Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-11-29

H-T h IlE~@ ". w p
H YE+lSAN ! THANKSGIVING IN
MI W IREA y their ear and hear
VI ! u HLEA them howl .sWhen
Nj E1EA V you come to Nor-
.Sfsr1 usnhHIsfN wich-that quaint
=. .SfM" Connecticut town
what will the
boys tell you taers?
"Roas. turkey AID 'fxil's'n you will
say, and the bays will look at you and
grin. Then go up to them softly and
whisper ThauKsgiving-and then?
"Bsrrelsl"
Tnsrs what It is. Barrels. Turkey
a;sI I'D oaiEs.s sfter1sId.
as early rs the first day of October the
Norwich boy begins to MAKE plans for
Thanksgiving dSyy and mis- dtst aId Gen.
trzl fancy INKS 10 barrels. From hat
tine on TO the testivl! no Man's barrel is
cafe n NJrWich.
An evil EpiTi. seems 20 po5aess II. II q
bog passes IL ii the sooeres! style IN the
world, Il he SO much IS casts one CO.
quoting sidelorg glance that way, In
s:snily the barrel begins to dance and
rattle, and /! NO one is watching and the
youngs:er Iu5s up agsinSt il, 1t gives q
sudden nor, topples over On It's side sad
scUrri5s away. OF course the boy hiss 10
follow it TO kick 1t straight when it gets
sskaw on its rumbiing course and 20 keep
IL from prancing sgsinst pedestrians; and
it invariably happens taat TIE 55y has TO
drive 1t into its lsir before il will suo-
nit TO government. There IS little
use cf attempting 10 control a
barre! after II has contracted the
Thanksgiving lever, and me owner looks
forward resignedly TO It's inevitable de-,
sersloa from him. I.looks very singular
to Stranger coming iato this town at
this season OF toe yesr 80 see barrels roll.
Ing CT in every direction, and staid citi-
zsns skipping nimbiy and gocd>humored-
IL cut CT the wsy OF the procession. He
Cannot account for the phenomenon.
Perhaps he ig curious enough to try
Snd Ind cut. But the Norwich BOY Is up
to snus.
"Say, sonny" the stranger asks,
"Hhat's up? Where are you going with
all these barrelsP"
Ard the boy replies, innocently:
"Nothin's up, mister. The barrel don't
b'lolg to nobody nor nothin'. Found it
loose up the street and run it in. Ssy,
there, Jimmy, give her lift. Let her
90, Gallagher"
And with uhoop the whole company
are CT, kicking the whirling things
swiftly into the darkness Of side street.
These youngsters ere systematic.
IRE work ct collecting the b1oty is
marked from .he opening Of the cam
raign TO its flaish by thorough discipline
and organization and s hearty respect Tor
the rights Of each squsd. FIRST, sll the
hoys in town array themselves into about
4 dean independents brigades, and each
force Is duly empowered 70 lock after the
barrel in It's own precinct, ard an un-
written IaR tbXt is at least 200 years old
Fo-b!ds the bands TO trespsss on terri
tory not assigned to them. The largest
SQUADS are thus placed: One at Bean
Hill, the ancestral home Of President
Clsyelsnd, whose grandfather WAS bar
raj burner; one ST Norwich Town, two st
the Falls, sRo e. the West Side, enc st
Jail Hill, in the center Of the city, one at
Laurel Hill, one at GreeEvilie, and the
rest are scattered about il the suburbs.
EscA bsnd has & hicing place for its COL
lection, called the "Home Base" and to
each is assigned the hill on which the
stacks are 20 De burned. The prelimin-
ary srrsng emeuts completed, the boys go
TO " * with vii to get their barrels
together.
Suppose they had 20 do this. How
they would groTl.
TIE custom OF burning bonlres on
Thanksgiving night is peculiar to this
town, sad It's origin is Inst in the obscu.
rity CT early colonial tradition. Il WAS
old when Benedict Arnold WAS boy.
and INFO the sport he entered with char
scter.stic iupstuosity and wIltulress.
II is mentioned in the first chronicles Of
Norwich; and Miss Csulkins, & local his
sorlsr, describes s fiery encounter be-
tween Bee edics and solemn constable
who undertook to rob him of his barrel,
n which Arnold stripped # his coat and
cared the big man to fight. Many ST
tenpts have been made bY local antigua
risns to trace the custom TO its source,
bat v.inly; the only plsusiole explanation
essays to connect 1t with practice that
prevailed in the hill towns Of the Massa'
Chusetts colony OF burning bush fires
early in November TO celebrate the mig
Carrsge OF the Guy FawKes guDpowder
plot. 1. WAS suspected that ss Thanks.
giving WAS appointed az thSt period st
about November the custom attached
itself to Thanksgiving, afser its original
Iutent was lost, and that it WAS imported
into this town by tie fnt settlers q
Iis.!e af!eE the middle OF the seventeenth
century.
But the Msssal husetts rite differs i'm
porssnt from the Norwich spirit in that
brush was burned instead OF barrel stacks.
There Is nothing l.que about brush BON
dzes, which were common among the
apcieuy BrI.ous and Scots, but barrel
FIRE IS an elabosste and startling creation,
& pfoduct OF the juvenile genius Of
Snciers Norwich.
Boys, think Of 1t. Think Of hunting,
hcuting for dsys together, for barrels
Think OF the work, and 1t takes work
Bat then, IT'S great fun, you ssy.
So !! is.
To make lofty and successful barrel
bonfire demands native tsct, talent and
Constructive abilities. The first thing is
to get the pole about which the barrels
Sre 70 be strung like giant beads, and this
usually Is cut .Dd peeled few days be-
fore the forthcoming ceremony. A slim,
straight hickory, free from knots and moi
less t1sn city or sixty feet high Is select,
ell il the forest snd after It has been
trimmed Snd denuded Of lis bark 1t Is
trsiled into town 81 the heels Of dozen
sturdy boys. Ga Thanksgiving Day morn
ing il is drawn u the sp'x Of the hill
on which It is - DO daty, thereon scores
h.-o ~ hand