Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-11-27
THANKSGIVING DAY.

How 1T VIII be Observed in Savannah
Services in the Churches
Secular Features of the Day-Where
the Lovers of Outdoor Recreation May
Enjoy Themselves-SOme Thanks
giving Day History.
Thanksgiving day, mex to Christmas,
has become perhaps M of the most gen
orally observed holidays of the year. In
obedience to the prOclamatious from the
national. State and municipal govern
ments, there will be a general suspension
Of business in Savannah. The banks, the
Cotton Exchange and Board OF Trade,
the city and government offices, except
the post Office, where Sunday hours will
he observed. and business houses generally
viii he closed. The courts adjourned
Yesterday until Friday. The presses of
the Savannah Cotton Press Association
will shut down, and the freight depart
ment of the Savannah, Florida and Wes-
tern and the Charleston and Savannah
Railways that it will be closed
after 10 O'Clock this morning.
In several of the churches Thanksgiving
services will be held. At the Lutheran
Church the Methodist, Baptist and Pres
byterian congregations will unite in a
union service at II O'Clock, when the pas
tor Of Trinity Church, Rev. T. T. Chris
tian, will preach a Thanksgiving sermon.
At St. Johns Church there will be SER
vice and sermon by the rector, Rev.
Charles II. Strong. at IL O'Clock. Service
will be held at the same hour in Christ
Church, when the rector, Rev. Thomas
Boone, will preach, and also in st.
Matthew's Chapel and St. stephens
Church. At the Lutheran Church the col
lection will be donated to a cOlOred con-
~gregatiOn on Dawfuski Island Tor the re-
building Of a church destroyed by the
great storm Of 1881.
The afternoon will be devoted largely
to big dinners and secular amusements.
At the Schuetzen Park the championship
contest between the Chatham ard Forest
City Gun Clubs for the LigOwsky medal
promises to be one Of the most
entertaining features of the day.
The first car will leave West Broad
street at 10 O'Clock. The shooting will
commence soon after the arrival OF the
outward bound train at the park. The
shooting will be at ID yards rise for dou-
BILE and Is yards rise on single pigeons.
The matches, five in number. Will take
place in the following order:
First-The contest for the Ligowsky medal.
Second-IndIvidual sweepstakes, open to the
members of both teams.
Third-Team sweeT stakes, three men to a
team participating.
Fourt~h-Individual sweepstakes.
W NGEoAAhNGs AAtANCA - w AANn
to each team.
The annual meet of the Savannah BIZ
cycle Club will also take place to-day.
The club will rendezvous in the Park eX-
tension at 9 O'Clock this morning, and
after a parade and drill will make the run
over the shell road TO White Bluff, where
an oyster roast will be had. The return
will be made before noon, when the regu-
Iarrun will bemade to ThunderbOlt, where
the club will be served with a fish dinner.
Messrs. John NJ. Horton and William
A. Taylor. of the Macon club, will be the
guests of the Savannah club during the
dav. The entire Macon club was expect
ed to join in the meet, but, owing to bust
ness engagements, its members were un-
able to come. The club will be led by
Capt. A. H. MacDOnell and Lieut.. Turton,
who has just returned from the North,
and will be accompanied by several men,
bers on horseback, who are without
wheels.
At 3 O'Clock the Savannah Cadets Will
parade in the Park extension n will
drill in fatigue uniform.
The Branch Rifle Club will celebrate its
anniversary with a shooting contest at
COncOrdia Park this afternoon and a sup
per at Kaufmann's tonight.
The usual hunting and fishing eXcur-
sions will be general, and many left last
night for the marshes and rivers and
others VIII leave bulS MORNING.
The City and Suburban Railway Will
run a special schedule of trains to Mont
gomery and Isle of Hope to accommodate
those who will visit these popular resorts.
The observance of Thanksgiving day as
a religious festival was suggested by the
Hebrew Feast of Tabernacles, or feast
of ingathering at the end of the year." In
this country it is particularly a New Eng
land festival, and dates from Colonial
times. After the first harvest of the Colo
nists at Plymouth in 1921, the GOvernOrOf
the Colony sent four men out fOwling, at
that they 'Emight after a more special
manner rejoice together" The
occasional observance Of a day of
thanksgiving, formally recommended by
civil authority. was not unusual IN
Europe. There are records in Massachu-
setts of the official appointment of days
of Thanksgiving in Massachusetts, Bay in
1888 and 1859, sometimes of more than
one day in the same year, and IN Ply
mouth in 1850, when the fOrm-Of recon-
mendatiOn indicates that it had become
an annual custom. During the revo-
luton Thanksgiving day was a national
institution, annually recommended by
Congress: but after the general ~thanksgiV-
ing for peace in 1874 there was no national
appointment until 1889. when President
Washington recommended, by request
Of Congress a day of thanksgiving for
the adoption OF the constitution. SuDSe-
quent appointments of Thanksgiving days
were made by other Presidents, until the
proclamatiOns have become annual. The
prayer book of the Episcopal Church
recommends for a day of Thanksgiving
the first Thursday in November, unless
another day is appointed by the civil
authorities. There has been an occasional
recommendatiOn-by other religious bodies,
and various local customs prevailed in
different parts Of the country, but the first
recommendation by a State government
was in 1917 by Gov. Clinton, of New
York. Its adoption by Southern States
was much later. In 1855 Gov. Johnson,
of Virginia. recommended a day, but, two
years later. Gov. Wise beng requested to
do so, publicly declined because I'M
authorized to interfere in religious mat
tiers. The next year, in 1858, Thanksgiv-
ing prOclamatiOns were issued by the Gov
ernOrs of eight Southern States, and since
the war the day has been almost univers-
ally observed.
SHIT AGAINST CENTRAL.