The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-12-01
Old.Fashioned THANKSGIVING.


The first public Thanksgiving in New
| England was held in December, 1921,
about a year after the landing of the
Pilgrims. The harvest having been
gathered, and the severest labor of the
year having ended, the Governor sent
out four men, with guns, to procure ma
| terial for feast, that in a special man
ner they might rejoice and give thanks.
The day was, as its name would Indicate,
day of thanksgiving to God for his
many mercies. 1t was also a day Of
general rejoicing. In short, it was re-
! Hgiotts festival, without the formality
and restraint of the ordinary Puritan
Sabbath festival in which religion
did not exclude sociality, but in which
the two were happily combined. As
the colonies grew in size and in num-
| bers, and friends became scattered,
Thanksgiving gradually came to be
day of reunion of families, day when
all the children returned to the old
homestead to meet familiar faces and
exchange friendly greetings. Still, it
maintained the same general character.
1t was pre-eminently day of public
thanksgiving, day when all united to
praise the Lord and to return thanks for
blessings, special or ordinary, for peace
ouO OSpClAbJl AOA oOunudub ndAN NGSbSg
and for freedom from any public ca
lamity.
1t was customary also to remember,
at this time, Gods goodness to US as
nation. His providential guidance of the
Pilgrims to our shores, and his merciful
| protection of their interests. They ac-
knOwledged also the blessing of good
| government, of free schools, and of lib
erty, equality and justice to all man.
kind-which blessings they fully en-
| joyed, as they supposed. 1t was also q
day of private thanksgiving, when in
dividuals called to mind whatever mer-
cies they had received, and expressed
their gratitude for the same.
All hasten to the village church,
where the pastor directs their thoughts
above, and urges upon them the duty of
obedience to the "Father of all mer-
cies." Then comes the dinner-the
old New England dinner, so famed in
song and story; the table filled with
good things and surrounded by happy
faces; for moment, all voices are
hushed, while the aged sire, with beau
tiful simplicity, invokes the Divine
blessing. Again, at evening time, after
the pleasures of the day, the whispered
secrets, the delightful little chats, the
romps and games of the children are
ended, the grandfather calls them all to-
gether, and, taking down the old famil-
lar Bible, reads therefrom a chapter,
and, all kneeling, he pours out his soul
in praise to God for this THANKSGIVING
day and all its privileges.
Such was the day to our fathers-a
day of thanksgiving and rejoicing. Now
what is it to US? Has its character
changed: yes, to some extent. 1t is still
a season of religious and social festivity,
but the order is reversed. 1t is no long
er thanksgiving and rejoicing, but re-
jOicing first, aud thanksgiving some
thing secondary and of less importance.
Thanksgiving day is gradually losing its
old religious flavor. All the sociality is
retained, as it should be; but the relig-
iOus element is being slowly crowded
out. Public services are, it is true, held
in our churches; but too often the
preacher makes it an occasion for ex-
pressing his political views or display
ing his knowledge of the principles of
government-all of which is entirely
out of place in the pulpit, and the ten
dency of which is, not to awaken graft
tude in the hearts of his hearers, but to
engender strife among them. Further
! more, the custom of attending public
services on this day is rapidly becoD-
ing thing of the past.
Again Thanksgiving day is getting to
be more of a name than a reality, on
the part of individuals. AS the COM
! forts of life have increased with the pro-
gress of civilization, we have learned to
take them as a matter of course, with
out considering from whom they come,
not that we are less grateful than our
fathers, but that the day of gratitude is
less faithfully observed by US than it
, was by them.-N Y. Observer.