OCR Text |
Show Ww United lggfe cCv rcau of 8ta CS tlstlcs which , annually Tur- 1 UlsllCS tllO ntinibor of killed, in- iKfll Jured and maimed as a flU result of Fourth of July BmI fireworks celebrations, jRJ hut Thanksgiving ens- Hfl unities from overeating wBH are never tabulated. kd So he careful lest Mm euch a plan should ho II H I imt Into operation and . 1 you nnd yours forced W' Into the spotlight of publicity because you gave thanks In too lienrty a manner. Indications a few days before tho memorable holiday suggested no corner in the turkey market in tho inlddlo west, and for thot reason the king "! of 1,10 Thanksgiving meal was attain- , able nmong those who perhaps u year ago were not so fortunate when the 1 blrdB wero higher In price. With over SO.000,000 persons giving thanks-pcrhaps 10,000,000 don't know I-'" V'T Unlte(' S,n,es ora are 5.000.000 turkeys consumed on ThRiiks-giving ThRiiks-giving day. The preparation of tho birds lor the tnblo Is one of the country's great Industries for several months before tho grub-feat takes place. Itonst pig, duck' peso and chickens are also sundwlched in as Thanksgiving delicacies, and their preparation for market and tho festive board Is also a big proposition to tho men who do tho work. Slxty-seven yenrs ago tho 30th of November No-vember was tho first Thnnksglvlng day ever appointed for and observed in Chicago; Chi-cago; observed, bo It said, by the peoplo generally. There probably wero In the population of between 1.000 and 5 000 bouIs as many New Knglanders as tllore wero New Yorkers or Pennsylvnnlans or Ohloans or southerners, and some among those from New Knglnnd remembered the old homo ciistom of clvlm? nm.nini . ... .... ..w.uv. momm in giving special thnnks and spreading an extra bountiful meal on tho last Thursday In November and privately pri-vately observed It. Hut by the largo majority of tho inhabitants It was entirely Ignored or possibly by tho most It was wholly unknown. The New Knglnnd Influence, howover. wns tho most nctlvo of any nnd soon was the controlling element. In 1841 It was sulllclently vlrllo to Introduce nnd establish tho anniinl Thanksglv-lug Thanksglv-lug as nn Institution. Sixty-four years are but few In the life of tho Institutions of a city or country, but in this case tho period carries ono back to within 14 years of tho Incorporation of Chicago. In 1841 the fifth mayor, Prnncls C. Sherman, wns in tho chnlr of municipal state. A nntivo of Connecticut, he was of Puritan ancestry nnd had been brought up In reverence of tho religious and soclnl customs of Now Knglnnd. He enmo to Chicago In 1834, when the legally organized town wns ono year old, and at once started In tho business of keeping a boarding board-ing houso. Tho llrst year ho was In this business busi-ness he observed the Connecticut Thanksgiving by giving his boarders the llrst Thanksgiving dinner ever provided In Illinois. To facilitate matters ho had not the best of education he betimes sent to Buffalo for a barrel bar-rel of good npplo cider, which was frequently used on this occasion. Hut this humble occupation of boarding-house boarding-house Ilnnlface did not content him for long. Ho hnd worked at brlckmaklng In Connecticut nnd just then good bricks wero much needed In Chicago, and ho was Just the man to supply them. There was available clay without going farther ror It than to where Adams and Market streets now cross each other and there ho Bet up his kiln. Tho llrst Rood house made of his bricks was his own. It was built In 1-ako street, near Clark. He had now become u lending citizen. Ho took a good citizen's Interest In-terest In public affairs nnd hnd political Influence. Influ-ence. This Puritan horn, this giver of the flrBt 1 Thanksgiving dinner In Chicago, waited but four yenrs till ho took his turn in tho mayoralty. mayor-alty. And ho nindo his occupancy of tho olllce memorable by ordering his ofllclnl clerk, Thorn-ns Thorn-ns Iloyno, to draw up tho llrst proclamation of n public Thanksgiving ever seen in tho west. "Mayor Sherman's Thanksgiving," as tho innjoilly or tho cltlzoiiH derisively called It, was gladly observed by every New Kngland fnmlly In tho place, but that was tho extent of Its observance. Christmas was already u greater day In Now York than Thanksgiving, nnd In tho other Atlantic states oijt of Now Kngland and In tho southern states Thanks.-giving Thanks.-giving vvna mostly unknown. Settlers from those parts, being In tho majority and Indisposed Indis-posed to recognize a Puritan holiday, poked all kinds of fun nt tho mnyor on account or his, us they chose to 'call It, now-vamped Puritan zeal. Those of them who wero members of tho Protest nut churches or congregations foiled to attend the religious services In those churches of tho morning of Thanksgiving day. Hut every Now Knglnnder who could possibly nttend did to, and there were enough of them . to make up good-sized congregations, or what appeared to be surh hi tho smnll church edifices edi-fices of the time. Tho afternoon was given up to feasting and social pleasures. No chronicler or tho tlmo was thoughtful enough to wrlto for posterity a particular account ac-count or tho social pleasures In which tho thankful peoplo Indulged, but ono among tho still living witnesses of tho day Is the Irrepressible Irrepres-sible "first citizen," Fernando Jones, nnd he remembers going to a dance at tho mayor's fine house on Thnnksglvlng night. Tho Jones family was from Now York stnto and "the good Fernando" Bays It Is n mistake to suppose that nobody but New Knglanders observed tho day; that his mother got up a big dlnnor'on' the occasion nnd thnt he ate as much turkey nnd things "ns any Puritan booby In the place." Hut he ndmlts thnt the Now Kngland families did most of tho visiting, feasting nnd dancing. The examplo thus sot by Mayor Sherman wns followed by his successors for ten years before Illinois adopted tho annual Thanksgiving Thanksgiv-ing as n stato Institution. In 1833, three years before Chicago Introduced Intro-duced the Thnnksglvlng custom to Its own citizens, citi-zens, a fraudulent Thanksgiving proclamation was Issued In tho unmo of Gov. Duncan which caused tho festival to bo universally talked about In tho state nt large. Its object was to fool tho Springfield, 111., clergy without any thought at llrst of Its going further. And sure enough It did fool tho clergymen nt the capital. , "It no less Imposed on tho clergymen nil over tho stnte. Most of tho Inhabitants of Springfield wero from tho south or from states west of tho Alleghenles, but n few wero from Now Kngland Kng-land and from these latter a petition had proceeded pro-ceeded requesting the governor to appoint a day of Thanksgiving. Ho was a Kcntucklnn by birth nnd a Presbyterian and, therefore, had not much tolerance for New Kngland religious and social customs, lie would not on any nc-count nc-count Issue tho proclamation nsked for, but that did not quite end tho matter. It occurred to n few of tho young men employed em-ployed In tho executive ofllces that a bogus pioclaniatlou might bo ventured. They for some reason had not tho fenr or Gov. Nuncnn beforo their eyes and they foresaw how enger-ly enger-ly the Protestant ministers nt the capital would welcoino It as, of course, genuine. Accordingly Ac-cordingly thoy drow up a proclamation In tho usual form of such documents, signed the governor's gov-ernor's nnmo to It, as well as tho namo of tho secretary of Btnte, und had numerous copies printed, sending a copy to each minister who wns known to bo desirous of celebrating n Thnnksglvlng. All wero deceived by It snvo one, the Methodist minister, who hnd been quietly notified by ono of the young men that It was a hoax. The others made formal announcement an-nouncement thnt they would on tho day thus fraudulently appointed hold Thanksgiving services. ser-vices. Hut on the evening before tho day arrived ar-rived to let tho hoax Just fall of Its object tho young men sent word to each of tho ministers that tho proclamation wns not genuine. Tho ministers wero not long In Informing their peoplo that tho Thanksgiving wns declared de-clared off. After that tho subject of Thanksgiving Thanks-giving was a forbidden topic of conversation or even allusion at tho Illinois stnto capital ror soveral years. Hut tho Thnnksglvlng was not so euslly prevented In tho outlying districts. Copies or tho bogus proclamation had been sent to all tho principal towns, which mado preparations to observo the festival. Tho authors au-thors of tho hoax had, however, repented In tlmo with rererenco to places outside or Spring-Hold Spring-Hold nnd consequently warned clergymen In those towns not to bo Tooled. It wns believed In Chicago to be genuine, but no notlco was token or It first or lust. Twelve years passed, In which the annual Thanksgiving or New Kngland hnd no ofllclnl recognition, excopt In Chicago. In 1851 Joel A. Mntteson, a nntivo of New York, was elected elect-ed governor or Illinois, und notwithstanding his nativity nnd religious connections ho wns not u Puritan nor even Puritanically Inclined he, first or the governors or tho state. Issued his proclamation for a day of general thanksgiving, nfter tho fashion of tho New Knglanders. Ho thus hod tho honor of being the founder In Illinois of this ovor-to be-cherlshed Institution. In tho dnys of tho revolution Thanksgiving day was a national affair, It being annually recommended by congress. Hut there wns no national appointment of tho day till 1784 on account of the suppression or the "whisky rebellion." President Mndlson recommended Thanksgiving ror the peace or ISlfi. That was tho last national Thanksgiving ror 48 years. H Is a well known tact thnt tho obscrvonco of a day of thanksgiving -dates fur back In American history. Its origin Is traced to an-dent an-dent festivals In which the Puiltnus nt Ply- appropilato tor tho Thnnksglvlng services, which wero held In tho religious meeting houses or the llttlo colony. In the first dnys or the first settlement of pilgrims pil-grims nt Plymouth Hock thoy had a llttlo village, vil-lage, with tho houses constructed of hewn planks. There wero gardens Inclosed behind nnd at tho sides with other rough hewn planks. These fences wero stockades that served as a protection against sudden nttneks and tho crude derenses thus nrranged wero rolnrorccd by three henvy wooden gates at tho ends of the streets. In tho centor, on n cross street, stood tho colonial governor's houso. Heroro this wns n square Inclosurc, upon which four cannon wero mounted, bo ns to flank nlong tho streets. On n surrounding hilltop they had n largo squaro Iioubc, with a flnt roof. This structure wns mado of tho customary thick plonks of rough hown timbers, llko tho mas-slvo mas-slvo Amorlcan log houses of later times. Tho planks wore stayed or braced with oak beams, upon tho top or which they had six cannon, which shot Iron bulls of four or flvo pounds and had a commanding sweep of tho surrounding country. Tho lower port of this building wns used for a church, In which religious services were held on Sundnys and tho usual hollduys. The pilgrims wero called to tho sorvlces in Oils chinch with beat of drum and each man cai.ie with Ids mlskct nnd firelock. While nt worship they rested on their firearms. They wore their cloaks and stood three nbrenst, with n HcrgtaiiMnajor In command. Hehlnd came tho governor In n long robo; besldo him, at ;he right hand was the preacher, with his flowing flow-ing clonk on, nnd on the left hnnd was tho captain, his sldo arms pendant and n small cane In one hand. Odd Compact Nets $15,000 Mrs. Mnrgaretto Casteiis, 04 years of age, who received 515,000 three years ago, as tho result of a unique compact entered into by G5 girls In a Herman convent school more than 70 years ago, died at tho homo of her daughter daugh-ter In St. I.ouls, Mo. Seventy-live yenrs ago Mrs. Casteiis wns a pupil in n convent near Stuttgart, Oermany. Tho girls agreed Just beforo thoy graduated to pay a certain number of marks n year Into a Herlln hank and tho ontlro amount was to go to the last surviving membor or the class, Tin oe years ngo Mrs. Cast ens found herself tho only one of the chiBs remaining. She wrote to the bank, believing sho would rocolvo a few thousnnd dollars. Tho amount Bho got was in excess of $15,000. |