Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-11-30
OUR THANKSGIVING DAYS.


ever observed in this country was
the celebration of thanksgiving day |
by feeble colony. It was local
incident, characteristic of the time
and the manners. 1t was an obseTv
ance by single small community,
who found no other means of express
ing to Almighty God their gratitude
for deliverance from famine. The
little band of colonists who had set
tied on a savage and sterile shore,
and who were threatened with exter-
mination by starvation and by 7io-
lent death, received succour from
home and were blessed with good
harvest. Their slender hold on ex-
istence was strengthened and renew
ed. We can family imagine the fer
vor with which they publicly gave
thanks for their temporal blessings,
and the sincerity with which the fam
lilies of the colony united in fitting
celebration of the day. The first ma
tional Thanksgiving was for SINH
lar special deliverance. The local
custom had been widely initiated. 1t
| first became an annual festival in the
colony of Massachusetts Bay, and
subsequently in the state of Massa-
chusetts. The six New England
states adopted thanksgiving, one af
ter another, and other states eventu-
ally followed their example, until,
when the rebellion broke out, nearly
every state in the federal Union had
its thanksgiving day. 1t was the
fashion at that time to observe differ
ent dates in different states, each
governor being guided in his choice
by independent considerations. There
was no uniformity of action among
the various state executives, each be-
inc law unto himself. In some of
the Northern states, contiguous to
each other and closely bound togeth-
er by social ties, it was thought ex-
pedient that each should have a diff
ferent date for thanksgiving day, as
that arrangement enabled the wan
deripg sons of the various states to
celebrate the festival in their old
home, as we'll as in the new. The
institution of national thanksgiving
has changed all that. Now eacf
state, and the whole family of states
observes the same anniversary.
In July, 1868, after season o.
great depression on account of tn,
military disasters of the nation, ;
succession of great victories electri
fed the people. During the earl,
summer of that year the hearts o
many patriotic men grew faint. |
seemed as if the end of our nationa
existence had come, and that all ou
hopes would 90 out in darkness. Th
fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson
the consequent opening of the Miss
issippi river, and the defeat of Lee
invading army at Gettysburg, wer
like grateful showers upon the parch
. ed earth. Young people who rea
. the cold historical account of thos
stirring events can never know wha
% a thrill of JOY ran through the pee
is pie. 1t was far more inspiritin
occasion than the arrival of food an
g clothing to band of suffering colo
ot nists, even though those colonisl
were the founders of a state. Pres
~ dent Lincoln, July 10Th, 1868, issue
proclamation calling upon the pee
&c pie to observe Thursday, August 6tl
a as day of giving thanks, inasmuc
as it had 'spleased Almighty God
Il hearken unto the supplications an
On prayers of an afflicted people, and
vouchsafe to the army and navy {
:! the United States, on the land an
- on the sea, victories so signal and s
effective as to furnish reasonab
as grounds for augmented confident
that the union of these states will
;o maintained, their constitution pr
l." served, and their peace and prosper
ty permanently secured" Anoth
an special season of thanksgiving W;
IS recommended by the President in d
cember, 1868, just after the victori'
GU of East Tennessee had expelled Il
80 rebel forces from that region
country, and had limited future mil
no tary operations to narrow compass
hit But the first national Thanksgivir
ng for general mercies and blessings W;
called by the President for the la
he Thursday in November, 1868, in b
proclamation of October 3, of th
year. This state paper of Lincol
- while it was penned in harmony wi
the established usage, could not,
IS, course, have been composed witho
r. some reference to the military even
then so prominent in mems mind
r. Accordingly, in addition to ''tl
'.s blessings of fruitful fields and healt
= : full skies, the good President desi
ed that thanks be given that pea
VS. had been preserved with all nation
e's in the midst of a civil war whi
an seemed to invite and provoke the a
ge gressions of foreign states and th
harmony had prevailed everywhe
except in the theatre of military co
- fiict; while that theatre had bee
.rv greatly contracted by the advancir
1 armies and navles of the Union.
Is The yearly thanksgiving now b
:" came established as national fes