Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-11-28

EVENING. NOV, 2e. iee'
The ,,enes,s OF Thanksgiving.

Il
giving Is the feast that enlists the most
general and hearty Observance, save
Christmas but it is not like
Christmas, season OF universal
pillage, where those who can least af-
ford, give, and those who can best afford
receive for 1t Is one Of the ironies OF
life that on the altar Of generosity only
real devotees lay their shrine. Hypocrisy
abides In nearly every other observance
of social convention. But Thanksgiving.
with none Of the terrors that Christmas
involves In gifts, or Independence Day, in
noise and turmoil, is a breathing time in
one way or another for every man ana
woman of the sixty million that make up
the citizenship of the Union. Doubtless
to the many, the origin, purpose OF pro
priety Of day for formal thanks Is OF
the yaguest but as the law proclaims
AZ day when no work need be done and
custom Identifies 1t with a dinner 81
nalized by the stalled OK and graced 10y
unaccustomed edibles, the millions eat,
drink and are merry in a sober sort of
fashion, dimly conscious that their Sc
date gormandizing is the ceremonial
appropriate to the tutelary of the day.
1t was John Milton who put the
Thankday" in stern divers head, and
the poet curiously enough engrafted
Greek rite upon the solemn and repul'
siye ceremonial of the Puritan ascetics,
It was with meekness, gravity and alb
stemiousness that the Thankday OF our
fathers began and ended. There was no
CAV anthem in the morning service, no
philosophic discourse in the dismal
meeting house, with the plmpered con-
gregation lulling in cushioned ease NO
organ to swell the glorious diapason Of
the sonorous anthem no color, no soft
&rpeted aisle to save luckleSs wayfarers
from the severe reproviug glance
of the deacons, massed over against
the pulpit. 1t is with the jocund god
of wassail and high cheer we associate
the feast the good Lincoln revived
from the gloomy ceremonial OF the
Puritans. To the Puritan it was day
of conservation from all worldly delights
"a day of biblical exposition in the
family circle, Of repose and solemn self
communion among the creature OF every
form and condition. Gratitude TO God,
In his iron bound creed could only be
shown in such signs and tokens as the
more liberal thought of to- day associates
with penitence, culpability and iebase,
ment. An empty stomach, a solemn
face, melancholy manner and woe
begone garb, were the external and in
ternal conditions the Puritan's rigid
creed held essential for the decorouS eX
preston of his fervor TO the Most High.
The races from whom Milton borrowed
the idea, were more philosophic if less
orthodox with those the days devoted
to the outward signs Of theinward grace
by which the mortal expressed his deyo-
ton to Deity, were made beautiful by
music, flowers, games and pageantry Of
an artistic sort. AS the essence Of all
things fair and elevatlng, the primitive
peoples emulated the supposed diversions
of the gods by forms and symbols call.
ing for the highest expression Of the
aesthetic. And curiously enough though
the universal creed recognized the pro-
pitiation of the deities by sacrifices ot
all manner of birds and beasts, with
affairs heaped with gold and precious
treasures OF the mine and loom, such day:
as we devote TO feasting were marked by
feshly abstemiousneSs.
Before the gods were exiled, Jupiter,
Juno, Saturn and the wondrous company
that filled the ancient world with eX-
quisite romance and poetry, the Cere-
monial Of national rejoicing was not
made up Of feasting. Forms OF beauty
and delight alling the mind, naturally
enough suggested q devotion of Thanks
giving, testifying the ideal, rather than
the incarnation Of the human. The
Romans victorious over the Gaul, Car.
thaginian, Volsci or Neryi, assembled
in the porticos, where the golden crowned
gods safe in marble majesty, and burnt
sacrifices, OK and sheep, to the pro
pitious hierarchy, while mulLitudes kept
the gala day in fasting. We have passet
through good many of the ringing
grooves of change in the process ,es that
have refined us from the mingled sen
suality and idealism Of the aucients
but it Is debatable question whether
our jocund day is as rational an expires.
sion of refined Thanksgiving rs the
mystic observances Of our ancient kin
Groaning tables and sparkling crystal
brown turkeys and the dyspeptic
cuisine OF the modern, have at least theil
virtue they soften the hard lines Of oul
toilsome and unlovely existence for
day at least, and il they do not leave u
in the spiritual frame, essential for fin,
thinking and devout homage, they bnC
us in more conviyial bonds. The trutI
that Is in wine and the generosity that i
engendered on full stomach, may no
be the divinest form of these virtues
but they are truth and generosity, AN
as such they elevate us ana better us fU
the day, He must be pretty miserabl
and woe'begone who cannot find som
cause of thankfulness under such sin
plifed conditions. The "rosy " has a
inspiration for the most stolid tn
most skeptical forget TO doubt before tn
well larded capon the joint Of roas
beer exercises the sordd cares Of If
from the bosom Of the most hopeless
aud tbia Ia In ifanIe A., 49,.