The San Francisco call. [volume], November 28, 1895, Image 1

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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VOLUME LXXVIII.-NO. 181.
AMERICA`S THANKSGIVINGS
OLD AND NEW
Thanksgiving and turkey.
How easily one associates the feast with
the bird, around which clusters the family
reunion, the tiavor of cranberries and the
best cooking of the year. When our Puri
tan fathers thought it wise and well to
give thanks to God for the benefits show
ered upon them little (lid they think that
in after years this, their day of great
est worship to the Creator of every good
and perfect thing, would be turned into a
day for the purpose of distributing football
trophies among the youths whose muscle
was their religion and whose halfback was
their God.
In those long departed days the family
board was surrounded by all that was in
keeping with tne day of thanks, yet at the
master's elbow leaned the trusty flintlock
for inquisitive red men who might deem it
well to disturb the feast.
In the heart of the Puritan th<;re was a
most decided sincerity in the administra
tion of Thanksgiving, but that did not les
sen the solemnity of the occasion, nor did
it lighten the distresses that so often oc
curred in the building up of old New Eng
land whose men have been the salvation of
our country and whose deeds are the best
monument to their names.
To-day, after the battles of revolution
ary and civil war have been fought and
the smoke of strife has cleared away, we
are prone to forget the situations under
which our ancestors dined on that day of
good cheer. The inconveniences under
which they were compelled to make the
best of it are but memories now, and in
the midst of a land of plenty and content
we sit at our sumptuous repast and greatly
to the satisfaction of our appetites give
thanks to the Most High Ruler, whose
greatness is our might and for wnose
bountiful gifts we tnis day give thanks.
So may it be.
ORIGIN OF IttArSKSOIVING.
Fhe Puritans of Old Plymouth Are
Directly Responsible.
In the year 1021, about a year after the
Pilgrims bad landed from the Mayflower,
governor Bradford, seeing that the fields
bad beeii tilled and made to bring forth
their crops and that the land had been
made to bear fruit, was moved to show
Sod that the people were full of thanks
and good will for the bounteous harvests
and his protection. He vrrote of the work
and of the results and the final thanksgiv
ing in these words:
| |"They begaue now to gather in the small
harvest they had and to fitte up their houses
md dwellings against winter, being all
well recovered in health and strength, and
had all things in good plenty ; fur as some
were thus employed in affairs abroad
sthers were exercised in fishing about codd
md bass and other fish, of which they took
good store, of which every family had
iheir portion. All the somer there was
no waste. And now began to come in
store of foul and a great store of wild
urkies, of which they took many, besides
renison, etc." By this lime the crops had
jeen gathered in, and the Christian Gov
;rnor sent men out among the fowls with
nstructions to gather and kill enough for
i feast of thanksgiving. The soldiers thus
sent into the forests came back with game
jf all Kinds, and the Indians accompanied
by their mighty chief Massasoit came to
the homes of the Pilgrims to the number
if ninety, and the red men were entertained
For three days. They 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 to a
;lose, and the next was held in July, 1623.
&. long and severe drought had prevailed in
which the grass and corn were dried up by
;he hot weather and the Governor ap
pointed a day of fasting and prayer, and
is the Pilgrims prayed "soft, sweet and
noderate showers" fell lasting some two
reeks. The fasting was then changed into
i day of thanksgiving, and God was
ihowered with the gratitude of his devoted
iollowers.
And so it was that the Pilgrims gave
The San Francisco Call.
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. 1668 and
16S0, and in the Massachusetts Bay Color.y
similar obse:vances were held in 1033, 1634,
1637, 1633 and 1639. The colony and pro
vince of New York was not without its
days of praise and prayer. The Dutch !
Governors proclaimed such days between
1644 and 16(54. The English Governors did
not follow this custom established by their j
predecessors until 1760. Throughout the !
Revolution Congress annually re?om- |
mended days of thanksgiving. In 1784, !
alter the terrors of war had ceased to occur i
and Washington had led the colonists to i
victory and to perpetual freedom, lie an- !
nounced that there would be a day of gen- !
eral praise for the return of peace and j
liberty. In 1789 the constitution of the ;
United States was adopted and another >
day of rejoicing and feasting was ap- i
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 government and lay
the foundation of the grandest common
wealth in the world became apparent to
such an extent that the people, 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
of bondatreand were, by their own acts and
the spilling of precious blood, free men.
SAN FRANCISCO, THURSDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 28, 1895.
America was steadily forging to the front,
while other nations were tottering in civil
war and international strife. Washington
saw the depth of peace and contentment
tbat 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 consolation and satisfaction.
Our exemption hitherto from foreign war,
an increasing prospect of the continuance
of that exemption*— the greatest degree of
I internal tranquillity we have enjoyed; the
recent confirmation of that tranquillity by
the suppression of an insurrection which
i wantonly threatened it; the happy course
lof 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 ber>eiieenee toward us. In such a
state of things, it is in an especial manner
! our duty as a people, with reverence and
j affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our
■ many and great obligations to Almighty
God and to implore him to continue and
! confirm the blessings we experience."
President Washington, in view of all
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
| tinned, "for the possessions of constitu
) tions of government which unite, and by
| their union establish, liberty with order;
! for the preservation of our peace, foreign
and domestic; for the reasonable control
which has been given to a spirit of disorder
in the suppression of the late insurrection,
; and generally for the prosperous condition
! of our affairs, public and private; and at
j the same time humbly and fervently to be
seech the kind Author of these blessings
graciously to prolong them to us; to ira
i print 011 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
j ing the advantages we enjoy by delusive
! pursuits; to dispose us to merit the con
: tinuance of his favor 3 by not abusing
| them, by our gratitude for them, and by a
A THANKSGIVING TRAGEDY IN COLONIAL DAYS.;
Th.c feast ±m spread. ■Fixe DF»ilsrixxa. ±m oontont
' ;'.'"■.. j ■j&l. _ . osry • of paizx ! from out t b.o frosty : air ; :
jBL I ■ deadly ! arrox^ by ("'«.'•" xrod ;; xnaxi ; ' sent- ' / „:.'•• ■ ' ' ' ,
"Thy x^rlll too done "-a. Z>ll«;rlsxi.'s vacant oliair.
corresponding conduct as citizens and as
men; to render this country more 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 ls<sß, when eight Governors issued
proclamations.
From the time of Ihe 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 succediug
Presidents have observed that day and
have issued calls for a general Thanks-
giving.
* Among the Roman Catholics the day
received no ofliciai 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 has
gradually evolved into a day of festivity
properly begun with the offering of thanks
lor which it was intended. Tne 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 itself a broader view
of what constitutes religious gratitude.
CALIFORNIA'S THANKSGIVING.
How 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
England assembled 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.
It 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 at the
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 tirst 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 had 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
cumulating population 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 a 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
Kiley, who selected the 29th of Novem
ber. His proclamation was brief and every
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 gam biers, were hung, one of them
for the assassination of James Kinsrof 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.
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 threatening our Nation
with blood. The land is rilled 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."
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,
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
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
strucgle that was shaking the Nation, but
not in the same positive way as his prede
cessor had handled the matter.
Governor Stanford, in 1563, received no
tice from President Lincoln of the second
National Thanksgiving proclamation 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 Gov
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 as a
Nation, we liave 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 anil 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 vic
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 prif ed portion of the country, is in
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 '60 r s, 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 ia
his proclamation 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 stunned and hor
ritied 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.
■\yhile 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 Ws, 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
is 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 comfort.
The American people, as a nation, are
charitable and well disposed toward their
fellow-men, and on this sublime day of
ThanKsgiving the poor will have the plea
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 fesl corre
spondingly happy with the balance of his
kind.
California has every reason to be con*
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 fidelity 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
Fine engraving distin*
guishes, and "cheap" engrav*
ing disgraces, its user.
227 Post street _ _
215 Bosh street H S CROCKER Cq