Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1858-11-25
The Festival OF Thanksgiving.

it in words meet for the festive occasion So
also have the Governors of Maine, New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecti-
cut, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Wiscon-
sin, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mis-
sissippi, Missouri, and Minnesota, and the Mayor
of Washington, each and all setting apart
Thursday, the 25th of November, for the Festi-
val of the Heart and the Home. The good
people of Twenty-one of the Thirty-two States,
and the Capital OF the Union, will therefore
unite in Festival which GEORGE WASHINGTON,
when President by Proclamation made National
The Yankees in far off California, Oregon and
Washington, will swell the Thanksgiving Hymn
as it journeys with the westering sun from the
Atlantic to the Peaceful Ocean, and in
Old One Hundredth-noblest tune of tunes !"
will sing with Puritan spirit and understanding
the grand Doxology;
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him, all creatures here below,
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost"
Wherever New England Men and Women
have gone, they have carried Thanksgiving with
them. Scattered in whatever cline they may
be, its recurrence awakens the old home sympa-
thies and retrospects, the re-eommunion of
hearts separated by the changes of fortune or
the calls of duty, and warns the household
affections by the freside hearth of the past 1t
takes the memory right back to
- The Puritan's Thanksgiving Eve;
When gathered home, from lresher homes around,
The old mans children keep the holiday
In dear New England, since the fathers slept
The sweetest holiday of all the year"
Thanksgiving has become so Nationalized that
its observance is no longer peculiar to those
who confess New England origin 1t will be
observed with less ceremony perhaps, but with
equal heariiness in multitudes of families where
love will crown the feast without the slightest
tinge of The Puritanic spirit. To such it will
be Social Festival, none the less abounding
in good cheer and in good will to men," Such
will read the Governors Proclamation and a
sensible Home sermon like BEEcHER's with a
relish, holding with Proverbs, xvii, 3d. that "a
merry heart doeth good like medicine, but
broken spirit drieth the bones" Therefore as the
son OF the wise man exhorts:
"To be thankful this day is duty both en-
joined upon US by the Executive authority and
urged by our own feelings of what is fit and be-
coming. Thankfulness implies content-con.
tent indicates good humor-good humor is
cheerfaness-and whose has a cheerful heart,
has perforce merry one. 1t is therefore as
clear as preaching, that King Solomon and the
Governor are both of one mind as to the proper
way of keeping Thanksgiving, and where is
the son of man in this Commonwealth who will
undertake to controvert their joint authority"
$50 let US all be reasonably thankful, and not
unreasonably may we also be of a merry heart |
Let those who are in health be thankful for their |
good case and those who are out of health be |
thankful that they are no worse. Let those |
who are rich be thankful for their wealth and |
those who are poor find cause for thankfulness
in having so little to do with the root of all evil
Let old folks be thankful for their wisdom in |
knowing that young folks are fools, and let
Young ones be even with them in thankfulness
and good opinion, by thinking the compliment
back again. Let the lean folks be thankful for
their spare ribs, and let fat folks be thankful
that they can laugh at the lean ones, and grow
fatter and fatter every day. Let him who is in
debt be thankful that he is not in limbo for 1t
and let him who is out of debt do the same, and
call at our house and let US know what sort of
a feeling it is
''Ghe words of the wise man are as plums in
pudding; they are to be swallowed with the
gravy of discernment, and laid to the heart in
the sweet sauce of quiet reflection. Let no man
look upon Turkey to-day, and say, ''This also
is vanity :" What is the life of man without
creature comforts, and the stomach of the son
of man with no aid from the tin kitchen! Des-
pise not the day of small things while there are
pullets on the spit, and let every fowl have fair
play between the jaws of thy philosophy. Are
not puddings made TO be sliced, and pie-crust TO
be broken! Go thy ways, then, according to
good sense, good cheer, good appetite, the Gov
ernor's proclamation, and every other good thing
under the sun; render thanks for all the good
things of this life, and good cooking among the
rest; eat, drink and be merry; make not lean
laudaton of the bounties of Providence, but let
lively gusto follow long grace. Let the smoke
ofthe right sacrifice everywhere ascend from ev-
cry pewter platter let every slice be savored with
the salt of sincere faith the pepper of pety and
a liberal out-pouring from the mustard pot of
mercy and aims giving let every morsel be
chewed with the tooth of charity, swallowed in
goodly SAVIOR of a clear conscience, washed {
down with the sweet cider of single hearted s
satisfaction. Let both dinner and doctrine go
straight to the heart, edifying both the inward
and outward man, and may we conclude the
feast by picking up the crumbs of calm con-
tent" {
New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Z
Rhode Island held Thanksgiving on the 18th Z
inst, and Vermont viii keep her Thanksgiving
December 2nd. These States missed figure {
in not joining in the general Festival Not a
Governor should be reelected /