The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-11-30

! THANKSGIVING. Let us. return TO it. W
! had heard the Proclamation. How dId
we respond to it? Well, nothing IN all
the official acts of the State, not even
| the annual election, ever set SO many
people astir. 1t was busy week that
| followed the reading of the Proc!alna-
| ton. 1t was fifty years ago, remember,
| and 10 the country. There were no rail-
roads then to bring us the fruits of every
zore. And there were no city markets
! niled with all the products of orchards,
! and vineyard, and fowlyard, and stall
| Our Thanksgiving feast could not be
| bought in the shambles. It had to be
made ready So there was endless
mastering of the farms resources.
! From stv, and stall, and perch, we
! brought in the savory meats; flesh OF
| swine, and kline, and fatted fowl. Day
and night the sacrifice went on. We
brought up the yellow pippins from the
cellar, and the great golden pumpkins
out of the barn, and made them into the
pie stuff that boys never get enough Of
! So the work went on outdoors and IN.
! Such marvels of things went into that
old brick oven, as no hungry boys had
ever seen before. Such rows and rows
of pies, pumpkin pies, and mince pies,
and apple pies, and custard pies, and
currant pies, and huckleberry pies,
enough to last pretty nearly all winter.
| That was how we made the Thanksglv-
! ing two or three weeks long. 1t was
! Thanksgiving as long as those mlnce
| pies lasted. And you have no idea how
! long they would last. unless you have
| seen what regiments of them the good
mothers of fifty years ago Led to mar
shall onto their pantry shelves. And it
was marvellous how long the careful
mothers of those days could make them
last a good deal longer than four hun
| cry boys used to think they ought to.
Never a taste of those most savOry
things did We get till the festival morn
ing came. Those New England mothers
knew how to get their boys ready to en-
| JOY the feast. And after the festal day
was over, where those regiments of pies
and things went to, who can tell? None
of the little boys, you may be sure. But
! they came to light, one by one, not too
often for health, but often enough to
make the Thanksgiving feast a long-cOn-
tinued joy.
So the festal viands were made ready,
and the festal morning came came in
white raiment often, all the hills and
meadows mantled in the purest spOtless
robes. We always looked for the first
generous snowfall about Thanksgiving
The snow had begunin the cleaning,
And busily all the night,
Had been piling field and highway
With silence deep and white,
we Just made the old farmhouse ring
with our w leone to the snow for that
meant the first sleigh ride Of the season
on Thanksgiving day; going up to the
! house of God over the cleaning snow and
| to the sound of merry bells. And so we
went, all but the busy mother That
| great brick oven was too full of the pre-
| cious things of the feast to be left I'M
cared for, and no hands but the mothers
own were skillful enough to make that
dinner ready. So she stayed by the
| hearth while we went up to worship.
Now do not remember much about the
worship. 1t was not meant much for the
boys, that preaching and singing of fifty
years ago. 1t was formal. It was stately
1t was reverent. 1t voiced the peoples
thankfulneSs. | can remember that. It
made mention of the dear Lords loving
bounty. L can remember that. 1t was
sincere and grateful worship. had no
doubt of that, And the sermon was gen
orally summons to some high duty,
some claim of God, or some need of the
State, or some incentive to worthy 10y
atty. So much / can remember. And
though it was mostly beyond a boys
comprehension, and though there was
no garlandlng of the sanctuary in anv
festal green ard bloom, nor any bringing
of the firstfruits and thankofferings-ut- |
terly bare of any beauty or anv token of
the peoples bounty those Old Thanksgiv- |
ing services were, and SO not the most !
attractive to US children, nor very inspir- |
ing as l remember them-yet somehow |
they we're helpful to US. We coupled |
the thoughts of the ALLOWING Father |
with our daily bounty, and we carried a |
more reverent spirit into our festive glad |
ness, for having joined in those stately |
solemnities.
But they were not the best of the day |
to US. That was in the home, by the |
glowing freside; around the great |
stone. | remember it we'll, that great
blazing fireplace. That was our festal |
place, in the dear old home, at the |
household board and the household |
altar. Sacred that memory is; sacred !
the story of that household joy. How |
can tell it? The faces that made it the !
gladdest are TRANSPORTED now, and the |
voices that made it such a sweet sol |
emnity are heard now only among the |
ransOmed. How can l tell you about |
it? That morning prayer of thanksgiv- |
ing. An now tne dear sanity fathers |
lips trembled with his great hearts gra- |
titude as he poured out his soul before |
God in acknowledgment of the dear |
Lords bounty in the harvest and grace |
in the home. Those were prayers for |
boys to remember. | shall remember |
them forever.
And then the feast of fat things at that |
festal board, with the good old grand |
father there, and the sweet and SANITY |
grandmother, and sometimes the uncles |
and aunts, and cousins; how many I |
never could remember. And such day
OF feasting; a whole long day. 1t was |
not all put into the dinner. 1t began in
the morning. ut was the grandest break |
fast Of all the year; and the grandest
dinner OF all the aces: heans nnon beans