Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1909-06-23
OUR NATIONAL HOLIDAYS.

| OCh NATlONAL HOLIDAYS.
| Every nation for ages has been accus
toned to commemorate the great event.
IN its history, and to honor the memory O.
Its noble men,. by periods OF rejoicing
The national holidays celebrated each
| year BY our own country have been pointed
out as examples of superior significance
interest and character.
The first public Thanksgiving was held
at Plymouth in the autumn Of 1921
Though surrounded by the darkness o.
bitter trial and suffering and in the midst
OF Doundless wilderness, the little band
Of Pilgrim Fathers gave thanks for the
Dountiful harvest given them. General
Bradford, we are told, sent four men to
gathef game that the whole colony might
rejoice together after they had garnered
the fruit OF their labor.
The next year, the feast was repeated,
and the Indian Massasoit and his court
shared in the festivities lasting three days.
The first public Thanksgiving, appointed
by authority in America, was proclaimed
IN Massachusetts Bay colony in 1881.
February q of that year had been APP
pointed as fast day on account of the
scarcity OF provisions, but on the arrival
OF ship laden with food from England
1t was turned into day of Thanksgiving.
:, often there have been special days Of
Thanksgiving appointed, sometimes on
account OF victory won or an ordeal
safely passed. 1t is only recently that it
has become a national holiday yearly APP
pointed by the President and by the gov
ernor of .he states on the last Thursday OF
November. As late as 1868 it fell on Au-
gust 8.
One hundred and fifty-six years after
the landing OF the Pilgrims the greatest
event liz American history was cele brated.
On the second Of July, 1910, the resolution
was passed that "these united colonies are
nf ri oh Nnfpt,t 80 10 g. n
pendent states". This news spread like
wild-fire and July s, 1776, in the yard of
the state house, the birthday of our nation
was first celebrated. There the Declara-
ton of Independence was read by John
Nixon amid the repeated huzzas of a great
crowd of people.
That evening bon-fires were lighted and
bells were rung, thus beginning a custom
which has been followed ever since in our
celebration of the Fourth of July.
One day later, on July 9, the event was
celebrated at New York in a manner di-
rected by General Washington. After this
each recurring Fourth was observed by
the army.
In 1873 this holiday brought great low.
for all prisoners under sentence of death
were pardoned.
The reason the Fourth of July is cele-
brated instead of the second is explained
by the fact that on this day the Declare
ton was signed by all the members OF the
Continental Congress then present.
In 1876 the celebration Of the one hum
dreth anniversary Of the adoption Of the
Declaration Of Independence was held at
Philadelphia.
Adopted shortly after Independence day,
and closely connected with it, is the
birthday Of Washington, the Father Of
our country. He is alone among Ameri-
cans in having his birthday celebrated
regularly and publicly while he was yet
able to participate in the merry-making.
Immediately upon the close of the Revo-
lutionary war, the little town of Alex
andria honored him by making the day of
his birth time for rejoicing. This was
his county town, and he figured promi-
nently in its affairs.
The fashion once set was soon taken by
other towns. While Washington was
President, his birthday was celebrated as
a gala day in whatever city was then CAPT.
tai of our country.
But each year he always tried to be at
Alexandria, February %.
On his last birthday he was at Mt
Vernon, where the festivities attending
the wedding OF his stepdaughter were
going on, but he managed to slip away to
share in the merry making at Alexandra.
During the Civil war there were no
birthday celebrations, but in 1870 they
were again renewed.
elaborate programs arranged for each
alternate year.
Time went on and the young republic,
now grown to a powerful nation. was
divided by great Civil war. Thousands
of Americas sons fell and were laid in
nameless graves. But their memory still
lives, for
The men who die for their country
Have naught to do with the years.
In nd rytIIo h.
ing of the soldiers graves began almost
spontaneously. Thus it took little per-
suasion or effort to initiate Decoration
Day.
In the North, the holiday arose from the
patriotic eEertions OF Genera. Logan, the
eefsirhander- in-chief of the grand army,
n 1865 but In the South the observance
OF the day was secured by the personal eff
forts OF Mrs. Williams, of Columbus,
Georgia, and began earlier; Here it is
even more pathetic anniversary than in
the North. Owing to great difetsnce in
latitude and climate this day is observed
about April 20, instead Of May 80, the date
on which the last soldier of the Union
army was discharged.
On May IL, 1870, at the national en-
campment of the Grand Army of the Re-
public at Washington, d. G., an article
was adopted as a part of the rules and
=
ing "a Memorial Day to be observed an
nually in commemoration of the deeds of
our fallen comrades. Now the day has
naturally come to be one of remembrance,
not only of soldiers but OF all the loved
and honored dead.
An English woman last year discovered
the beauty of Decoration Day. Although
accustomed to parades, pageants and state
solemnities in many lands, when she saw
the blossoms, the waving flags and the
old soldiers marching slowing along with
bowed heads, she exclaimed: When |
think that every year, everywhere in your
country, there are scenes like this, spirit
like this-1 believe have never in my life
seen anything so beautiful"
The depletion of our forests and the
efforts to replant them led to the estab-
fishing of our national Arbor Day. " hen
commercial enterprises began to stir up
after the Civil war, such vast portions of
our timber land were destroyed that had
this devastation continued our forests
would have been utterly ruined.
b. G. Northope foresaw this, and in 1865
suggested an annual planting of trees,
but it proved of little avail. A few years
later, public opinion was aroused on this
subject, and when j. Sterling Morton,
one of our secretaries OF agriculture, pro-
pOsed the setting apart of certain day