In acknowledgment of all that God has done for us as a nation, and to the end that on an appointed day the united prayers and praise of a grateful country may reach the throne of grace, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the 29th day of November instant, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer, to be kept and observed throughout the land.

On that day let all our people suspend their ordinary work and occupations, and in their accustomed places of worship, with prayer and songs of praise, render thanks to God for all His mercies, for the abundant harvests which have rewarded the toil of the husbandman during the year that has passed, and for the rich rewards that have followed the labors of our people in their shops and their marts of trade and traffic.  Let us give thanks for peace and for social order and contentment within our borders, and for our advancement in all that adds to national greatness.

And mindful of the afflictive dispensation with which a portion of our land has been visited, let us, while we humble ourselves before the power of God, acknowledge His mercy in setting bounds to the deadly march of pestilence, and let our hearts be chastened by sympathy with our fellow-countrymen who have suffered and who mourn.

And as we return thanks for all the blessings which we have received from the hands of our Heavenly Father, let us not forget that He has enjoined upon us charity; and on this day of thanksgiving let us generously remember the poor and needy, so that our tribute of praise and gratitude may be acceptable in the sight of the Lord.

Done at the city of Washington on the 1st day of November, 1888, and in the year of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and thirteenth.

[SEAL.]

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

By the President: 
  T.F.  BAYARD,
    Secretary of State.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

REVISED CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 2, 1888.

In the exercise of power vested in him by the Constitution and of authority given to him by the seventeen hundred and fifty-third section of the Revised Statutes and by an act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States, approved January 16, 1883, the President hereby makes and promulgates the following rules and revokes the rules known as “Amended Civil-Service Rules” and “Special Rule No. 1,” heretofore promulgated under the power and authority referred to herein:  Provided, That this revocation shall not be construed as an exclusion from the classified civil service of any now classified customs district or classified post-office.

  GENERAL RULES.

  GENERAL RULE 1.