Fierce joy at the feast

"Ready for Thanksgiving Feast'' (oil on canvas), by J.C. Leyendecker (1874–1951), at the National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, R.I. This kid's family was presumably very happy that World War I had ended on Nov. 11, 1918. But in part because of ill-considered, revenge-seeking peace treaties signed in 1919, there would be another, even worse, world war in 20 years. Perhaps the boy who was the model for the one here would fight in it. Perhaps he'd look back longingly at the family feasts of his childhood as he ate his Army K-rations.

This turkey, raised before big-time agribusiness, would never pass muster now -- too skinny, not enough steroids and antibiotics.

Image courtesy of, and copyrighted by, American Illustrators Gallery, New York, N.Y., 2016.

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