St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-11-29
THANKSGIVING DAY AT THE Pc
TERKINS'.
Who Came and What They Did.
Lucretta P. Hale in Good Housekeeping.


Eliza, "every body else has one, and j
seems so stupid not to have our own.
"But you know" said Mrs. Peterkin
"that we are always invited to AM
Maria BrOmwick's Z"
"And we always have a good Dime
there" said Mr.. Peterkin.
81 always eat some of each kind o
pie there" said Solomon John.
"And they never object to it," sale
AgamemnOn, "but instead they urg'
it,"
"They expect it, it is the regular
thing for Thanksgiving" said one o
the little boys.
"Still it is the CUSTOM" said Eliza
beth Eliza, "for everybody to invit,
their family to Thanksgiving. Nov
we are not of the Bromwick family
and it does not seem to me quite righj
that we should not have our own fam
lily party"
"But," said Agamemnon, "if every
body had family party, who woulC
there be to go to the family parties 2
This was difficult question. How
did other people manage itf
The BrOmwicks had not very large
family of their own, so they could in
|
Thanksgiving dinner, and had been
glad to do so for a number of years.
"They had two side-tables the last
year," said Elizabeth Eliza, "because
they had their grandmother and cOus
ms on from the West"
Yes, the little boys had been placed
at one of the side-tables, and had a
separate turkey, and separate pies.
owe had individual pies" said the
little boys in an explanatory chorus.
Cam Maria told me she expected
their grandmother and cousins this
year, and an uncle and his family from
Vermont" said Elizabeth Eliza
at really seems as if we ought to
have our own family party" said Mr..
! Peterkin.
eve ought to have chicken pie be-
sides the roast turkey" said Mrs. Pc
terkin.
"And oysters, too" exclaimed the
little boys, ave had oysters at the
Bromwicks' last year."
81 think oysters are little of an in
nOvatiOn," said Mr.. Peterkin.
alt depends on how many we have,"
said Elizabeth Eliza.
"My mother always had pumpkin
pie" said Mrs. Peterkin. eff we have
a Thanksgiving dinner of our own,
should prefer pumpkin pie"
"Pumpkin pie seems the national
thing" said Mr.. Peterkin, "still we al
ways had squash pie for our Thanks
giving, and L am not sure but squash
is as truly New England as pumpkin"
81 think pumpkin is more Connect
cut" said Mrs. Peterkin, "and our an
cestors on both sides came from Con-
necticut."
"Both is as good as one," exclaimed
the little boys.
81 really do not see why we shall
not have both," said Elizabeth Eliza,
In a cOncillatory manner, and so this
matter was decided.
"Then we ought to have doughnuts
in the morning before going to church"
said AgamemnOn.
This had always been one of the
vexed Thanksgiving questions in the
Peterkin family.
When Mr.. Peterkin was boy, it
had been the custom in his family to
furnish dOughnuts in the morning be-
fore going to church or 'tO meeting,"
as the phrase went.
Mrs. Peterkin had never smiled upon
the institution. She had been brought
up to the plan of saving the appetite
for the Thanksgiving dinner, and
would never allow even IA luncheon on
that day.
But as they were now instituting
their own Thanksgiving day, she
yielded to the argument that they
ought to take in all the family customs
of both sides of the house, and she
granted the early doughnuts, especial
ly as they were likely to have dinner
as late us half past two.
AgamemnOn had been thinking dur
ing this last discussion.
al do not yet see," he said, Chow it
is. If every family has Thanksgiv-
ing dinner, how is it that any are left
to go to Thanksgiving dinners And
yet we see that Thanksgiving dinner
parties are very large, SO that they
have to have side tables as at the
Bromwicks' 2"
eyes," said Solomon John, "and this
uncle and aunt who are coming to the
Bromwicks' this year-why do not
they have their Thanksgiving in YER
mont, and then they would not be
coming here to take up room at the
Bromwicks' table or why does not the
grandmother from out West, go to the
uncle and aunt in Vermont, instead of
coming here to the BrOmwicks'
This was difficult question. If the
Bromwicks had u family party, why
did not they ask their relatiOnsP On
the other hand, why did not the Peter
kins ask the Bromwicks ?"
81 never thought of the question in
that way BEFORE" said Elizabeth Eliza.
"The Bromwicks used to ask us, as
they said, they we're a small family
and they wanted to make out a large
party for their Thanksgiving. [ do
not see why it should not have worked
the other way. Because we are a
larger family, we might have invited
the Bromwicks."
81 am thankful it did not work So"
said Mrs. Peterkin, "fOr Mrs. BrOm-
wick is so particular, know she would
have wanted something else in the
mince pie"
This brought up the question of
mince pie.
''ShOuld they have citron in, and CT
der and cinnamon and mace and cloves
and allspice
Solomon John and the little boys
were of opinion that all kinds of spice
ought to be put into their mince pies,
indeed everything that ever was put
into a mince pie.
Agamemnon thought they ought to
take the recipes for mince pie of the
grandmOthers on each side and make
Il combination of the two.
Mrs. Peterkin thought their regular
family recipe was as good as could be
found, and she was sure nobody had
ever objected to her mince pies.
Elizabeth Eliza said there was time to