The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1871-12-08

which once hallowed the day is grown
to be, in a great measure, a thing OF
| tradition and the past.
Was it the abandonment of bake
ovens which did it? Who that ever
tasted can forget the aroma of those
dusky-red depths where yet the fra
GRANGE of blazing hickory fingered
What chicken-pies emerged thence
What brown bread, what unimaginable
piglets in crisp armor of cracking,
what ineffable pork and beansI No
wonder we cannot, in these days OF
water-backs, improved ranges, and
anthracite, emulate their perfection.
No wonder that the turkeys of the Pc
Rod all taste alike, and not one of them
like that lordly and well-remembered
bird which in the good old times pre-
sided ever grandfather's Thanksgiving
feast.
How delightsome was the long table
spread with the snowy drapery, with
grandfather and grandmother in the
central seats, all their sons and daugh-
tiers about them, and every grandchild
present, even to baby tied in his high
chair and fully alive to the dignity of
the occasion. How absorbing was the
interest with which we watched The
first incision in the plump turkey, and
made mental calculations, alasI far
too large, of the quantity we should be
able to consume! How our youthful
appetites failed US in the very prime
and heyday of enjoyment. How we
longed to eat more pumpkin pie, and
more how, following the advice of
our elders, we stood up and Jumped
three jumps" and then couldn't. How
even our favorite little tarts, crowned
with ruby jelly, passed by us unscath-
ed while we sat, replete and sorrowing
How we petitioned for wish bones to
pull, chicken spines for the construc-
ton of "jump-jacks," and longed to
have Thanksgiving come very Often in
deed, great many times in the year,
if not every day.
Shall we ever again see those marvel
Gus spheres, one for each person, where
on, in many colored segments, cranber-
ry pie and apple, mince, Marlborough,
peach, pumpkin, and custard, displayed
themselves like gastronomic rainbow.
Shall we ever rove with unsated fork
through a genuine, old-fashioned Iu-
dian pudding, of the kind which in
those good days bubbled day and night
over wood fires, spicy as Arabia, brown
as chestnut, faVorous, delicate2 Alas,
no! Their epoch is past.
Did those dinners disagree with any
bodyi We cannot remember that they
did. Now-a-days, pie-and-penalty are
too inseperably connected to admit of
mistake. Who hesitated then over q
second siicep who partook under pro-
test? "Give the little fellow all he
WanLs," said grandfather; sit won't
hurt him Bit" And it didn't.
Alasl we have wandered far from
those times of cheerful excess and
reckless indigestion. The keen relish
of appetite which made Thanksgiving
dinners so acceptable is no longer ours,
and we would not if we could recall
the delirious joys of greedy youth.
But let US be thankful still, as indeed
there is reason. And though the zest
and jollity of the anniversary are past,
and dust and darkness abide in the dear
homestead where once we frolicked,
the noble meanings of the Day remain
to enrich us if we will. Love, Rever-
ence, Charity-and the greatest of these
is Charity and remembering, as we
must in what infinite and bewildering
want this Thanksgiving sun shines in
that city so lately part of our national
boast, let us turn our regrets over the
past into hearty work in the present,
seeking, each AFTER his ability, to make
the sudden dessert again blossom as the
rose. Thus shall service be accepted as
oblation, and we prove not all unwor-
thy of those forefathers from whom we
inherit Thanksgiving Day.-SeribnSr' s
MO1thIh