The New York herald., 1868-11-26
Thanksgiving Day.

This is Thanksgiving Day. The Lord be
praised It is an institution of the ancient
children of Israel, adopted by the Gentiles and
handed down to this people through the
Pilgrim Fathers of New England. Some of
the peculiar institutions of those hard headed
old Roundheads-such as the African slave
trade, the burning Of Quakers and the drown
ing Of witches-have fallen into decay; but
their annual thanksgiving, whether for the
determination of tribe of Indians good
run OF mackerel or an extra corn crop, has
never failed Moreover, it has grown with
the expansion of the universal Yankee nation,
until this year and on this day thanksgiving
will be celebrated not only through all the
Northern States, s'excepting Indians not
taxed, but in each of the Southern States Of
Kentucky, North Carolina and Alabama,
under the appointment of the Governors and in
Difference, no doubt, to President Johnsons
national Recommendation; for Johnson is
believer in prayer and praise, though he does
not parade his piety on all occasions.
The officially declared purpose of the day is
thanksgiving to Almighty God for His gracious
dispensations to MS as a people; but the real
business of the festival, according to the
orthodox Massachusetts ritual, is of carnal
nature-roast turkey and cranberry sauce,
pumpkin pies, doughnuts and hard
cider, to say nothing of whiskey.
How many turkeys, chickens, ducks,
geese, &c, will be consumed this day
between Portland and San Francisco can be
reckoned up only by Barnum's ''lightning cal
culator" or by Barlow's ready reckoner of the
Maine election. We recoil from the task;
but we must appeal to Mr.. Bergh if this uni
versal work of slaughter in the barn yard, as
feature Of this festival Of prayer and praise
does not involve something Of barbarian
cruelty to animals? In times long gone by
sacrifices of sheep and oxen were made to
the Lord. We look back upon those religious
rites as the usages Of an age Of barbarism;
but have we not the very same things
thinly disguised in a thanksgiving dinner?
Are we, after all, much better than those
chosen people Of the Lord, the fighting chill
dren Of Jacob, or the heathen Greeks Of two
or three thousand years ago?
II Is a remarkable fact that until of late
years this thanksgiving festival was confined
almost entirely to New England and a few
other Northern States leavened with Cotton
! Mather Puritanism. The Southern States.
settled originally by adherents of the Church
of England and by the cavaliers or royalists.
as Virginia, North and South Carolina and
Georgia, or by Roman Catholics, as Maryland
and Louisiana, escaped the engrafting of
Puritan institutions. Hence in the South,
until within the present generation, they
had no thanksgiving day, but, accord
ing to the good old times in England,
,.nder ''the merry king" Charles the Second.
they had, negroes and all, from Christmas to
New Year, regular jollifcation, including a
large consumption Of gunpowder; but Christ
mas was the great day. In New York the
original Dutch, with their schnapps, onions
and red herrings, brought over good old Santa
Claus and his Christmas presents for the
children, and those dear, delightful family
receptions Of New Years day, in which the
ladies reign supreme. ...r
The Puritan institution OF thanksgiving has
expanded mainly because II 10 the occasion Of
happy family reunions--a thing not intended
by the Pilgrim Fathers, we guess, inasmuch
as they were opposed to bear-baiting, not
because OF the pain it gave the bear, but be-
cause OF the pleasure II gave the spectator.
They contemplated no Arab feast Of Bairam
in this thing, nor yet the green corn dance Of
the Cherokee Indians, nor even the Jewish
festival Of the Passover, but day Of prayer
on diet Of cold pork and beans The South
ern institution Of Christmas still survives and
will survive, because II is free from all Puri-
tanic sourness and cold formalities, and our
| New York institution Of New Years, having