The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-17
r III A NJ * 8 G IvT N G..
Our Peculiar National Holiday, and
How it is Celebrated.
A Historical Resume-Thanksgiving
Day III the Pas.
HOLIDAYS In General

'al work and no play very well known, but not
so well understood by many people, The more evil
eiects OF all play and no work appreciated more
thoroughly in other countries than ours In Italy,
for example, where more than half the days are
saints days observances Of some Sort the people
grow idle and inactve but in our own country,
where the legal holidays OF the year summed up
in independence day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas,
we are pot so liable to that evil.
How pleasant as a school-boy the thought that
the morrow would bring relief from books and irk-
some tasks; that the morrow being Thanksgiv'in or
Xmas we were wont to write it, or, the school,
boys all glorious Fourth" would bring complete
exemption from all care and troubled The day could
be given up to the discharge of shooting
the pleasures Of sense, Of which we knew nothing
at the time, the delights OF games and stories.
For Thanksgiving and Christmas we were some-
times troubled with the awful phantom of long
church service In the morning We regarded it as
sort OF very narrow gate. through which had to
tug and squeeze before could enjoy the pleasures
beyond. To the New England boy the long Thanks
giving sermon was the greatest of all great earthly
bores He believed in expressing his thankfulness
sngly not in the presence Of the assembled congre-
CATION, and by the loss of whole precious morning
of holiday-time. 1t would be well for us If we re-
tained of our school-boy thoughts in our daily
life.
The American business man, as rule, confines
himself closely. lie has no holidays. He works
from morning till night-sometimes far into the
-,
legal holidays, when his store or office is closed, he
is often toilng behind the closed shutters. He
allows himself rest he takes no vacation in sum-
mer; he works until he is obliged to lay over and
vacate forever; and this for money only, which can
| do him no good, for he allows himself no time to
! enjoy it,
Every one needs recreation. Holidays are for this
purpose. A nation without them is sorry nation.
| 1t will become dull, insipd, worn-out nation. With
too many such vacations, the people become idle
! and lazy. The nation with the happy mean is the
| favored one
In our locality Christmas appears to be the most
| generally observed. New York makes the most of
| New Years. New England holds sacred Thanks
| giving. Christmas with us is the great season of
| iollifcation, of gft-making OF family gatherings
of kind greetings This is owing largely to our Ger
man element, by whom the day is held in the great
| est reverence New England observes Thanks
giving in much the same manner, though more
thorough appreciation Of the day is fast creeping
into this latitude
| Origin of the Day.
The annual festival of Thanksgiving is eminently
a Puritanical institution, which dates back for its
origin to the early colonial days of New England.
The settlers of that section OF country by the
religious prosecutions to which they were subjected
in their native land, imbded thorough and uncom-
promising hatred of almost every feature Of the
established mode Of worship The great festival of
| Christmas has from time immemoria been the ham
piest and merrlest OF the year in Merrie Old
| England'-the period TO which old and young alike
have looked forward for brief relaxation from the
labors and cares OF their daily life. For this very
reason if for other the Puritans came to regard
| it with feelings OF peculiar hostility. SO. anon
| establishing themselves in their new homes in the
| wilderness, they gravely resolved that the whole
thing was nothing short Of relic OF Papstry with
| out any foundation in Holy Writ, and they forth
| with proceeded to do away with it.
Still they deemed it necessary that there should be
set apart some particular day in the year on which
the people should keep holiday and also manifest
their thankfuness to the Creator for the crowninp
merces and avors Of their lives The latter part of
November was the period at which the chief labors
of the year were ended, and its substantial fruits
fully garnered. 1t was naturally a period of rest
| and relaxaton and what time could be more fitting
than this for returning to an all-mercu Providence
the thanks with which their hearts were swelling?
For this reason, Thanksgiving Day was fixed at this
| particular season of the year, above all Others
1t became by degrees established institution of
the State, the precise day being fixed and its faithful
| observance enforced by express legislation. The
| time was not uniform, however, in all the New Eng
land States. In two OF them, we believe, it occurs
| on the Thursday next preceding the last in the
month; while in the Others including Massachusetts,
| and Connecticut, it formerly came upon the last
Thursday of the month. In OF the other States
in the Union, far as we are aware has the subject
been thought appropriate one for the interference
of the law-making power. But In all the Middle and
Northwestern States the chief element OF the popu-
| lation of which has been drawn from New England
| sources, the day has been regularly observed for
! many years. on the voluntary recommendation of
| their respective Governors. The time fixed upon
| outside of New England for the observance of the
custom has generally been the last Thursday in the
present month.
President Grants proclamation OF this year whiob
has been concurred in by the different Governors
has appointed the third Thursday which makes the
! day uniform throughout the Union. This conforms
| 10 the legal appointment OF some New England
States while Others believe, have changed their
| statutes to suit
| The Universally of ThanlSsgfvinR
Considering the origin and early Character of tbis
great festival 1t may be matter OF wonder TO some
that it has become national and universal instit,,
ton. Restricted at first to the Puritans ana thai,
descendants and religious adherents IL has IN tha
| course OF two centuries established itself nm os
! footing in every creed. BY Catholic as wen 90 h,
! Protestant, 1t Is now observed In an apnronr,ato
manner, and even the adherents OF Judaism 40 NOT
ignore It, Nearly every place OF Christian worsbir
in the Northern States is now regularly opened f,
| special religious services which always have nav
ticular reference TO the day and its grand ohiac+
And being one OF the great events of the wear tha
ministers OF all denominations have been accns
TONED TO deliver for their Thanksgiving sermons the
ablest productions OF their thought and study
Ihis universal prevalence OF its observance how
ever mas only been gained at the expense of com
promise on the part OF its orignel founders Christ
mas, the very institution to supplant which =. ~
established, has likewise come into 0ood rar, ~ was
the descendants OF the Purtans and n 20 r "th
generally observed throughout New Eo"ost almost
IL is in Old England and the other saot,eu as
Union. NNns Vi the