Gilpin observer., 1909-11-18

The foreigners connected with the RE
different legations look Thanksgiv-
ing as being peculiarly American holiday,
and it is the truth that at some of the en-
bassies there is a more marked recognition of
the day than there is in the households of
Washington Americans whose Pilgrim fore
fathers set the example of giving thanks for
the harvest home.
President Taft is of New England ancestry
and the celebration of Thanksgiving in the old
and approved style of New England is to him
not only matter of pleasure, but of duty.
The president goes to church Thanksgiving
day morning Just as all other presidents before
him have gone to church on the holiday since
custom established 1t that the chief executive
should urge the people in public proclamation
to get together for praise offerings 1t would
not do for president to decline to follow the
advice that he has given the people.
For great many years presidential fami-
lies have eaten Rhode Island turkeys for their
Thanksgiving dinner. The Taft family follows
precedent in most things. 1t isn't, perhaps
that Rhode Island turkeys are better than In
diana turkeys, or Oklahoma turkeys or the
turkeys Of any other state. but gentleman
named Vose who lives down in Rhode Island,
has made 1t practice for years to fatten a
special turkey for White House consumption.
The bird that goes to the presidents table
never weighs less than 25 pounds.
About five years ago the Rhode Island tur-
key gift to the White House caused something
of sensation. 1t not the birds fault
however. Before the turkey is shipped from the
Rhode Island breeding ground to the White
House, 1t is killed and plucked. This fact di0
not prevent the publication of story in cer-
tain newspaper. story which aroused the ire
of President Roosevelt to such extent that
he issued warm statement that could in no
wise be called a second Thanksgiving procla-
nation.
An eastern newspaper declared in its COL
rkay NJ
the White House, alive and kicking and that
Theodore Roosevelt turned 1t loose in the loe
back of the executive mansion and allowed hts
children to rum the bird to death, catching it
now and then. and plucking from it. wing and
tan feathers. only to loose the bird once more,
and TO go on again with the chase.
This story of cruelty to animals charged
against himself and Kermit, Archibald and
Quentin made the president mad. There is no
other word to be used. He forbade access to
the White House Offices and to the various de-
partments of government to the correspond
ents of the offending paper. How the story
originated, no one ever knew, for the turkey
was dead and cold long before It left it's native
turkey yard. 1t is supposed that some one told
It a joke and that the newspaper corre-
spondent took 1t seriously. At any rate one
Thanksgiving turkey some days after 1t had
passed from life gave the country something to
talk about for a week.
like the Thanksgiving dinner in the homes OF
most good Americans who are able to buy a
dinner OF holiday proportions. The president.
his wife and children. eat roast turkey with
stufing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and
other vegetables, and wind up with pumpkin
pie.
1t Is entirely probable that the presidents s
wife has to watch the cook when the pumpkin
pie making is In progress, and be especially
watchfui II the cook was born and raised in
Washington. There Is a firm conviction in the
minds OF all District of Columbia people that a
squash and pumpkin the same thing.
Ask for pumpkin pie in Washington restau-
rant and they give you squash pie, and II you
are courageous enough to protest. you will be
told that there is no difference between squash
and pumpkin. and the Information will be CIV
en- you with an air OF pity for benighted igno-
rance. The wise Washingtoninn who has gone
to the capital from other sections. invariably
imports his own pumpkins, for II one Is or.
ably turns up in the kitchen. The New Eng.
lander holds that no Thanksgiving dinner is
complete without the pumpkin pie. President
Taft knows a pumpkin when he sees It.
It has been said that the foreigners, the am
bassadors the ENJOYS extraordinary, the min.
listers plenipotentiary and all the attaches of
the different legations give heed to Thanksgiv.
tng day. An American secretary of state who
hailed from New England once said that the
foreigners rejolced In Thanksgiving because 1t
gave them q chance to eat all the turkey that
they wanted to without feeling that they were
called on to give excuse for overfeeding.
The foreigners love turkey. 1t is the one 81.
mon-pure American institution to which they
have sworn allegiance. The turkey Is an Amer
bcap bird and while 1t Is found in Europe, It is