Sherry Chandler » A Bartlett’s Thanksgiving
A Bartlett’s Thanksgiving
I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; like those among men who live by sharping and robbing, he is generally poor, and often very lousy.
The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America.
— Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Sarah Bache, 1784
Went out to milk and I didn’t know how,
I milked the goat instead of a cow;
A monkey sittin’ on a pile of straw
A-winkin’ at his mother-in-law.
Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay,
Roll ‘em up and twist ‘em up a high tuckahaw,
And hit ‘em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw.
— American folksong (though I’ve seldom ever heard the lyrics)
Lord, for the erring thought
Not into evil wrought:
Lord, for the wicked will
Betrayed and baffled still:
For the heart from itself kept,
Our thanksgiving accept.
— William Dean Howells, A Thanksgiving
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1 Comment
1. MW replies at 25th November 2005, 12:10 am :
I agree with Ben. I like bald eagles, but I think that the turkey would have made a far better choice for the national symbol. Certainly it would have been unique, in among all the various raptors of other nations.
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