"The Thanksgiving Turkey" by H.C. Dodge (1888)

        THE THANKSGIVING TURKEY

To praise the turkey we SA

        With X T C sublime:

In D D makes Thanksgiving Day

        X L all other times.

His drumsticks R N joyed by tots:

        All A D’s like his breast,                 (1*)

And none B 4 they’ve E 10 lots

        Will C K chance to rest.

His Turk’s cap makes F L O deem            (2*)

        His N M E is right;

His wish bone makes M A den dream

        Of fortune & D light.

So good to E T is that we

        X Q’s our hungry haste

And shout for “more” with N R G

        Till stuffed about the waist.

The carver has no E Z time;

        It is H R B hates,                            (3*)

With per C V rance most sublime

        He fills the M T plates.

In K C doesn’t rightly carve

        And helps us to X S,

At dinner’s N D has to starve

        And P K bone, we guess.

But if he’s Y Z will retain

        The P C likes to get;

We don’t C Y he should refrain

        For N E etiquette.

The turkey is a Noble bird;

        Thanks for him I B stow,

And if this U lo G he heard

        He’d rise, though dead, & crow.

                                        H. C. DODGE

                X-PLAIN-A-TIONS NES-S-A-RY.

(1*) "All ladies like his breast."

(2*) "Makes a fellow deem."

(3*) "It is a job he hates."

                                        New York World.

Columbia Spectator 23(4). November 28, 1888. 52.