You can find green string beans at the provisioner's yet, or you can
get them tinned, as you choose. I shall not presume to advise you as
to that, but for the cooking of them I will say a word or two. Boil
them till perfectly tender, then drain well and place them in a pan
with a tablespoonful or more of fine herbs (minced chives or minced
shallot and parsley), with pepper, salt and lemon juice and two ounces
of butter; toss them over the fire till the butter is melted and
serve.
Perhaps this isn't the place to go into a discussion of the
circumstances that have landed us as a nation at a point where we
think we must have turkey on Thanksgiving Day, or be accused of
showing a disrespect for the Declaration of Independence. But some
time the matter will be attacked by somebody who will spend a decade
or so in the Astor Library or the Boston Athenæum to discover who said
"turkey" first and where they said it. Evidently it was said in one of
those voices that are heard around the world and its echoes have not
begun to diminish, so far as my ear can detect, even yet. So turkey it
is, I suppose.