The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-28
A DAY OF THANKSGIVING.
The Origin and Observance Of the
Annual Holiday.

the War-The Hardness With Which
the Feast Gained FoothoId in the
south-Why the Puritans Leaned 70
Il.
Washington. Nov. 26-WashingtOnt takes
kindly 70 Thanksgiving day In fact, it
takes kindly 10 any sort OF holiday which
closes the departments and gives an extra
tine Of idleness and ease 70 the more or
less overworked clerks and employees.
| These people are always pleased 70 get a
day Of. and have never been known 70
hold meetings and adopt resolutions Of re-
/ gret touching the death Of an ex-cabinet
officer when il served as a pretext 70
/ close the department or departments over
/ which he once presided. In this regard
/ ex-seCretaries have long been looked upon
| in the light Of a boon
It is only since the war that Thanks
| giving daT has become an esta Olished in
| stitutiOn in this city and a national holt
! day. II originated amid the black hills
I and sterile valleys Of the old Bay State,
and from there spread first over New
! England and then over the new western
! states, which were settled by the hardy
! sons Of New England. II slowly pene-
! trdted the Potomac and the Ohio, until
| now 10 IS recognized and welcomed from
/ Maine 70 Oregon and from Florida to Cal
! lf0rnia. l pom the shores Of the Gulf as
well as upon the lakes, by the banks Of
| the Suannee as on the Merrimac, there
| is homecoming and feasting on the last
| Thursday in November.
SCENES or THE DAY.
The scenes Of this day are very differ
| ent from those when the first formal
! Thanksgiving was had in this country.
| upon the completion of the first harvest
| at Plymouth 2T2 years ago, when Gov.
| Bradford sent out four fOwlers in search
| Of game that they might after more
| special manner, rejoice together" They
killed a great deal more game in one day
| than forty fowlers could probably kill in
| Massachusetts, now in a month. In fact
| they killed enough to serve the entire
| settlement for week. and in addition 10
| enable them to entertain the great and
| friendly Indian king Massasoit. who,
after the manner Of the aborigines, came
TO help eat up the provisions Of the pale
| face. The pilgrim fathers were more
| given to fasting than feasting, wherein
| they differed from their descendants.
ORIGIN or THE DAY.
The custom Of setting aside a day every
! year for the rendering of thanks is said
| to have originated with level headed
| old farmer who, when it was proposed in
| the assembly to name another fast day,
took the floor and told his fellow as
| semblymen in very plain terms that he
! believed that God was weary Of their
complaints in view of the fact that he
| was causing the earth TO reward their
| labor, had filled the seas and rivers with
! fish; had made the air sweet and the
climate healtnful, and was permitting
them the full enjoyment of civil
and religious liberty. He therefore pro
posed that instead of fasting, day of
thanksgiving and feasting should be
thereafter proclaimed, which sensible
suggestion was unanimously adopted.
Whether this story be truth or tradition,
the fact remains that by 1880 it had be-
come the fixed custom for the governors
of the colonies Of Plymouth and Massa-
chusetts Bay to appoint a thanksgiving
day late in the autumn of every year, a
usage that soon extended over New Eng
land, and finally over the entire United
States.
SLOW IN COMING SOUTH.
It was rather slow, however, in making
its way in the south where Christmas
was the great Christian festival So &C
customed was that section TO the obserV-
auce Of this custom that il was regarded
as late as 1855 as a remarkable event in
Virginia when Gov. johnson recon-
mended the observance of a Thanksgiving
day. Two years later Gov. Wise refused
to appoint one on the ground that he had
no authority to interfere in religious mat
tiers. During the revolution congress an
nually recommended a general Thanks
giving day. Washington claimed one in
in 1889 on the adoption CT the constitution,
and another in 1895 for the suppression
of the whisky instruction in
Western Pennsylvania. Madison pro
claimed one for peace with England in
1915. After this Abraham Lincoln was
the first President to proclaim a Thanks
giving day, which he did in 1862 and 1868
for war victories, and in 1854 for general
blessings. His example of that year has
been annually followed by each of his
successors and by nearly every governor
of state.
WHY THE PURITANs FAVORED 1T.
PROFESSIONALLY one reason which
, caused Thanksgiving day to obtain so
, strong a hold upon the affections of the
Puritans and their descendants
was the disesteem in which they held
Christmas, and in which many of them do
to this day. Thanksgiving day came as a
most welcome substitute for the cheerful
hilarity peace and good will with which
Christmas is always associated. The
people of the United States have been
i really the gamers by this, because they
have now two holidays where they had
but one before
The observance of the day IN Washing
7 ton does not differ materially from its
observance IN the OJler CltleS OF the
5 union. Failing, as it does, Just before
2 the annual assembling of congress- most
of the senators and representatives OBJ
serve the day at home. President and
Mrs. Cleveland will eat their thanksgiv-
ing turkey-by the way, Thanksgiving
would hardly notwithstanding without a
tnrkey-at the white house. The fowl
which viii grace the white house ia BILE
S will be a monster gobbler from Prince
Y Georges county, and has been specially
fattened for the delectation of the presi
Dental household.
GoRMAN's GoBBLERs.
1t has been rumored that Senator Cor
, man, who is famous for the magnificent
: turkies he raises upon his estate near
Laurel, Md, will provide the gobbler for
the Presidents first Thanksgiving dinner
of his second term Vice President and
Mrs. Stevenson will observe the day al
! their home in Bloomington, Ill whittier
they went some days ago to attend the
! wedding of their son. Secretary and
Mrs. Gresham will enjoy the
? hospitalitics of the Arlington.
a hostelrY famous for it's cuisine Score
tary Carlisle, Secretary Herbert. Post
master General Bissell, Secretary Smith
and Secretary Morton will all observe
Thanksgiving at their homes inrthis city
Secretary Lamont will 20 to New York