The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-01

50 the sunniest part of the sunniest shed in
the village, il would be utterly impossible for
thSt pumpkin to rpen by the following
Tbu-edny without a word, they looked at
each oth,-v. and dismay sat upon every coun-
tenance. Then. assuring Dame Pater that
her case should reeve his earnest attention,
the Governor, followed b. the commiVVee' re-
turned to town. g,
When he got home he found all ne oitl-
zens, together with all the country people W."
had come to town, anxiously awaiting his re-
polt. When he told them what he and the
con mittee had seen, snch commotion arose
as never before was known in the town. For
while the Governor thought that there was
danger of q riot, and he had the militia-bell
rung. AS most of the disorderly persons be-
longed to the militia, and had to go to their
halls to put on their uniform when the bell
rang, comparative quiet was soon restored.
Then to the sensible people who remained the
Governor said that, as far az he was able to
judge of the matter, lhe could not see how he
could help putting off Thanksgiving Day; but
if any of them could think of any other expe-
dent bG should be happy to hear it. For a
tiIhe silence reigned, and people looked at
each other with blank faces. At last a happy
thought struck a citizen, and he cried out
Let somebody give her pumpkin"
Like flash of electricity, this idea ran
through the crowd, and altogether they set
up great shout
''Give her pumpkin"
The very lightning-rods trembled, and all
the weathercocks turned round, 50 tremen-
dous was the burst of enthusiasm Then
every man Of the citizens rushed home and
got pumpkin, and hurried away with it to
Mother Pater And every man among the
countrymen mounted his horse or his mule,
or ran as fast as he could and got n good
pumpkin from his pile and hurried with it to
Mother Pater. About sunset they began to
arrive, and in an hour Dame Pater's garden,
her front yard, her back yard, her cellar, her
parlor, her kitchen, her bedrooms, and her
| garret were all filled with shining yellow
pumpkins In the wood-shed Mother Pater
and Isham had to eat their supper; and in
that shed, although the night was cool, they
had to sleep.
The next day, these two arose to look at
their pumpkins A fine large one was Sc
lected for the Thanksgiving pies, and the rest
Dame Pater determined to give to the poor.
| So she sent out Isham on Mr.. SCOTS horse
| and gave him the dinner-horn, and he went
all over town and country for two days and
invited the poor to come and eat pumpkin-p pie
on Thanksgiving day. Hearing of this, a
great many folks gave flour and sugar, and
| butter (for, you know, they were all cheap
| in those days), and all the women set to work
and every one of Mother Pater's pumpkins
was baked into pies.
And on that Thanksgiving Day there was
not poor person anywhere within twenty
miles who had not as much pumpkin-pie as
he could eat, and even the smallest child had
a whole one. Everybody who was rich could
eat dinner that day without thinking that
anybody else was suffering; and everybody
who was poor had no occasion to envy the
rich. All looked happy and gay JOY sparkled
in every direction. l suppose the folks couli
have got up Thanksgiving dinner for the
poor, even if Mother Paters pumpkin had
ripened; but then, you see, they didn't think
of it.
AS for the Governor, he was we'll satisfied
with the way things had turned OUT but he
didn't want to put Thanksgiving Day in such
jeopardy again. SO the next year he made it
come a good deal later, when everybody's
pumpkins would be sure to be ripe and it
has been that way ever since.-HedJW Und
UODlf