The Yale expositor., 1908-11-20

niSheS the
number of killed, in 3
jured and MANNED as
result Of Fourth of July
fireworks celebrations,
but Thanksgiving cas-
uaities from overeating
are never tabulated 10
So be careful lest AMIN
such plan should be lNIU
put into operation and TH$M
you and yours forced WlW
INTO the spotlight of
publicity because you gave thanks in too
hearty manner. Indications a few DAVIS
Deiore the memorable holiday suggested
no corner in the turkey market in the
middle west, and for that reason the king
PIN OF the Thanksgiving meal was attain. a
aDle among those who perhaps a year
ago were not so fortunate when the
birds were higher in price.
With over S0,000000 persons giving
thanks-perhaps 100000 don't know
Why-ln these United States there are
oOOo'OOO turkeys consumed on Thanks.
Giving day The preparation of the birds n,
Tor the table is one of the country's great II
industries for several months before the
gruDtest takes place. Roast pig. duck
geese and chickens are also sandwiched
In as Thanksgiving deicacies. and their
preparation for market and the festive
board Is also big proposition to the
men who do the work
SlXty-seVen years ago the 30th of No. I
vember was the first Thanksgiving dav
ever appointed for and observed in Chi.
cago; observed, be 1t said, by the people
generally There probably were in the
population of between 1000 and soon
souls as many New Englanders as there
were New Workers or Pennsylvanians or
onioans or southerners, and some among -
those from New England remembered
the old home custom of giving snec,al
thanks and spreading an extra bountiful m,
on the last Thursday in November ond ,
vately observed it. But by the large major
OF the inhabitants 1t was entirely ignored
possibly by the most it was wholly unkno,
The New England influence. however was 4
most active OF any and soon was the controll
element. In 1871 it was sufficiently virile
introduce and establish the annual Thankse
ing as an institution.
Sixty-four years are but few in the life of
institutions OF city or country, but in {
case the period carries one back to within
years of the incorporation of Chicago.
In 1S41 the fifth mayor Francis C. Sherm
was in the chair of municipal state. nat
of Connecticut, he was of Puritan ances
and had been brought up in reverence of
religious and social customs of New Engla
He came to Chicago In 1884, when the lega
organized town was one year old, and at OF
started in the business of keeping a boa
ing house. The first year he was in this bl
ness he observed the Connecticut Thanksgiv
by giving his boarders the first Thanksgiv
dinner ever provided in Illinois.
To mat ha bod 81
education-he betimes sent to Buffalo for |
rel of good apple cider, which was frequen
used on this occasion
But this humble occupation of boardi
house Boniface did not content him for 10
He had worked at brickmaking In Connect
and just then good bricks were much nee,
in Chicago and he was just the man to sup
them There was available clay without go
farther for it than to where Adams and Mar
streets now cross each other and there he-
I'D his kiln. The first good house made of
bricks was his own. 1t was built in Il
street, near Clark. He had now become
leading citizen. He took a good citizens
terest In public affairs and had political In
enee.
Yhis Puritan born, this giver of the 4
Thanksgiving dinner in Chicago, waited
four years till he took his turn in the ma!
atty.
And he made his occupancy of the of
memorable by ordering his official clerk, Tn
as Hoyne, to draw up the first proclamat
Of a public Thanksgiving ever seen in the W
mayor Sherman's Thanksgiving" as
majority of the citizens derisively called
was gladly observed by every New Engl
family in the place, but that was the ext
Of its observance. Christmas was alread,
greater day in New York than Thanksgiv
ard in the other Atlantic states out of
England and in the southern states Thar
living was mostly unknown. Settlers II