-pump filling station and mar
ry the rich loan sharks daughter.
The chances are the English will
cook their turkeys the same way
they cook their duck and pheasant
and woodcock and grouse. You
know, Of course, how they do this.
They take the fowl, place him in
a hot oven for between 10 and IS
seconds and then take him out and
serve him.
The result is the rawest thing
since the old burlesque comedians
were IN full swing. To eat English
game is to take the first step to be-
coming a cannibal. All of us Amer
leans know that turkey has to be
cooked and cooked, and then cooked
some more, with mama or Aunt
Bess basting all the while.
When a turkey is ready for eat
ing, the legs fall off with the slight
est tug, the wings yield without a
murmur, and the white meat of the
breast comes off in succulent
chunks. And, turkey skin-well,
when 1t is all crisp and frizzled and
burned and toasted, it makes heav-
ems milk and honey seem like hobo
fare.
And do the English know how to
carve turkey? doubt it. It is
no Job for a beginner, unless the
beginner is serving a family that;
likes to drop on its all-fours and
forage under the table. Even when,
life has gone from it, and when it,
has been cooked for hours, a turkey
still has spirit and resents any ef-
fort to cut it into bits. 1t will fight
back savagely. Many Is the time
that I have seen the most expert
enced carver get smacked across
the jowls with a wing or leg that
would not be subdued.
would say that If Anglo-Ameri.
can friendship survives the turkey,
test 1t will endure until-well. IN.
til the sands of the desert grow cold
That was a song, that Until the
Sands of the Desert Grow Cold" It
dates man, but, shucks, we can't
all be kids.
Distributed BY McNausht Syndicate. IsA y