William W. Finney
2/23/1860
Today is our first president, the great George Washington’s, birthday. Excitement fills the air and all day long, grand festivities have been occurring. The most talked about event today is the celebration of George Washington’s birthday at sea by the crewmembers of the USS Powhatan and the Japanese ambassadors. Although I was not directly present at this event, I was working hard as usual at my station of the Pony Express, I heard about most of it from my USS Powhatan officer friends. Apparently there was to be a salute of guns but the winds at sea were too strong so the salute of guns and the entire event was postponed until the next day. However technically, the event was postponed to the same day because the USS Powhatan passed through the international dateline. My Goodness! How confusing that would be if I were aboard the ship! According to my officer friends, even though the celebration was postponed, the Japanese were nevertheless present and very respectable at Washington’s birthday celebration. The Japanese may have been a little too respectful, they were about to wear their most formal of attire!
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You must have had a very good time considering it was your countries first president's birthday. I met the japanese ambassador.
ReplyDeleteThe birthday of our first president may be a decent reason to celebrate, but maybe not during an incredibly fierce storm.
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ReplyDeleteI hope the weather didn't affect people's mood.
ReplyDelete-Fukuzawa Yukichi