The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-11-24
STORY BY HALE:
R8cOIltilg a Thanksgiving Day
in Paris.
AT TIME OF REVOLUTION
a Gloomy Outlook at FIrst-Word
From Washington-SeC
Turkey.
BY Edward Everett Hale.

By Edward Everett Hale
"GrandDapa. are we not going TO
have Thanksgiving? Philippe says we
are not going to have Thanksgiving.
The boy who spoke was not the
grandson of the old gentleman
whom he spoke to. but he was
sort of grandnephew. The old
gentleman himself was no less
a person that Benjamin Franklin, at
that moment the accredited Minister
of the rebel colonies of America, who
represented them at the court of
France.
But, to tell the truth, at this mo-
ment the court Of France did not want
to have much To do with him. The af-
fairs OF the rebels seemed to be in a
very bad way. Gen. Burgoyne had
swept everything before him. He had
taken Fort Ticonderoga, he had
marched where he chose, and was well
advanced on his way to New York.
Howe, the other English general, had
gone toward the South, had driven the
city, Philadelphia, and had beaten
their great general, George Washing
ton, in battle where Washington had
the choice of ground, and was in the
city of Philadelphia, his ships having
forced their way up the Delaware
river.
Things die not seem in a very good
way for the ''rebels,' or insurgents"
or Sons of Liberty; and the French
Government were by no means so cor
dial to the venerable DR.. Franklin as
they had been at the time when he
arrived in France.
So it was that the old gentleman
smiled with very wan smile, as he
said to the little boy:
why, yes, jeremiah, we will have
a Thanksgiving. We will thank God
that We have bread and butter to eat,
and if we should nave no butter We
will thank Him for the bread"
The child was not satisfied with the
answer. He knew his great-uncle too
we'll to think that this was the last he
should hear and he said:
But the turkey, grandpdpa; are we
not to have any turkey? 1t will not
be Thanksgiving unless we have tur-
key and plum pudding and squash pie
and mince pie"
But the old philosopher shook his
head again and said: Il do not think
we can have any turkey. We cannot
have any turkey while our soldiers are
starving in America. l will tell you
what we will have, jeremiah; we will
have a nice salt Goldfish, one OF the
fish that came the last time that your
father sent me a parcel from Nantes.
Very nice fish they are, and if Philip
pc does not know how to cook them,
you must tell your mother to show him
how. When / was a boy we used TO
call a Goldfish Cape Cod turkey You
can call it Cape Cod turkey now, and
then you shall have turkey for your
Thanksgiving dinner"
The old man tried to smile again
upon the boy, but it was rather a wan
smile, as it was before. And then he
said a little unwillingly, as he always
spoke when he drove away children:
Now you must so. Your cousin is
waiting for me, and must write some
letters that are to go home. Come
again in the afternoon, and we will
settle all about Thanksgiving"
So the little boy had to so off to his
sister and his play with but cold COM
fort from the philosopher. And the
philosopher was as good as his word.
1t is the first remark one makes Of
Franklin, that he united a vein Of
drollery with his wisdom. This went
so far that it showed itself on his face.
and one side of his face seems like
the face of a humOrist, while the other
side is the fact of a philosopher. Rich
ard GreenOugh, the sculptor, made this
discovery, and he has perpetuated it
for pOsterity in that admirable statue
of Franklin which stands in front of
the City Hall, in Boston.
In the afternoon he called the boy
to him again and told him that they
were quite too late for Thanksgiving.
| He said: Thanksgiving day has to
come in November and you have asked
me for Thanksgiving day when it is
| too late for one at the proper time.
| Take care, though, that you are at
| dinner on Thursday on time, with
| your best clothes on, and tell your
| mother that she must have on her best
clothes too, and tell your father that
I shall not hear of his dining with any
| Of his grand friends, so that every
| body must dine at home; and, rs l do
not so into the kitchen often, ask
AtlipI-S N4LdI IlS Can w Win IAAs'N wv
| fish. We will not forget the Cape Cod
turkey"
| Accordingly. everybody in the fam
| lily knew, and indeed only too we'll,
| that the doctor meant that no engage
ments should be made from home for
| that day. All of them respected his
wish in that regard. and in the begin
! ming of the gayeties of Adyent-for
! such gayeties were in Paris az that
| time-everybOdy was certain that he
would be home on Thursday. Il was
| whispered aroung among the Younger