The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-11-24

"Ncxt yearv' interrupted the old
man, crisply. 81 will wait till next
year, 1 think. Come herer' he added,
catching at the nearest skirt, which
CHANGED to be little Sues "Come
here. and tell me what Thanksgiving is,
my dear"
Susie was not at all afraid. In fact
none of the children were. They were
too much amazed. too curious to feel
any other emotion; and. involuntarilv.
with Susie, they all drew close to him.
IL never thought it was q turkey, :"
she said, looking triumphantly up into
the old mans eyes. "1t's time-the
time when
"Good!' interrupted Father Thanks.
giving, delightedly. "The time when
what, my dearP"
1.-The time when turkeys get ripe, !"
continued Susie, solemnly; ''the time
to pick 'em. and roast 'em, and eat 'em;
the time when Aunt Joe says pumpkins
just ache to 90 into pies; time just
made for eatin'; when you can eat. and
eat. and eat-''
But Susie did not finish. The old
man was scowling again, and the funny
grown folks seemed suddenly to find
this an appropriate time to take their
handkerchiefs from their lips and scream
uproariously.
"You see! You scer' cried the old
man, impatiently, to Grandma. Then
he fixed his eyes on famous Jem. you
boy there" he said, ''you look like the
oldest. What have you to say about it?
Is she right, sir, do you thinkg"
Eyes" replied Jem, with an empha-
sis that brought fresh bursts of laugh
ter from the funny folks by the wall.
Then pray; boy: why is this called
"Why. because we give thanks"
continued Jem. regarding the old man
even more amazedly than before; "be-
cause we give thanks for all the turkeys,
and pumpkins and good things that
we have. The big folks go to church
and have prayers and a-preachin'; but
l can't see why at all. Think Thanks
givin' means givin' thanks; and givin'
thanks, eatin' on Thanksgivin' Day.
Eatin' lots aud lots! So that is how
do"
Grandma looked bit shocked at
Jemmy's logic. She would have gladly
put in a word of protest; but the old
man gave no chance.
ut is sometimes better to give thanks
by acts than by words, boy" he an
swered. right good humoredly, "as I
hope you will fully understand some
time. But come, now, do you know
anything about this great Thanksgiving
Day, outside of giving thanks? Aught
of its origin. its history Did you ever
hear. for instance, that one of the first
Thanksgivings of which wc have any
record in old New England was in
tended for a fast day, and was only
changed to q Thanksgiving day the
night before?''
"No," replied Jenny, quite aghast,
for his thoughts were on the final words.
And "No!'' echoed all the blue eyes.
and brown eyes, and black eyes, down
to little Sues.
Every WE'LL. then listen, all of you,
and see that you do not forget. To be-
gin with. think you are all bit curious
about me. Well, as told your Grand
ma, am the genius of the day. You
little creatures have heard of genii and
fairies, of course, and. as told your
Grandma, only live for this one day
of the year. The tact is, am rather
mysterious old fellow. and don't know
very much about myself; besides, as
you see, am very modest. old fellow,
so you will excuse me for passing on.
Thanksgiving was not always, as now,
a regular institution, popping up once
a year, but at intervals, according to
events. Not always in this land, but
occasionally in other countries. For
example, twice in England. between the
years 1914 and 1916, on account of the
victories gained over French Napoleon
and on the final restoration of peace.
Again, in India, in 1851, for the success
of the British troops. Then there is the
fifth of November, dating back to 1905,
which is marked in the English Church
service as Thanksgiving Day, in COM
memoration of the discovery of the
Gunpowder Plot You have heard of
Guy Fawkes-you boys, at least-and
how they put the powder under tho
Parliament House and were going to
blow it up.
But it was in this great land, nv
dears, that was born the permanent
Thanksgiving Day, and this is its his
tory. Long years ago. some very
worthy people lived in Old England,
toward whom other folks, who had
power. acted very badly. And so these
became so discouraged. so tired of per-
secution, that they left their homes. and
at last they resolved to 90 and live in
this great New World, of which thew
had heard so much. So the, packed
their goods, and with their families
sailed across the big ocean to America.
You can form no idea, in your happy
days, of what these poor people suf-
fered. 1t was good land they had
left, and this was then mostly wilder
ness; and, between cold and hunger
and other hardships. life to these emf
grants was very, very dreary. But they
were strongly religious people. They
trusted in the Great God; and at a verv
early period of their history in America
they began to ascribe calamity to His
frown and prosperity to His smile.
From this they came to. celebrating
regular Fast Days, and Thanksgiving
Days. the latter usually in autumn and
the former toward the spring.
1.-THE earliest Thanksgiving Day on
record in what was called the Massa-
chusetts Colony CHANGED, as have told
you, on an appointed fasting day, the
ed of February, 1882, and in this way.
The people had been in great distress
all winter. Provisions were scarce,
and they were obliged to live mostly ON
CLAIMS, muscles, acorns and ground
nuts. and these obtained with much
difficulty in the winter time A ship
had been sent to the Old World for
supplies; but it had not returned and
it was greatly feared that it was lost.
As the fasting day drew near, the peo-
pie were all discouraged. It was ru-
mOred that the last batch of bread was
baking in the Governors oven. and that
was sorry prospect for them. But
the good God did not desert his people.
On the very night before the fast day
from those who were watching hope
lessly for the ship were heard loud cries
of Joy. They had descried it, and pres
emily in it came. laden with the supplies;
on which account the appointed fast day
was changed to Thanksgiving day,
and v0rr r1au ho1sovo thar ~