Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-11-27
Thanksgiving


Thanksgiving day is coming. Love is
making preparations for you. Mother is
busy. All day her feet come and go, and
far into the night her labors extend. Watch
her as she hurries about. Was there ever
such face =? What makes that glad look
come to her features as she works ? It is
the thought Of those that are coming. Life
has been very busy with you. Its labors
have supplied you with diversion. Your
mind has been so occupied with toll and
pleasure alike that you have scarcely missed
her. But how she has missed you You
cannot imagine that visit which covers
but day with you, should be as a whole
year to her. And what discrimination as
she works How she remembers each childs
taste, and the things they longed for most
when they were all together. There is a
pudding for one made in the old way. He
is now a bearded man but well she knows
that he loves it still, the same as when he
was nothing but chubby boy. And there
is pie for another made just as she always
loved it best. She is woman now but
the gray-haired woman working at the table
remembers her as she was when she was
but q little witch" and had to be watched
lest she stole the " fixings."
And the father: he went to the village
store. last night. What purchases he made
Hadn't he and mother made the list out a
full day in advance2 And wasn't she GER
tain that he'd forgot that she charged him
with, and so she pencilled it down The
spelling? WE'LL never mind the spelling.
Love need not be learned.
And when father got home from the
store, and the bundles were brought in, and
the big pockets were unloaded-well, was
there ever such a sight Wasn't every one
scanned and counted to see what father
had forgotten" Oh, the pride of man in
his memory How it is humbled and
brought low in preparation for Thanks
giving.
"You couldn't expect me to remember
everything, could you :"
1t might have been sharp on any other
night; but the night before Thanksgiving
whose voice could be harsh at such a
time ?
And so the preparations will go on, friends
go on for you. Love is making ready tC
welcome you ;-farher-love and mother-love
the old dear home love. Don't disappoint
it. Plan so as to be there. Oh, the joy al
your coming Oh, the disappointment il
you fail to come The old wagon will be al
the depot waiting for you. Go home; &C
home; all of you go home. Thanksgiving
isn't Thanksgiving away from home
To how many the day will come and find
them away from home To how many
others the day will come and find them dis
tant from the home where they were born
exiles from the places of their nativity. Bu
to these, though they shall miss the happy
greetings-though they shall be unable t.
join the gay circle-still the day shall no
be in vain. Along what lines of memory
will they not be transported to those dis
tant homes How swiftly shall imagina
tion bear them on wings swifter than
birds, to the beloved spot and how viyidly
before their eyes will stand forth the scene
of their childhood. The doorway from
which, held in their mothers arms, the,
| first beheld the outer world. The gat,
through which, hurrying, they so Otter
passed. The familiar roadway the fences
the clump of trees the barn where the cat
| tie were housed the dear old well wher
their thirst was quenched-where have the,
found such water since ? The neighborinl
brook the pond the mill, that mystery h
young eyes. How yvidly will these scene
come to them And the faces that were
the sweet sanity face, the strong nervou
face; the sisterly and brotherly faces tn
faces that were and are, but not as the
were. Some have changed, as life her
changes others have changed into utmos
beauty as the life that is beyond changes
| How will the absent think of these Al
me, the faces the faces What is there il
all the past like its faces? What is ther
in all the future like its faces We ma
not look upon the face of God, no, not fol
ever for it might blind us as weak thing
with eyes just formed-things that come ou
of the earth-are blinded by the blaze of tn
great sun; but all other faces; all lesse
faces, beautiful with his beauty but less il
tense, we shall see-see face to face. Heave
would not be heaven without its faces.
And when the hour for the table-th
happy feast-hour comes, however wide
their wanderings they shall go home. The
may be on the sea; they may be on tn
land they may be on foreign shores an
under alien skies-scenes so unlike Ne
England's shall be around them-but whe
the hour which was wont to call them
the family table strikes 10 width of seas, Il
length of many lands shall have power
keep them from that room. They sha
Join the the rush of children and the gla
movement of statelier feet. The stron
man shall held the aged mother to her chai
The daughter shall steady the aged father
faltering step. They shall link arms an
join hands with those they love, and NOV
through doorways toward the ample boar
and with happy faces take their seat. An
the dear home-feast-th feast whose foe
is unlike, sweetly unlike, all food found G
any other table-shall begin-begin as it b
gan in the old days when they were NJ
wanderers, but lived at home with those
their blood.
Here's life and health and joy to the wa
derers, and happiest Thanksgiving memoirs
to them that are far away Golden Rule.