The Portland daily press., 1897-11-26
THE ALTRUISTIC TURKEY
Ambassador Hays Eulogy on the
Bird.
THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION BY
AMERICANS IN LONDON.
Three Hundred Dine at Hotel Cecil-List
of Toasts a Long, One-Message from
Queen Victoria

OF Toasts n Long, One-Message from
Queen Victoria.
London, November 25, Over 300 Anne
rican men and women and few English
persons celebrated Thanksgiving day by
a dinner at the Hotel Cecil here tonight
The party included Mr.. John Hay, the
United States ambassador, and his wife
tary of the United States embassy; MIR.
j. r.. Carter, second secretary of the en-
| bassy; Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal
| OF Canada; Archdeaoon Sinclair, Mr..
Louis Astor Chandler and Mr.. VIM.
| Futch, the United States minister to
Uruguay. The menu which was one
especially designed for the occasion, was
ornamented with American and British
flags, and over the seat of the chairman
was an enormous eagle. The list OF
toasts was long. The health of Queen Vic
toria was proposed by the chairman who
read letter dated Windsor castle. from
Sir Arthur John Bigge, private secretary
to her majesty, saying:
The Queen desires me to beg that the
American ambassador will be SO good as
to convey to the members of the Ameri
can society in London the expression of
her majesty's sincere thanks for the
beautifully illuminated address of con-
gratulations she received from that
body.
" nave to further assure your excellency
| how deeply the Queen is touched by the
sentiments Of sympathy with the enthu-
| siasm OF her own subjects on the Goth an
niversary of her accession to the throne
which were contained in this address
| from citizens of the United States.
The Hon. Sir John Garrett Barnes,
| justice of the high court of justice, pro-
posed the health of Ambassador Hay,
dwelling upon the great friendliness that
he believed existed between England and
the United States, and saying:,
"If the two countries Will only put
their backs together they can control the
destinIes of the world.'
Ambassador Bay responded with a
| bright speech. He sketched the origin of
the day which, he said, ''in that pathe-
tic thank offering Of our forefathers
when they We're keeping alight the
spark of freedom which was destined to
kindle into such q beacon blaze enlight-
ening and admonishing the world. Some
| of our peculiar institutions, continued
Mr.. Hay, ''thank Heaven. we have lost.
The worst passed away in the tempest
of the war it caused, but this, the most
unquestionably peculiar of all we can
trust to abide with us forever. This is
one of the few things we can do that
offends nobody, threatens no one and
completes with no one. There can never
be too much gratitude in the world.
Seventy millions of voices praising God
together would not justify the addition
of one iron clad to any navy on earth.
Tonight we can hardly be said to be in
a foreign land. A French statesman said
the other day, where is one Frenchman,
there is France So we have 300 good
reasons here to believe we are in Ameri-
ca tonight, and may be pardoned for
speaking of some little things TINT we
care about"
Mr.. Hay then paid an eloquent tribute
to "the unknown, nameless artist who,
in the days of early New England, first
brought to perfection the pumpkin pie -
He endorsed Benjamin Franklin's sug-
gestion that the turkey should be the ma
tional emblem instead of the eagle, ''who.
with aristocratio profile, loud voice and
predatory disposition, hardly commends
himself as the emblem of modest, indus
trious and conscientious democracy,
while the turkey, like a true Altru1st,
exists only for the good of others and
perishes by thousands yearly for the
public welfare.
In concluding his speech, Mr.. Hay
enumerated the causes for uhankfulness,
and said: "We are thankful that we
speak English; or il our friends on this