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BOOK OF THE ROYAL BLUE.

PUBLISHED MONTHLY

COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY THE PASSENGER DEPARTMENT, BALTIMORE & OHIO RAILROAD.

(All rights reserved.)

WILLIAM ELLIOTT LOWES, EDITOR.

VOL. X.

BALTIMORE, OCTOBER, 1906.

No. I.

The New Baltimore & Ohio General Office Building at Baltimore.

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N September 13 the new General Office Building of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company was formally occupied, and for the first time since the great fire of February 7, 1904, have all of the general offices of the Company been brought together in immediate touch with each other.

The old Central Building, constructed in 1880, was totally. destroyed in the great fire, together with the building adjoining used as an annex. Fortunately the fire did not destroy Camden Station and the executive, operating and traffic departments of the Company had quarters which they could put to immediate use, while many other departments were widely scattered owing to lack of office buildings.

The phenomenal increase of business of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad since the receivership in 1896 naturally required a larger home to handle it in than was originally provided in the old Central Build

ing; and the new structure, which is the largest and most imposing building in the city of Baltimore, was most carefully planned and admirably executed to provide the most modern structure possible in which to conduct business with the quickest dispatch, greatest comforts and most attractive surroundings. Probably no building in the country was given more careful consideration to provide for the welfare of a great army of employes than this handsome structure.

The process of lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation is practically perfect, and the health of the occupants is unquestionably protected in every manner known to science. All air and water brought into the building is absolutely purified before it is distributed. Scientifically, the various processes introduced are most interesting, and will be described in a descriptive article later on.

THANKSGIVING OUR NATIONAL FESTIVAL.

BY F. J. YOUNG.

S

OON the President will call on the people to cease from toil on the last Thursday in November and to assemble in their places of worship and give thanks to God for the blessings of the past year. The Governor of each State will follow with a similar proclamation and the same day will be observed throughout the country. All, without regard to sect or creed, will approve, and so universal has this practice become, that few ever think that it is without authority of law. But one State provides that the Governor shall annually set a day for thanksgiving and while in several others it has been made a legal holiday, the proclamation of the President would be only legally binding in the District of Columbia, the Territories, navy yards, and arsenals.

Our Constitution makes no mention of God. An attempt to introduce an acknowledgment of a Supreme Being was opposed by Jefferson and other "free thinkers." In New England, and especially in Massachusetts, where the custom originated, this is the great holiday of the year-the day for the homecoming of separated families who try to meet under the old roof-tree once a year. We owe the origin of this day as a festival to the Pilgrims.

During the terrible winter of 1620-21, the little band in the Massachusetts Colony suffered greatly from want; the woods and waters supplied game and fish, but breadstuffs were scarce, and the scanty remnant of the grain they brought from Europe must be saved for seed. No one knew if the cereals would thrive under the new conditions of soil and climate, and anxiety was great. In the spring of 1621 the grain was sowed, and fields of the native corn, new to the settlers, were planted, and during the summer months carefully watched and tended. The religion of that day was a stern one; the belief in a personal God was strong, and each true believer felt that any misfortune to a family or colony was a direct punishment for the sins of some of its members. Frequent days of fasting and prayer were observed during the summer, as it was realized that a failure of the crops

meant a failure of the colony, if not starvation to its members. When toward the close of the summer satisfactory crops were assured, the settlers met to consider another day of fasting, but one of their number, said to have been the wife of one of the elders, suggested that instead of a day of humiliation one of rejoicing seemed more appropriate, and all agreeing on this, the first general Thanksgiving Day of the New World was set for August 10. So many days of fasting had been observed, that it was resolved not to make this a religious holiday, but one of recreation; each family was expected to render thanks in the morning and the rest of the day was to be devoted to pleasure.

Life among them had been very dreary, and this attempt to add a little brightness to it was eagerly embraced. The women devoted their efforts to making palatable dishes with the scanty stores at their command, and when it is remembered that there were no cows and but a score of hens in the colony, some of their limitations may be understood. The woods teemed with game-deer, partridges, wild turkeys, squirrels and rabbits abounded, and four of the best hunters were detailed to secure a supply. As the spirit of the occasion spread, a message was sent to the friendly Indian chief, Massasoit, inviting him to join in the feast with his white friends and to bring some of his head men, and so cordially did he accept that he appeared at daylight on the appointed day with ninety followers, and for the first time the Indians tasted some of the dainties of the white men. The usual Indian method of cooking was to roast meat on sticks or to boil everything in the same kettle. Now game

of all kinds carefully prepared, wild turkeys stuffed with chestnuts and roasted, fish and oysters, corn bread and pudding, sauces made of wild fruits and berries, with copious supplies of ale and rum, so pleased the Indians that they remained three days. Capt. Miles Standish paraded his little army of nineteen men in honor of the guests and had a few volleys fired, which showed the superiority of the musket over the bow and arrow. This feast was long

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THANKSGIVING-OUR NATIONAL FESTIVAL.

remembered and did much to continue friendly relations between the natives and the settlers.

Little rain fell during the summer of 1622 and the harvest was scanty, but poor as it was a day was devoted to giving thanks for it. From that time the custom was to hold a thanksgiving for any special occasion which seemed worthy, and sometimes we find several in a year. However, these were not festivals, but rather the reverse, as the exercises generally consisted of a sermon, sometimes several hours in length. These days were not set by a central authority, as now, but the proposal being made in a general meeting, and adopted, the Governor was requested to issue a proclamation. As the different colonies had different causes to rejoice, they set various days for these. We read of days to give thanks for the arrival of a ship from England, a timely rain, a treaty with Indians, or other objects.

By 1675 there were probably one hundred thousand white settlers in the New England colonies, and some of the farsighted Indian chiefs were becoming alarmed at the increasing numbers. In the spring of that year there was an outbreak of several tribes, who united to make a concerted effort to destroy the aggressors. The settlers were taken by surprise, and at first the savages seemed to be successful; many houses were burned and their owners killed or compelled to fly to the fortified towns, but by midsummer the rising was quelled and many Indians had been killed.

The leader, however, King Phillip, son of Massasoit, the early friend of the whites, succeeded in stirring up others, and in April, 1676, the war-whoop again resounded in the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The settlers united for defense, and the combined forces of the colonists soon convinced the savages their efforts were in vain. King Phillip was killed August 12, and receipt of the news the Plymouth settlers set the 17th of the same month as a day to rejoice and give thanks for the death of their implacable foe. As they were leaving the church at the close of the services, some soldiers came into view with the head of the fallen chieftain on a pole.

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Nine towns were destroyed wholly or in part in this uprising, and about six hundred

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white lives lost. The death of their leader dismayed the Indians, and the various tribes hastened to make peace.

For some years no Thanksgiving Day seems to have been set, probably owing in part to the friction between the Church and State authorities. On one occasion, when the Plymouth Colony had set a date for such a service, Governor Andross, who had not been consulted, cancelled it, and issued a proclamation setting a later day.

The first attempt at a national, or general, observance was in 1777, when the Continental Congress ordered the army and requested the people to devote November 1 to thanks for the capture of Burgoyne's army at Saratoga, and the following year proclaimed December 31 as a day of rejoicing for the alliance formed with France. In 1789, in the first Congress of the States, a resolution appointing November 26 as a day to give thanks for the founding of the new nation and the adoption of the Constitution was opposed by several members, one of them saying that he could not see why thanks should be given until something had been accomplished that the nation was an experiment and the Constitution untried, but the resolution was passed.

President Washington set February 19, 1795, as a Thanksgiving Day, but there was no further recognition of the custom until 1815, when President Madison, who had issued three calls for days of fasting and prayer during the War of 1812, set a day of rejoicing to celebrate the signing of the treaty of peace with England.

In 1817 the Governor of New York was the only one in authority to recognize the propriety of a day to return thanks for a prosperous year. From that time there was a steady increase of believers in this form of recognizing a higher power, until, in 1858, all the governors but six issued proclamations, Governor Wise of Virginia refusing, because, he said, the State had no authority in any religious matter, and he did not think it any of his business if people went to church or not.

In 1863 President Lincoln appointed two days, one in August to rejoice over the victory at Gettysburg, and another in November to give praise for the general progress of the Union cause and a bountiful harvest. These were celebrated in every

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LEVEE LULLABY.

BY VICTOR A. HERMANN.

Out on de levee when de sun goes down
En all de wohl' am still,

De ol' earf slips on a gray night-gown
En yu' heah det whippo' will.

De night owl hoots in de hollow tree-
"To whoo! To whoo!" he say;

Dess keep yo' eyes es tight es kin be—
Foh he cahhies li'l chillun away.

Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!
Sleep! on de levee side;

De riveh bells tinkle

En de lighthouse twinkle

Out on de stream so wide.

De ol' white packet wid de big stahn wheelCum glidin' down de stream;

Her engines throb en cross her keel—

Her red en green lights gleam.

Hark, det soun' fro de mis's so gray,

De San' Man's packet 's due,

Ah heah et's whistle-He's cummin dis

Cummin, mah honey, foh yu.

Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!

Sleep to blac' mam's song;

De stahs am gleamin'

En tads am dreamin'

way

When de. San' Man glides along.

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