d sometimes weighing of birds on the barn scales. We
carefully inspected their skins under their feathers, for we sent the
judge a "yellow skin," and never a "blue skin," however heavy.

That autumn there was considerable difference of opinion among us which
young gobbler, out of twenty or more, was the best and promised to
"dress off" finest by Thanksgiving. Addison chose a dark, burnished bird
with a yellow skin; at that time our flock was made up of a mixture of
breeds--white, speckled, bronze and golden. Halstead chose a large
speckled gobbler with heavy purple wattles and a long "quitter" that
bothered him in picking up his food.

Theodora and Ellen also selected two, and I had my eye on one with
golden markings, but of that I need say no more here; as weeks passed,
it proved inferior to Addison's and to Theodora's.

Even as late as October 20, it was not easy to say which was the best
one out of five; at about that time I also discovered that Addison was
secretly feeding his bronze turkey, out at the west barn, with rations
of warm dough. Theodora and I exchanged confidences and began feeding
ours on dough mixed with boiled squash, for we had been told that this
was good diet for fattening turkeys.

When Halstead found out what we were doing, he was indignant and
declared we were not playing fair; but we rejoined that he had the same
chance to "feed up," if he desired to take the trouble.

At the Corners, about a mile from the old Squire's, there lived a person
who had far too great an influence over Halstead. His name was Tibbetts;
he was post-master and kept a grocery; also he sold intoxicants
covertly, in violation of the state law, and was a gambler in a small,
mean way. Claiming to know something of farming and of poultry, he told
Halstead that the best way to fatten a turkey speedily was to shut it up
and not allow it to run with the rest of the flock. He said, too, that
if a turkey were shut up in a well-lighted place, it would fret itself,
running to and fro, particularly if it heard other turkeys calling to
it.

The food for fattening turkeys, said Tibbetts, should consist of a warm
dough, made from two parts corn meal and one part wheat bran. To a quart
of such dough he asserted that a tablespoonful of powdered eggshells
should be added, also a dust of Cayenne pepper. And if a really perfect
food for fattening poultry were desired, Tibbetts declared that a
tablespoonful of new rum should be added t