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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1909)
10 TT1K OMAITA SUNDAY VVA): XOVKMHKK Jl. TT ,-1, 427 f -.1 hi H I h$'l V r BRANDEIS STORES worth each BLOWS MADE TURKEY BLOOM History and Feasting Originate in a Lively Rumpus. FATHER WASHINGTON SWORE And the t.ohhlcr Secured a Clncli on llie Nnllunnl Thaukau.1 In a Ureal Kvrnii Spring, from Trlflea. The first national Thanksgiving day ever observed hy the lulled Stales of America ows its historic Interest mainly to one broken nose anil an oath. To the uath we owe the supremacy of the turkey as our national fmst clay bird, and to the broken nose we owe the only evidence that has come down to us that George W ashington ever swore. et all these Im portant things uif collateral to the main fact that we narrowly escaped losing Thanksgiving artcr all and that all the famed men of that day got into a very hitter quariel over It and ate a tut key dinner at daggers drawn, so to sneak. The Idea of having such u natlonul holi day at all originated In the fertile brain of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was then secretary of the tirasury, and in August of ITS he broached the matter at one of the meetings of President Wash ' Ingtuu's cabinet. This much we know from the correspondence of Lleneral Knox, and In spita of the historical Interest attending a most unique episode in our history, the whole matter is Involved in more or less obscurity and the worn old tomes that tell It all lid in dusty iiooUh on libiarv shelves The late Ueneral Hamilton, whose death so recently threw many notable New York families into mourning, had a very full collection of the correspondence bearing upon the celebration of this republic's first Thanksgiving. To be sure, there had been Thanksgivings in this country from time Immemorial before our government was bom, but the first celebration of a genu inely national character was the one ap pointed by Oeorge Washington of glorious memory. Ttds correspondence is now in the possession of the Schuyler llamlltons and is authority for a vast amount of hitherto unpublished history. t'outrru Takes Antoa. It was in September of 171-9 that the mat ter was brought to the attention of con gress. Representative Houdinot of New Kngland moved that in view of the bless li gs sj abundantly bestowed on the coun try by the Almighty a day of Thanks giving be set spait by the president. The resolution wus supported by Representative Sherman of Connecticut, but it aroused violent opposition. Many members of con gress denounced the proposition as effete an monarchical, asd we have the authority of Representative Muhltnburg of Pennsyl- ai la for the statement that sone mem bers grew o personal In their discussions et the matter that blows were exchanged on (be streets of New York. It appears See Brandeis Stores Full Page Ad on Last Page News Section. Entire All Their Wc bought the entire stock at practically our own price. It is just another one of those cases where it is so well known that Brandeis always buys for cash, no matter how large the quantity, that the best bargains in the United States come to us. The Entire Stock Will Be Sold Monday at These Wonderful Bargains ALL THE 'one Gobelin tapestry and veromi Por- tieres, velour, damask and mercer- W ized portieres, worth up to $15 a pair in pairs, not singly eaeli PORTIERES, Silk Piano Scarfs, Table Covers and Oriental Draperies none sold less than $4 as long as All Drummers' Sample LACE CURTAINS Full Size COUCH COVERS and TABLE COVERS $1 pair, 15c worth up to $1.25, at . . . from the Hamilton letters, and the fact will certainly sui prise the historians, that Jefferson and Hamilton Immediately dTf fered as to the desirability of the holiday. Jefferson, as appears from his letters, was opposed to the Idea, because It seemed undemocratic. He was then, of course, fresh from his long residence In free think ing France, and at the very culmination of his skeptical progression. Anything that Favored of prayer and church observance In the government was opposed to his ex treme views in the matter of separation of church and state. He expressed these views of his with moderation and good snse In a concise letter, for he had as vet hardly assumed the reins of office. Un fortunately, the letter which Washington Is said to have addressed to Alexander Hamilton on the subject appears to be lost. It is not among the newly discovered papers of the Hamilton family and will in all probability never be discovered. However, tho resolution went through cmgiess and Washington duly appointed the last Thursday of November, ITS?, ks the first of one long line of national Thanksgivings. Immediately another acri monious contest was begun. How was the day to be observed? It was proposed to have a monster procession of dignitaries, headed by Washington himself, on horse buck. Jefferson's opposition to anything of the kind, as his letters show, effectively prevented such spectacular perambulation. It was finally determined that the day was a domestic holiday and should be observed In the privacy of the home after the good old New England manner. This much we know from John Adams, the vice president, who came from Massachusetts, the mother of Thanksgivings. .Mrs. Utiklsitoi Plaas. The settlement of the controversy was most gratifying to Mrs. Washington, who at once made arrangements to hold a levee In true colonial fashion In the presidential mansion. Kveryone of prominence in the new government was asked, from Chlf Justice John Jay down. And they all came, too, ror Oeorge Washington a.i a gentle man, and to be asked to Ms bouse was a social distinction, apart from the fact that he was president of the I'nlled States. . Now it seems that Alexander Hamilton. ager to do anything calculated to put i nomas jeiterson to confusion, had been organizing all manner of festivities and observances likely to make of Thanksgiv ing a noisy holiday. Jefferson, on the con trary, had held somewhat aloof from the whole thing, for he took great pride in his superiority to all affairs of a religious na ture, and he looked upon Thanksgiving as a religious contrivance entirely. The doc umentary evidence on this side of the case Is unhappily meager, and we know only that by the'tlme the day arrived there had been engendered much unpleasant feeling between the cabinet factions, and this un pleasant feeling was communicated to the respective partisans of the two cabinet leaders. Tha friends of Jtirerson did what they decently could to Ignore Thanksgiving altogether, as John Adams' letters show very emphatically. Hamilton's partisans, on the contrary, did all In their Bower to make the day a success, and when the stale of affairs was made Liwia in Bui- US THAT Stock of Eastern House, That Retired From the Drapery Business, Including Portieres, Couch Covers, Tapestry Yard Goods, Covers poktier H98 and Ail the Silk Tapestry Silk plush, velour, mercerized tapestry, da mask and brocatels and other drapery and upholstery goods made to sell at $G.0Q a yard; at, a yard 35c 69c 93c All the Fine Velour and Imported Tapestry Squares, worth up to $1.50 each, or on at, each . . AOXj'OuL 69c ton and in Philadelphia, the battle was heartily entered into. Washington had the mortification of seeing that his day of thanksgiving for the blessings of Almighty God had become a source of no,end of con tention. However, the day dawned bright and even warm for New York. The bells of Trinity were rung for an hour, and there was a parade of one regiment reviewed by Hamilton from Faunce's Tavern. Then tho cheering part of the day began by in dulgence in various forms of stimuli' I in; percolations, and every one no doubt was very thankful. Washington went to church in the morning, and at high noon began to receive his visitors. It was we'l on in the afternoon that Hamilton's llttlo dinner began. It was rather a famoua little dinner in its day and generation, al though it is never talked of nowadays. It was eaten at Faunce's, and was the first official Thanksgiving banquet in our his tory. Hamilton was to respond to a loast, and then go off to the president's man sion, but It seems the secretary of the Treasury was behind time, and there oc curred at the dinner table what would now be called a disagreement among gen tlemen. We have much and detailed in formation about it In the Hamilton let ters. In the first place Lieutenant St. Clair, a nephew of famed Arthur St. Clair, took occasion to say upon his honor as a gentleman that he wax sober. An unhls toric personage of whom we know no mora than his name was Tlsdal, and that he was an alderman and notary, im peached the veracity of Lieutenant St. Clair's assertion, and defied him to prove it. The lieutenant thereupon threw a bot tle at nobody in particular, and missed his aim. In an instant, as they say In novels, all was confusion, and then, like a god out of a machine. In walked Alexander Hamil ton. The scene that met his gaze, accord ing to John Adams' account of it, was shameful. Viands and glassware and gen tleman were all massed together. How ever, they were separated, and Hamilton, dreading the effect of the scandal if the episode becam public property, did his best to patch matters up. The skeptical alderman appears to have had his sobriety set at rest, but unfortunately there could be no doubt that the lieutenant's nose was broken In the course 01' debate, for the Humilton letters distinctly say so, but we have the same authority for maintaining that 1: was agreed that a gentleman Is at times justified in insisting that he is sober. Dlapate About the Turkey.., The next thing that happened, according to the letters, was a dispute about the turkey. Wheie was the turkey? It had not been brought upon the table. Th re were loud shouts for turkey, but none was foitbcomlng. A propotiilon 10 dispense with that fowl was booted down, and Alex ander Hamilton s ore the. Hamilton letters lay he swore that no citizen of the United Slates of America should abstain from turkey on Thanksgiving day. Well, they got a turkey somehow and ate It. Then tiicy drank and cheered and sang songs, and sang sor.gs and rhxred and drank. They know Jiuw to obseive Thanksgiving In those do eg and Lace Curtains ALL THE So)50 fiO and 72-in. wide couch hv-J ers in the best known makes and all new patterns, actually worth up to $10 each at, each ALL THE 49c All the Silk Gimp, Silk Cord and Velour Borders, worth up to 15c yard, yard lc-2c This little matter attended to, Hamilton made a speech p.nd hied him to the presi dential abode. Here there had been digni fied observance of the day, but It seems that some Inkling of the little row at Faunce's had got abroad already, and Washington put sr me questions to the secretary of the treasury about it. Both Knox and Randolph mention the exercised condition of the president, and Hamilton seems to have been li.fluenced somewhat by his recent excitement. However It was. Washington at any rate became vexed, and Indulged In some pointed remarks. Read ers of the hUtory of the period remember the effective way In which l'arton, Mar shall and Hilllard have touched up the anger of cur first president. .Washington's displeasure always took the form of Just resentment. He resented the whole Thanks giving episode. John Jay gives the lan g lage of the Father of His Country on this occasion with some pretensions to exactness. Washington was inceiwed lh.it a oung soldier should have broken his nose In a tavern brawl while professing to be giving thanks for heaven's best gifts. Our first president went so far as to say that It was disgraceful "by God." "By God, sir!" was the most blasphemous Im precation in the Washington vocabulary, and he used it twice to Hamilton The first occasion was on this unhappy Thanks giving. At the second Hamilton quitted his mat-ter. Thus, in a bundle of family letters, doos the forgotten episode llo preserved. Like ncry another event of the time, It has passed out of human knowledge, and the printed correspondence of the great onea of the time, in which allusion to it is mude, reposes amid dust heaps and is never perused by the eye of man. Hut it was a great event in its time, and made Thanks giving a memorable day to our forefathers In official circles. History is silent on the subject of the future career of tha lieu tenant's broken nose, but Thanksgiving lay has come down to us intact. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. tat (fates Five Persons. I The pet cat of Goldle Allmendluger of Ann Arbor, Mich., saved the lives of the five members of the family and in doing so sacrificed Its own life. Fire started In the building used by the Allmen. linger family as a resilience and bakery, and while the family slept the first floor and cellar became filled with smoke. Scenting danger, the cat tan to the door of Goldie's bedroom and scratched until Mr. Allinendlnger was, awakened. He has.lly arose, roused Ills' wife and three children, and cast about for means of escape. The smoke poured up the stair way, cutting off escape by that route, hut finally exit was made through a second story window. Mis. Allmeiidlnger catching the two younger children as tbey were tossed to her. Uoldle fell on the railing of the porch and was Injured, but wilt re cover. After the fhe was eMtuguUhed the charred body of the cat was found at the spot where It had gone to awaken the family. Nearly Our ENTIRE BASEMENT Devoted to This Sale Seventy Clerks C3 UDH Lace Curtains Cable Nets, Filet Nets, Bobbinets, imported Nottingham, as many as six pairs of a kind. Many would be a bargain at $4 pair hundreds of pairs at, each AND 98c Full Size Stripe SCRIM CURTAINS All the PIANO SCARFS, worth up to 50c each, as long as 4 n a they last 1UC worth $1.25 pair, go at, each 25c DOUBLE USE FOR TURKEYS Not Only Fill Owner's Purse, but Kill Grasshopper Pests. KANSAS WOMAN'S EXPERIENCE the Kinds Thanksgiving Hlrd Easy to Italae, Provided Certain Kules Are Observed Command Ulan Prices. "Last year my crop of turkeys num bered 300, with an average weight of twelve pounds and sold at an average price of L'TVn cents a pound," a Kansas woman in New York told a reporter. "Ii Is four years now since I began raising turkeys for profit, and they have done so well In supplying me with money, besides adding to the Income of the farm by de stroying grasshoppers, that I feel almost as if I had struck a gold mine. "It was about six years ago that I bought my first trio of turkeys. I thought it would be nice to raise our own' birds for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They ranged along with the chickens In a two acre field of alfalfa which my husband had planted near the house. He threshed fourtoen bushels of seed from that little field and not one bushel from the 1X10 acre field he had further away from the house. "It happened to be a grasshopper year and the seed of the 2u0 acres had been de stroyed, while on the lu acres the poul try had destroyed the grasshoppers. Knowing that the turkeys roam further Ihun oilier poultry we determined to d-jny ourselves at Thanksgiving and Christmas for the sake of our next season's crop of alfalfa. "From three my flock had Increased to twenty-three, each of my two turkey hens having hatched and reared ten young poults. The second year as soon as the youn poults were able to fly to their roost my husband would liave the flock dilven to the alfalfa fields away from the house In the morning. For the fit at few nights It was necessary for some one to go out and turn their heads homeward, where on their arrival we gave them as much whole and cracked grain as they would eai up clean. Feed In Alfalfa Fields. "After a week or so It was never neces sary to drive them out in the morning and seldom necessary to start them back at night. Having found out that their breakfast as well as foud for the entire day was to be had In the alfalfa fields, they proceed d llicte on leaving theii pel ch. "Our experience that year was so suc cessful that my husband and I decided to increase the flock to loO, and after that to sell the increase. We calculated that 1'U birds would be able to keep 'M acres of alfalfa free of grasshoppers. "Until taught by our own experience we had always believed that turkeys ale as mm (1 .j.W. - - - - i ' it ... vi ft Table VEC3S 98 So)98 Sj)98 AND All the Large Pieces FINE SILK TAPESTRY, Wool Damask, Brocatels, Etc. worth up to ff 90c All the Fish Net, Silkoline and Novelty Net, worth up to 25c a yd., j at, yard uL much as hogs, and for that reason no profit could be had from raising them for market. Now we calculate that one bird pays tho cost of raising twenty. Where all the food has to be bought of course the profit would not be so large. Women from other sections of Kansas assure me that a turkey Is no harder to raise than a chicken. Since It Is so much larger and the price so much higher the profit must be greater. "The grasshopper that we have to fight In the alfalfa belt Is not the migrating one. It Is a native and the increase from year to year in the alfalfa fields Is wonderful. It destroys the seed crop by eating out a portion of the slender Juicy stem support ing the tiny curled seedpod. So great a pest has the grasshopper proved Itself to br In our section that several machines for gathering them have been Invented. My husband and several of our neighbors now believe that turkeys are better than any of these machines, besides, having the ad vantage of being money producers. Tito Deadly PJneniles. "Turkeys In our section have two ene mies. Tho first U the coyote, which for tunately can be seen at a considerable distance. At the sight of this enemy a flock of turkeys will rise as one bird and fly toward the house. During the time that we have been raising turkeys I have lost only seven from depiedatlons of coyotes. "The other enemy Is the disease known as the blackhead. This disease Is due to a germ that enters the body of the turkey through unsanitary food or drink. So far as I know, there is no cure once the bird becomes Infected. As with many other diseases In the poultry yard, one ounce, of prevention Is worth many pounds of cure. The best preventive so far as I have been able to Judge from my experi ences Is a strong constitution. Perhaps the best way to supply this strong con stitution Is to avoid Inbreeding. "For my purpose 1 prefer the bronze turkey and I am doing my beet to get rid of the white stock with which I staited out. I have found the bronze better foragers, htrdier as young poults, easier to fatten and heavier for the size of the frame. "I have found turkeys about as easy to raise as chickens provided one or two simple rules are observed In the care of the young. For the first two weeks I con fine my hens in dry, roomy coops, so ar ranged that the young birds can be .hut In until the. dew on the grass has dried and when it rains. 1 believe that more oung turkeys die from getting wet, either from dew or rain, than from any otijer one cause. "After the second week I cut one wing of each mother hen and turn her and her poults Into a xtnall alfalfa field near enough the house to have them driven Intu their coop should there he an appear ance of rain. When the poults are three months old they are able to look out for themselves and can be allowed to follow the hen with the flock. After the third month a turkey Is about as healthy as any fowl i have ever raised. "Perhaps I should also stale that tuy of the poults that are not up to the mark In health and appearance It is best to kill "JL. .:.v:jLV: : : VV. .-V-V.'.' ; . i to mmm. off or at least separate from the flock until it can be proved that they are worth keeping. Hest Food for Poults. "The best food for young poults during the first week Is wheat bread that has been soaked In milk. The first feed should not be given until they are thirty-six hours old. They should b given four times day with a midday meal of well baked corn bread crumbled fine and mixed with chopped hard boiled eggs and finely chop ped onion, with the addition of some red pepper. This pepper should be chopped very fine and mixed in with the onion be.- ioic utruiK ttuueu lo me uuier liigrcuieuis. "I usually give this corn bread mixture at night and once a day. If, however, the weather is stormy or chilly I let the poults have It both morning and evening. It is a very rich and concentrated combi nation and should not be given too often, t'nder no rlreoliiHtnneen shrioM th rum bread be poorly baked. "When I have It I also give my young birds pot cheese in place of the chopped eggs. The eggs and cheese take the place of meat, which is as necessary with tur- njn a n niui i n icm-iin. AIICI ine 11IMI wccl 1 begin to mix a small portion of mixed grain with the wheat bread and day hy day increase t lie ration until the bread drops out and only the mixed grain ro- mains. "My favorite mixture Is cracked wheat, hulled outs and cracked corn. In the fall when fattening the birds for market and after the grasshoppers ha ve ceased to be bountiful I add about 10 per rent meat scraps. As long as the grasshoppers last the turkeys much prefer lo gather their own meat. "To persons beginning the business I would givu the advice that they start on a small scale and learn from expedience. In addition to the rules already given, they should take care to place the coops so that water will not settle in them. These coops should be made so that they can be moved from place to place, and should never be allowed to shelter two hatchings of eggs on the same spot in the safue year. My husband has a succession of cow pei y using one one year and planting in It li-'B next. 1 follow the sume method with my tuikey pens.'' llotT lie l.ul Rich. He tiptoed Into our office und made seveial mysterious signs before we weie aware of his presence. "Mr." he said, when he was sine nobody else was listening, "Sii, I wish to give you the opportunity of interviewing the wizaid of toe uge." We replied with some feehl witticism to the effect that ha. I he brought it wl. him. but he continued: "Ten years ago. a temperance lecturer assured me thai If I would -ave the pi icn of my daily diinks. I would soon be uhltt to own Hint brick block aerors tile htieet. lie alMi laid ttial If evei y day I should de posit my cigar mom y. in ten eai s I should have saved enough to buy the de partment stole at the other end of the bhek." "Yes." we interrupted weurlly. "V heaid It before. You followed his ad vice and today you'd like to borrow" "To borrow nothing." cried ihe strainer. "Today 1 own those two buildings aiicfjf'lia whole block In between them. And I'll. local agent for Kiilumaroon whisky. I'.r I sell you a case, cheap." Cleveland Laadsr. BRANDEIS STORES