Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1885-11-27

From the Caterer for November by Cato
notion on her kneeSl Hark while she lifts
Her thanks to Him who guides her life and
holds
Her destiny so sure.
Bow low, we people;
Swell fLom every home-from every heart
That boasts its birth beneath her favored skies.
Joseph Wilton,
Among the days of the year that
give special z3st to life ard lifts from
our shoulders, for the once, its bar
den OF care and worry, Thanksgiving
is certainly not the least in importance.
FIreside delights ale as necessary 10
the happiness of the average Amefi-
can as the air he breathes is to bis ey-
lstence. 1t is the memories of these
that the approach of the day pictures
| upon his heart with tender tints; and,
in the foreg round, he sees the joys OF
home, kindred, peace, contentment,
feastlng-all ming led in sweet coz
fusion and harmony of tone
True, touch of sadness may shadow
the picture. Many, perhaps most of
us, when seated round the festive
board, may have known the eye to
swim and lip to culver at the sight of
an empty chair. Yet even this, if
our feelings are IN proper training,
will not mar the day, but only prove
its power TO level the Wall of Death
and bring our souls in closer sympathy
with those that lie behind. So will
they live again with US during the
sacred period, making their voices,
their virtues, their examples ours, to
cheer and cherish and to lead, that
we may safely thread our way through
the windings of the thoroughfare that
lies as yet before us all.
That we should have season of
THANKSGIVING in which to express
our gratitude TO Him, the giver of all
good, is duty doubly binding upon
us. Not only has He given all that
is needed for existence, but He has
added thereto manifold things with
the sole end and intent of making
that existence pleasure BILE. If man
times fails in the full enjoyment of
them, the fault is his. Desire, capac
ity and reason have seen given him
that he may the better appreciate the
blessings bestowed; and if he makes
bad use of three such attributes, the
conclusion is plain that he woald not
make good use of a d, zen others if he
had them
There are some disconnected mort
ais IN the woodland, perhaps, it
it would not be world without them
who. declare they nave nothing to
be thankful for; that Thanksgiving
was made for the rich, not for the
poor. An assertion we will not dis
pute; but. the possession of dollars
does not constitute riches, nor the
want of them poverty. There is many
a man, rich indeed in all the wealth
the world can bring him, who gets
very little out of his dollars, unless il
be anxiety and misery, and these are
not exactly the kind of riches for
which he feels like being thar kful
No. The truly rich, indeed, are the
enes for whom Thanksgiving was in
tended and made, and of these he is
richest who is contented with the
least. Men aid myriads of them
have found and could tell the world
the solemn difference that lies be
tween true and false riches-could
they come from the grave to do so.
But Gus philosophy is running away
with US aud make us forget a very
important adjunct to THANKSGIVING
or rather something moro than an
adjunct, for it has become, we may
say, part and parcel of TIE day itself;
namely, the turkey. Custom now
mixes feasting and mirth with most !
of our celebrations, though the events |
thnry no naT,as. 40 To In coaroI {haI., |
origin religious in its character. And, |
in this, custom is wise. There can be |
nothing very wrong in the enjoyment |
of those things which have been given |
us for the purpose; indeed, to refrain,
would be as Milton says, an evidence
of ingratitude to the Oliver A free
and cheerful mind, too, especially at |
hours of meat, is one of the souudest |
sureties for long life. Hope may be
the anchor, but mirth is the cable |
whose unrusted links hold our craft |
from dashing on the rocks.
But to return to our turkey. How |
or when this delicious bird first be
came such an important feature at The
Thanksgiving feast we are not prepar-
ed to say. That it is worthy of its
place at any table is the opinion of no
less an authority than Brillat Savarin
who says:
1.-THE turkey is, assuredly, one of
the noblest gifts of the New World
has given to the Old. 1t is the larg
est, and, if not the most delicate. is at
least the most savory of our domestic
fowls. 1t also has the exclusive ad
vantage of assembling around it all
classes of society. When our vine
growers and farmers give feast on
long winters night, what do we be
hold turning on the spit before hot
fre2-a turkey. When the useful
manufacturer, the hard working arti-
san wishes to give a treat to his
friends, the obligdtO dish Is turkey
stuffed with chestnut and sausages.
And in our high gastronomlc circles,
ia those select reunions where politics
are obliged to give way to a disserta
ton on taste = which is expectsd7
What is brought up at the second
course truffisd turkey"
This general gastronomic fitness
is quite SIS fully appreciated in the
new as in the old world, and from
up into the month of
February, or even later, the turkey
has little respite from its martyr5om
to the greed of man, and continues to
grace with its juicy presence the tables
Of all classes that feel pecuniariiy
able to pay for it. Indeed, where de-
all the turkeys come FRONT" is quite
IS often asked as that other problem /,
attic one, which has been pulling Inc
brains of all humanity. regarding the
destiny of the pin. We trust, howev-
sr, that no dearth In the supply will
ever be serious enough to cause Us any
yastronomic Inconvenience, and that
The nation, as she meets ths day upon
he rim of the revolving years, win :
be ever ready with the prayer upon
aer lips. Heaven bless Thanksgiy
NO and the turkeyr