The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1870-12-01
THANKSGIVING.


From IIarper's Bazasr.l
Our national Thanksgiving to God for III,
fruits Of the earth, like most other public
observances Of a religious character, finds it:
prototype among the devout customs of al
nations lifted above the savage state, even Of
those appearing ON the more remote border.
Of prehistoric times. In Abel's sacrifice Of
| the fruits of the earth we have simple
thank-Of1ering after harvest. And in their
autumnal festival Of joy for harvest blessings
Of the elder historic nations Hindoos, Ara
bians, Egyptians, Grecians, Romans, Ger
mans, Scandinavians, Muscovitcs-we find
the same thing in the form Of the worship
Of the feminine deity of Frnyalness. She
was Isl in India and Arabia, Isis in Egypt,
Deneter in Greece, Ceres in Rome, Hertha
(earth) and Sueri among the Germans and
Scandinavians. She was symbolized As a
woman with cows head in Egypt and else
where, 4 stately matron in more refined
Greece, and in old Muscovy, rs in the Ara
bian wilderness during the Absence of Moses,
by Il golden heifer. In October was the
joy and hilarity; in November the devotecs
mourned the departure of the Goddess OF
Fruitfulness
When the Christian Church was welded
to the State by Constantine, heather festivals
were added TO its simple religious memorials,
and from that period until now its liturgies
have contained forms Of thanksgiving after
gathering the harvests Of grain and fruit.
In the churches Of our English ancestors Il
day was set apart for that purpose; and in
the autumn of 1921 the remnant Of the En-
glish Pilgrims who had landed from the
Mayflower in December SHOWS on the bleak
coast of Massachusetts Bay, being devout
company Of men and women, perpetuated
the piOus custom.
You know the sad story of the sufferings
Of these Pilgrims for months after their arri-
val. Before midsummer half of them had
died. But the remainder had blessings to be
thankful for. Squanto, their Indian friend,
had taught them how to cultivate maize or
Indian corn. They planted twenty acres
with it, and fortified the soil with fishes
from the salt sea. As the season advanced
they found berries and grapes in abundance;
and they were delighted with the perfumes
of wild flowers.
All the summer long there was no want
among the Pilgrims, although the hot sun,
as in the season We have just passed through,
parcled and spoiled their growing pease and
some other vegetables. They had good
crop Of harley. and their corn yielded slfii-
cient to allow peck Of meal week for each
person. Cod and bass fisheries won ample
stores OF such food. Land and water fowls
were there in large tiocks. '.rhere was
great store Of wild turkeys, Of which they
took many, besides venisOn," wrote chron-
icier In single dav four men killed game
enough to last the settlement for week.
Finally the governor, rs a public act, sent
out huatsmen for fowls, So $50 that ihcy
might, wrote the chronicler, 'aiiera special
manner rejoice together after they had gath
cred the fruit Of their labOrs.' They then
had substantial log-buildings for the public
use, and sufficient dwellings of the same kind,
lighted by windows Of oiled paper. In these,
early in November, was the first celebration
of the great New England festival of
Thanksgivingover which Gov. bradford pre-
sided, while Elder Brewster led in the reli
eio,Is services of the occasion, and Doctor
Fuller, the Treasurer of the colony, acted
~ master of ceremonies. On that joyous oc
casion the men exercised their arms and
for three days the colonists entertained and
toasted Massasoit, the famous Wampanoag
sachem, and about ninety of his people, who
made contribution OF FIVE deer to the
tables.
Whether the maids and matrons OF New
Plymouth made pumpkin-pies with their bar
ley flour for the occasion, the chOniclers of
the day do not inform us. That these were
not long wanting we may readily believe, for
the Indians of Virginia were cultiyating
pumpkins when Raleigh's navigators were
there two generations before. We know
that roasted turkey was 4 grand Wand at
that first New England Thanksgiving dinner;
and very thankful hearts were there, for
summer sickness had ended, pleasant hearth
fires were blazing, and there was an abund-
ance Of food and fuel for their own Use du-
ring the rigorous winter before them, and
some to spare for the good C,lshman and
his thirty companions, who arrived in the
Fortune on the last day of the festival.
Such was the origin Of our national ies;i
val Of Thank-giving-m so by ac OF
Congress. II WAS never intermitlcd in New
England. And So it is that We, like our
progenitors oi elder Arabia, Egypt, Greece,
Rome, Germany, and Scandinavia, express
,ur gratitude in autumn for harvest blessings
10 the Great Giver, whom they ignorantlv
worshipped in symbolical embodimenis Of
fIea, and Moisture, under the names Of Isl,
Isis, Demeter, Ceres, and Hertha. They
Ill meant to thank the Good Father for his
,ounties, and were a. loyal to conscience
md duty as the Pilgrims or ourselves.