The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-12-07
THANKSGIVING DAY.
The way the President Observes It-HOu
1t Became an Annual Festival.
Especial Correspondence.l

The Way the President Observes It-HOw
1t Became Annual Festival.
Especial Correspondence
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23.-The mother
of Thanksgiving day was Mrs. Sarah
Josepha Hale of Boston. She was editor
of The Ladies' Magazine, published in
Boston in the sixties. Before that time
occasional celebrations of Thanksgiving
day had been held by proclamation Of
the president, but only when there was
some special occasion for giving thanks.
Mrs. Hale thought the people of the
United States were sighting their duty
She believed they could never give
thanks too often and that once a year
was quite seldom enough. In the col
umns of her magazine she began cru
SADIE in favor of national Thanksgiv-
ing day to be appointed by the presi-
dent Of the United States annually.
The matter was brought to the attention
of President Lincoln prominently in
1864, and he adopted Mrs. Hale's sug-
gestion that year. His proclamation
was intended to be and, in fact, was the
first Of a series of annual proclamatiOns
naming the last Thursday in November
as a day for giving thanks throughout
the nation.
There was "a scattered observance of a
day in November as a day of thanksgiv-
ing before 1864. In fact, during colonial
times Thanksgiving day was a festival.
The fat and toothsOme turkey was not
so much affected then as it is today,
and the chief attractions of a Thanks
giving day menu 100 years ago was
venison. In an account of Thanksgiv-
ing day dinner appearing IN a Connect
cut newspaper in colonial times there IS
a moving account of the whipping of
an Indian because the deer he had sold
to some Of the dignitaries of the colony
for consumption on Thanksgiving was
shot on ''ye Lord S day. Not only was
the Indian whipped. but he was com
PEELED to return to the purchaser the
price of the venison. Having satisfied
their outraged consoiences thus. the
Puritans dined on the venison without
fear of the wrath to come.
On this Occasion-the date was 1713
1t is related of the church services
that ''ye governor was in ye house and
her majesty 3 commissioners of customs,
and they sat together in a high seat of
ye pulpit stairs. Ye governor appears
very devout and attentive, although he
favOrs episcopacy and tolerates ye
Quakers and Baptists. He was dressed
in a black velvet coat bordered with
gold lace and buff breeches, with gold
buckles at ye knees and white silk stock
ings. "
Mr.. Cleveland will not go to church
on Thanksgiving day in white silk
stockings and possibly not in stockings
of any kind. The religious observance
Of Thanksgiving day is less and less
marked every year. Usually the presi-
I, LoT
House or at his country home Mr..
Cleveland is likely to devote a great
part of the day this year to the work on
his annual message to congress. He is
one of the hardest workers in public
life. Sunday is no day of rest for him.
In fact, he knows no such day unless he
is of on a duck shooting expedition, or
hunting for squirrels near Woodley, or
fishing at Buzzards Bay. During the
Harrison administration the White
House clerks rejOiced in the coming Of
the Sabbath, but the seventh day in the
week now IS only less busy than the
other six. It is not a day Of idleness.
Mr.. Cleveland not only works seven
days in the week when there is any
thing to do, but he is very likely to ush-
er in Thanksgiving day in his library
at Woodley, Tor he is an almost inveter-
ate night worker. He finds less inter
rupsion at night, and he often sits at
his desk in the White House until 1 OF
2 O'Clock when he has congress on his
hands.
If Mr.. Cleveland wishes to do so, he
viii dine ca Rhode Island turkey on
Thanksgiving. In the vicinity Of West
erly. R. L, and just over the border in
Connecticut, Is an aggregation Of tur-
key farms, where the latest gobblers in |
the country are raised. Every year the !
latest turkey in the whole of that sec
ton is picked out and sent to Washing |
ton to grace the Thanksgiving dinner /
Of the president of the United States. A
committee of citizens, headed by one of /
the Rhode Island senators. selects the /
turkey and forwards it, expressage paid, !
to Washington. Horace Vose of Wester-
ly has supplied several Of these birds,
and Judge ". H billiard of Stonington
has also been a contributor.
JEROME WOOD.