The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1891-11-27
FREDERICK w. BAKER, Editor.
Thanksgiving Day,

On yesterday occurred one of our annual
legal holidays-ThanksgiYing Day. 1t is at
once social and religious festival observ-
ed in the United States and particularly in
New England since the earliest settlements
in the country. Whether the observance of
this day was suggested by the Hebrew feast
of tabernacles, or "feast of ingathering at the
end Of the year," or was custom brought
over by the Pilgrim Fathers from Holland,
We cannot tell. We know that the occasion
al observance of day of Thanksgiving for
mslly recommended by civil authority was
not unusual in Europe, and such day was
observed in Leyden, Holland, October Sd,
1875, that being the first anniversary of the
deliverance Of that city from siege.
In 1908 the pilgrim church, exiled from
England, went to Holland and remained there
until 1920, when it sent the Msyffower colo
ny to New England. After the first harvest
of the Plymouth colonists in 1881, Governor
Bradford sent four men out "fowling," that
they "might after more special manner re-
joice together" that is, in the replenishing of
the larder. This incident has been we'll il
Illustrated in the Thanksgiving number of Har-
per's Bazdr for this year, and the faces of
the four old pilgrims have look of stern de-
termination that bodies no quarter to the
birds. After this we find constant reference
in the records of those early days to civil ap-
pointments of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. for
the arrival of ships laden with men and pro-
visions, reviving the dropping spirits of the
suffering colonists, but generally they were
for the harvest and were held in the late au-
tumn or early winter. During the Revolu-
ton the day was a national institution, being
annually recommended by Congress, but af-
ter the general thanksgiving for peace in
1884 there was no national appointment until
1889 when President Washington, by the re-
quest of Congress, recommended day of
thanksgiving for the adoption of the Consti-
tuition. Washington issued second thanks
giving proclamation in 1895 on account of
the suppression of instruction. President
Madison, by request of Congress, recommend
ed Thanksgiving for the peace of 1915.
President Lincoln issued national proc
lamation of Thanksgiving Day in 1868 and
1884. Since that time such proclamation
has been issued annually by the President as
well as by the Governors of States and May
ors of the principal cities. Custom seems to
have fixed the time for the last Thursday in
November.
The book of Common Prayer of the Pro-
testsnt Episcopal Church, ratified in 1889,
contains service for this occasion entitled,
"a form of prayer and thanksgiving to Al
mighty God, for the fruits of the earth, and
ell the other blessings of His merciful Provi-
dence, to be used the first Thursday in No
vember, or on such other day as shall be ap-
pointed BY the civil authority"
"A cyclone passed over this part of the
country on Monday between twelve and one
o'clock. A section of the stone balustrade
around the roof of the White House at Wash
ington was blown down. 1t struck the roof
of the east portico and wrecked it complete
ly. The inmates were much alarmed but no
one was injured. A large gas reservoir op-
posite the War Department was struck by
lightning aad the gas set on fire. 1t blazed
from the opening as if from huge burners.
The reservoir contained 100000 feet of gas,
all of which was burned. For twenty min
utes Baltimore city also had shaking up.
c. s. Maltby & Co.'S packing house on Falls
avenue was wrecked, injuring several persons.
The hurricane likewise passed over Hartford
county but did little damage. At York, Pa,
part of the roofof st. Paul's Lutheran Church
was torn off and many persons made narrow
escapes from the flying slate. The storm was
also felt along the coast and as far south as
Mississippi