The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 28, 1895, Page 1

S\ VOLUME LXXVIIL—NO. 181. SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 28, 1895. PRICE FIVE CENTS. ates the feast with | isters the family anberries and the r. When our Puri- t wise and well to r the benefits show- did they think that 3 their day of great. | p to the Creator of every good g, would be turned into 8 \ting football ng the youths whose muscle pose of d: on and whose halfback was days the family 1 that was in et at the | flintlock 1 men who might deem it In those long departed itan there was a in the administra- but that did not les- y of the occasion, nor did es that so often gc- tion o re curred ir pof old New Eng- land who salvation of | our cour 1s are the best | i | er the battles of revolution- | ary and civil war have been fought and the smoke of sirife has cleared away, we are prone to forget the si ons under | dined on that day of he ences under were compelled to make the e but st-of a land of plenty and content imptuous repast and greatly | action of our appetites give Most High Ruler, whose r might and for who: our ancestors er. inconveni memories now, and in the r we sit at our to the sati thanks to g ess is bountiful gifts we this day give thanks, o So may it be. st S, ORIGIN OF THANKSGIVI! The Puritans of Old Piymouth Are Directly Responsible. In the year 1621, about a year after the 1 i nded from the Mayflower, Governor Bradford, seeing that the fields had been tilled and made to bring forth their crops and that the land had been made to bear fruit, was moved to show God that the pecple were full of thanks and good will for the bounteous harvests and his protection. He wrote of the work and he resulits and the final thanksgiv- ing in these words: | ne now to gather in the small | ey had and to fitte up their houses | 1 against winter, being all | yvered in health and strength, and s in good plenty: for as some were thus employed in affairs abroad | others were exercised in fishing about codd | and and other fish, of which they took | d store, of which every family had their portion. All the somer there was no waste. And now began to come in | store of foul and a great store of wild wurkies, of which they took many, besides venison, etc.”” By this time the crops had been gathered in, and the Christian Gov- ernor sent men out among the fowls with instructions to gather and kill enough for a feast of thanksgiving. The soldiers thus into the forests came -back with game , and the Indians accompanied by their mighty chief Massasoit came to the homes of the Pilgrims to the number of ninety, and the red men were entertained for three days. ‘Chey went again into the forests and the hills and came back with five deer, which were added to the feast after having been bestowed upon the Gov- ernor and Captain Miles Standish. Thus the first Thanksgiving was brought toa close, and the next was held in July, 1623 A long and severe droughthad prevailed in which the grass and corn were dried up by the hot weather and the Governor ap- pointed a day of fasting and prayer, and as the Pilgrims prayed ‘‘soft, sweet and moderate showers’ fell lasting some two weeks. The fasting was then changed into a day of thanksgiving, and God was showered with the gratitude of his devoted followers. : And so it was that the Pilgrims gave | e thanks for the many things for which they felt they were indebted to the Creator, | but there were lapses of time during which no regular ceremony was held, all of which was greatly due to the condition of the crops or the people generally, or else the result of unchanged conditions during the months or years of time not occupied by thanksgiving observances. In the Ply- mouth Colony Thanksgiving days were named by the Governors in 1651, It and 1620, and in the Massachusetts Bay Colony similar obse: vances were held in 1633, 1634, 1637, 1638 and 1639. The colony and pro- vince of New York was not without its | days of praise and prayer. he Dutch | Governors proclaimed such days between 1644 and 1664. The English Governors did not follow this custom established by their predecessors until 1760. Throughout the Revolution Congress annually rezom- mended days of thanksgiving. In 1784 after the terrors of war had ceased to occur and Washington had led the colonists to | victory and to perpetual freedom, he an- nounced that there would be a day of gen- eral praise for the return of peace and liberty. In 1789 the constitution of the Upited States was adopted and another day of rejoicing and feasting was ap- ‘: pointed by President Washington. —_——— FIRST NATIONAL FEAST. The Father of His Country Prepared the Proclamation. In 1795 the ability of the United States to carry on its own zovernment and lay the foundation of the grandest common- wealth in the world became apparent to such an extent that the peonle, vigorous with the new blood of a young Nation, made mighty strides in the channels of commerce leading to all parts of the civil- ized world. Her vast and yet undiscov- ered resources were being developed each | year and her people, being a freedom- | loving, Christian race of inhabitants, the | necessity of a more general and National day of Thanksgiving was thought to be a | wise plan by General George Washington, | | whose previous acts had demonstrated the | wisdom of the soldier and the statesman. | He was the supreme executive head of a | | growing Nation that had burst the chains | pursuits; to dispose us to merit the con- of bondage and were, by theirown acts and | tinuance of his favors by not abusing | the spilling of precious blood, free men. while other nations were tottering in civil war and international strife. Washington saw the depth of peace and contentment that reigned in the United States, and he | accordingly issued the first National | Thanksgiving proclamation, the preamble of which read: *“‘When we review the calamities that afflict many other nations, the present con- | dition of the United States affords much matter of consalation and satisfaction. Our exemption hitherto from foreign war, | an increasing prospect of the continuance of that exemption—the greatest degree of internal tranquillity we have enjoyed; the | recent confirmation of that tranquillity by | the suppression of an insurrection which wantonly threatened it; the happy course of our public affairs in general; the unex- ampled prosperity of all classes of our citi- zens—are circumstances which peculiarly mark our situation with indication of the divine bepeficence toward us. In such a state of things, it is in an especial manner | our duty as a people, with reverence and | affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our | many and great obligations to Almighty | God ‘and to implore him to continue and ‘ confirm the blessings we experience.” | i America was steadily forging to the front, | President Washington, in view of ail these obligations, so sincerely set forth, recommended- to all persons whatsoever within the United States to observe Thurs- day, the 19th day of February, as a day of thanksgiving and- prayer. “Particularly,” the proclamation con- | tinued, “for the possessions of constitu- ) tions of government which unite, and by | their union establish, hiberty with order; | for the preservation of our peace, foreign | and domestic; for the reasonable control which has been given to a spiritof disorder in the suppression of the late insurrection, and generally for the prosperous condition of our affairs, public and private; and at | the same time humbly and fervently to be- seech the kind Author of these blessings graciously to prolong them to us; to im- print on our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obligations to him for them; to teach us rightly to estimate their im- mense value; to preserve us from the | arrogance of prosperity and from hazard- ing the advantages we enjoy by delusive | them, by our gratitude for them, and by a corresponding conduct as citizens and as | men; to render this country nore and more a propitious asylum for the unfortu- nate of other countries; to extend among us true and useful knowledge; to diffuse and establish habits of sobriety, order, morality and piety; and finally to impart all the blessings we ask or possess for our- selves to the whole family of mankind.” In that proclamation the immortal Washington voiced the feeling of the peo- ple of the country, and as they had passed through a most expensive and distressing revolution they felt that with the victory | won they should indeed give thanks to the Creator. While this particular proclama- tion had a most satisfactory effect, it was not until some years later that it became a regular custom. In 1817 Governor De Witt Clinton of New York issued a call that was most heartily responded to by the people. Since that year the day has been observed by the people of New Eng- land almost without a break. The West was slow to follow, doubtless because of the uncivilized condition it was in at the time and the scarcity of settlers. In the South it was not generally recognized until 1858, when eight Governors issued proclamations. % From the time of the proclamation issued by President Washington up to the time of President Lincoln no further at- tempt was made to make it a National holiday. Lincoln, however, during the war frequently appointed special days in which to commemorate Union victories. In 1863 he set apart the last Thursday in November as a day of thanksgiving and prayer and ever since then the succeding Presidents have observed that day and bave issued calls for a general Thanks- giving. \ Among the Roman Catholics the day received no officiai attention until the Plenary Council which convened in Balti- more in 1885 recommended that extra prayers be offered on Thanksgiving day. Since then the day has become more and more general throughout the United States. The obligation that a successful and im- proving Nation owes to an Almighty God became apparent to the people of the country and for the blessings bestowed upon them they have learned to give thanks, From the Eastern to the Western boundaries and from North to South the ! custom has gained a gradual foothold until to-day it is one of the greatest days of grat- itude and content set apart by our Presi- dent. A great deal of its Puritanical at- mosphere has been removed with the prog- ress of the masses and it is now more a day of festivity than one of constant and | | unbroken prayer. From a day of the most | absolute and systematic worship it hae gradually evolved into a day of festivity properly begun with the offering of thanks for which it was intended. The belief that it is a fitting occasion in which to show that the American people have not forgot- ten their God has not waned, but in a great part it has taken unto iiselfa broader view of what constitutes religious gratitude. s o CALIFORNIA’S THANKSGIVING. It Gradually Crept Into the Great Golden West., Here in California, when but few of the hardy pioneers were assembled on the western shore of the United States, and even before that eventful period of 1849 in which a great deal of our most important history finds its beginning, a dozen men who came from the sturdy stock of New .asseanbled in the house of Robert Gordon in the beginning of the month of November of the year 1847 and dined on fat turkey, raised in California. and stuffed with the sage that grew wild on the hill- sides of Yerba Buena, now better known to a recent generation as San Francisco. t is also recorded that about thirty other sons of New England sat at the dinner table in the City Hotel and had as presid- ing officer John Paty of Plymouth atthe head of the feast. It was at these dinners that the custom of giving thanks was in- troduced into California. Another inci- dent, and probably the one that sounded the keynote of the magnificent accomplish- ments to follow in quick succession, was the introduction of steam in the vessels on the bay. The old steamer California puffed along the water front and blew her whistle, the first steam whistle that had ever given forth its blast on the waters in this vicin- ity, It was truly a day of days for the determined men who bad crossed the mountains and fought their way through the Indians of the plains that the West might be opened to the march of progress, and make new homes for the rapidly ‘ac- How cumulating populatiod of the East. It was to them an echo of their homes and brought with it the family scenes so far away. In the year 1848, about the time when Thanksgiving should have begun to be considered, the Pacific seaboard was stirred by the life that came with the promise of civil government for California. The lead- ing citizens of San Francisco were at once anxious to begin the appointment of dele- gates, by the people, to frame the laws and proceed at once to the formation of & pro- visional Government. In the midst of these deliberations and discussions, which were apparently more important to the people of California than anything else that could occur, the day of thanksgiving, so well begun the year before, was tem- porarily forgotten, and not until 1849, that magic year when the pioneers began to date their records, was it observed again. It was ordered on this occasion by General Riley, who selected the 29th of Novem- ber. His proclamation was briefand every i way to the point involved and was signed “B. Riley, brevet brigadier-general, U. S. A., and Governor of California. H. W. Halleck, brevet captain and Secretary of State.” The occasion for giving thanks at that time will be more appreciated when it is remembered that on the 13th of November of the same year the constitu- tion was ratified and California became one of the States of the Union. Great was the rejoicing that year and long was the feast. The next day of Thanksgiving, and the first one named after California was ad- mitted to statehood, was held November 30, and the proclamation was issued by Governor Burnett, who passed over to the old pioneers across the Styx about six months ago. In 1856-Governor John Bigler, for some reason or other, paid no attention to the custom of giving thanks, although he had done so the year before. His failure to give Thanksgiving the recognition it was accustomed to met with considerable dis- approval, and the people shut up, their stores for half a day and indulged in a semi-holiday on their own responsibility. Although the weather on that occasion was wet and chilly, the whole affair was said to be most satisfactory to the people who had made the attempt to keep up the festivity, which had become a regular thing in this State. In 1857 the Vigilantes were conducting things in San Francisco in a manner that they thought the conditions justified and which caused considerable difference be- tween them and Governor Johnson, who was a little inclined to the side of the ‘‘law and order’” men. The Governor had is- sued a proclamation announcing that the City of San Francisco was in a state of an- archy, and he furthermore called upon the militia to put down the defiant Vigilance Committee. About that time Casey and Cora, the gamblers, were hung, one of them for the assassination of James King of Wil- liam, editor of the Bulletin, The City was in a state of excitement, but it did not, however, interfere with the regular annual thanksgiving and the customary amount of turkey meat was disposed of by the peo- ple of this City. el THANKSGIVING AND WAR. How Our Governors Referred to the Struggle of the Nation. The day of Thanksgiving continued .to have its place on the calendar of the State’s holidays, and when the war echoes rolled up from the South in 1860, and the Union was threatened with internal strife, Gov- ernor Downey issued a Thanksgiving proc- lamation in which he touched upon the issue in these words: ; “‘While returning thanks to God, a black cloud has arisen threateningz our Nation with blood. The land is filled with wicked men, who nurse treason, disunion and in- cendiarism to such an extent as to light the torch of civil war. But, while we are far removed from the struggle, our honor is involved, for blood ties and memory hold us to the old States.” b His proclamation concluded with the foregoing paragraph and stirred up con- siderable comment among many of Cali- fornia’s citizens who happened to have lived or had relatives living in the South. The actual day of Thanksgiving, however, e The feast is spread. A ory of pain from out the frosty air;j; A deadly arrow by a red man sent— “Thy will e domne”-a Pilgrim’s wvacant N\ k\\@\\\\‘?\& p‘\\\\. A THANKSGIVING TRAGEDY IN COLONIAL DAYS.; . The Pilgrim is content- chair. passed off with a reasonable amount of zest ; but in 1861 the State was so disturbed that no day was set aside for Thanksgiving. In November, 1862, Governor Leland Stanford issued his first proclamation, with corsid- erable stress upon the glorious climate of the State and her wonderful resources. He, too, touched upon the great civil struggle that was shaking the Nation, but not in the same positive way as his prede- cessor had handled the matter. Governor Stanford, in 1863, received no- tice from President Lincoln of the second National Thanksgiving proslamation hav- ing been issued, in which the Governors of all the States in the Union were called upon to observe the 26th day of Novem- ber. In accordance with this request Gove ernor Stanford issued a proclamation, which opened with the Biblical quotation: **‘Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.’ " The proclamation then goes on at some length, with the result that California is compared with the stricken East, and set aside from the seat of war. “While we deplore our condition asa Nation, we have manifold reasons for of- fering up our united thanksgiving as a community. Our State during the last year has been blessed with prosperity and health. We have been free from floods, pestilence and famine, and as a State have known no widespread calamity. * * * “But while we assemble with cordial hearts among the pleasant associations of our own happy homes, let us not forget the many desolate households in our sister States, whose altars will be twined with cypress and whose hearts will be overflow- ing with desolation, while our lives are filled with thanksgiving for the plenitude of our divine protection. ‘“As a Nation we have been passing through a bitter, trying and bloody ordeal, but recent events seem to foretell the com- ing of better and brighter days. And in this we have cause for peculiar thankful- ness, and for this and all other mercies vouchsafed to us let us give Almighty God our unreserved thanksgivings.” In the same year of this proclamation two other days of thanksgiving were held, April 30 and August 6. They were for the purpose of commemorating Union vies tories. These days were recognized very thoroughly in San Francisco and patriotic demonstrations were indulged in all over the State. Thomas Starr King wrote of California at that time: “‘The land is at war, yet California, a most prized portion of the country, isin perfect peace. * * * Immigration from foreign countries and from all parts of America increases and the State’s credit remains untarnished. Our State pays its debts in gold and remains so loyal that Secessia gives her up.” The Civil War was the chief topic of dis~ cussion in the ’60s, and it is not surprising that reference to it appears in everything not excepting documents and proclama« tion of a public nature. It was the thing uppermost in the minds of the people, and not until the wounds received in the strug- gle were healed and .the new South began to affiliate with the victorious North did its echoes die away. Governor Frederic F. Low mentioned in his -pro¢lamation of 1864 that one of the greatest causes for thanksgiving was the peaceful election of a President during war times, although on April 14, 1865, the people of America were stunnea and hor- rified at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. This blow to the people of the Union was so great that instead of hold- ing thanksgiving services they went into mourning for their dead yet beloved Presi« dent, who had administered over the people of the United States when the Union was tottering in the balance of civil war. THANKSGIVING OF TO-DAY. What the People of California Are Thankful for Now. ‘While the people of San Francisco have not forgotten the kindly acts of Andrew A. Louderback, who supplied the orphans and homeless children with a Thanksgiv- ing dinner in the '60’s, nor Sergeant Lind- heimer, who saw that the prisoners of the City jail were fed a good Christian dinner, nor Samuel C. Harding, the champion of the Ladies’ Relief and Protection Associa- tion as well as the orphan asylums; there are to-day many generous and magnificent charities practiced at this time of the year. The never-tiring disciples of the Salvation Army and the thousands of good women and men who perform some mission of samaritanism are still doing the work that 8 dictated by naught but a righteous heart. They spread contentment and good cheer among the homeless and the hun- gry and help in manifold ways to lighten the burden of life by mingling with the distress some hours or days of comjort. The American people, as & nation, are charitable and well disposed toward their fellow-men, and on this sublime day of Thanksgiving the poor will have the pleas sure of eating a dinner that will bring contentment and a better feeling among them. It is truly a day of thanksgiving, and all over our broad State the stranger within our gates and whosoever is hungry will feel the pressure of the warm hand and good fellowship coupled with a repast. that will make the inner man feel corre- spondingly happy with the balance of hig kind. California has every reason to be cons tented with her present fortune. The crops have been good. the inhabitants have been practically free from the distress of want, and while other countries and States are suffering from poverty that borders on starvation there are no cases that can be reached and that deserve attention here that will not be accorded all necessary care, There has never been a famine in Cali« fornia, nor have we been subjected to the terrible calamities of earthquakes and floods so common to other countries. The marvelous equality of our climate and the prospects of the coast generally justify an annual thanksgiving which, in the fullness of their gratitude, the people are quite content and anxious to set apart as a day of rest and thanks. Back in New England the same spirit of tidelity to the “Giver of every good and perfect thing’’ still reigns, and the maple log will burn in the big fireplaces while a mantle of snow covers the earth, and the people of that part of the country will e ————— ‘Fine engraving distine guishes, and “ cheap” engravs ing disgraces, its user. 227 Post street. 215 Bush street. H S CROCKER Cq