Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-22


course. its tirecrackers. it's appalling
list OF casualties to small boys. it's long
winded orators apd its inevitable rain
storm that spells the fireworks in the
evening. With Easter is generally asso-
ciated the lily. the elaborate choral serv
ices in the churches and the bills for the
new spring hats of the feminine members
Of the household. Decoration day has It's
flags and flowers; Labor day its hilarious
parade-and SO on throughout the year.
Turkey and Foot Ball.
But Thanksgiving has two things that
are it's very own to greater degree than
has any of the other holidays-turkey
and foot ball. Or. rather, foot ball and
turkey. OF course, no one forgets the
real spirit of the day, and the wherefore
of 1.-THE rendering of thanks for the
blessings of the past year; thanks that
last years overcoat can be cleaned and
pressed and made fairly presentable;
thanks that the winters supply of coal is
in the cellar: thanks that there's dis
count on the gas bill If paid within ten
days; thanks for this and thanks for
that. and thanks for the other. thing that
might be worse than it is. All that
is taken for granted. But though some
may deny 1t, the two things that make
Thanksgiving day are foot ball and tur-
key.
1t was not like this in the olden days.
Not at all The Puritan fathers had tur-
key. Of course-great, heaping, steaming
platters of choice white meat and
"drumsticks." They also had many things
to be thankful for for which it is really
difficult to see why they should have
been thankful. such as hairbreadth eS-
capes from the Indians, woeful lack OF
cranberry sauce. plum pudding and Its
consequent Indigestion. and an entire day
TO be spent in cold log church in con-
temptation of the dire wages of sim They
even had a certain species of foot ball.
without recognizing it as such. but they
never had that wonderful combination,
foot ball and turkey. They had the funda-
mentaIs of the modern Thanksgiving day
celebration, but never the finished prod
uct.
The Foot Ball Enthusiast.
Foot ball. What a word to conjure with
Thanksgiving day. To many. Thanks
giving day means foot ball and foot ball
Thanksgiving day. The small boy in the
days OF the Puritan fathers was in the
seventh heaven Of delight with his face
buried in the juicy ''drumstick'' of big
turkey gobbler-and he asked for nothing
more. Today the average youngster en-
joys his ''drumstick" and eats ravenously.
but he is in hurry to get on the outside
of his turkey and on the inside of the
foot ball field. In Puritan days the father
went to church In the morning and in the
afternoon and then had little service at
night for his own family. Today the
average grown-up celebrant of the festi-
val may or may not attend church in the
morning. but he is almost certain to be
at the foot ball game in the afternoon.
In a coat OF some heavy material he hops
up and down. first on one foot and then
the other. to keep from freezing. while
two long-haired warriors who pummel
each other according to Hoyle until the
lanky doctor with the neat, innocent
looking brown satchel rushes out on the
field and the city ambulance backs up
to the side lines. The grOwn-up and his
sons and his daughters, and even his wife
sometimes. are foot ball crazy"
Imagine the Puritans giving thanks in
such fashion, No chance! No such thing
as that in their family! And yet If one
il is possible to convince ones self that
the pilgrim fathers did play foot ball
And an enthusiast who. in his younger
days. played the game himself can even
trace the origin of the great Thanksgiv-
ing day game back to his Puritan anCeS-
tors. That is. he can do SO to his own
satisfaction. at least.
One would hesitate, even the most be-
ribboned and 'be-chrySanth rah-
rah'' boy, to state boldly that the stern
New England fathers actually played
foot ball. In none of the historical data
left by them to posterity can any record
bc found of drop kicks. forward pass
less. the foot ball bug was alive in those
days, though still embryonic
Hunting for His Turkey.
It was several centuries ago that Valiant
Goodman, one OF the ancestors, who came
over on the Maynower. was searching for