Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1890-11-27
A THANKSGIVING SKETCH.

A THANKSGIVING SKETCH.
WHAT MRS. FRANK LESLIE HAS TO SAY
OF THE NATIONAL FEAST.
Not so many years ago we all felt
that Thanksgiving was purely New
England festival, and 1 am afraid some
of us vaguely associated it with baked
beans and pork or salt Goldfish, those
traditional dainties of the Northeastern
States, as cabbage is Of New York,
"hog and hominy" of the West, and
pone, chicken and gumbo of the South.
But the spirit of union and true fra
fernity are actively at work in our great
nation, and year by year some little
prejudice or some traditional landmark
removed, and the United Statesians are
are less and less sectional and more and
more national. One symptom of this
growing unity is the growing observance
of Thanksgiving day in the Middle,
Western and Southern States.
Its appointment year by year from the
White House, instead of each State Sc
lecting its own day, is great step, and
another is the ever increasing facilities
of travel which carry Eastern people
West and South to perpetuate their be-
loved Feast, or on the other hand, makes
it quite possible for the scattered chill
dren to come home from California or
Oregon or Florida in five or six days,
eat some of "mother's plum pudding
and mince pies" and return to business
before they have had time to grow cold.
Of course to many Of US Christmas is
dearer and more important day, and
one devoted to family reunions long be-
fore the pilgrims saw Plymouth or the
Cavaliers landed at Jamestown; but
usage is stronger than reason in many
minds, and in some Of the States Christ
mas was for at least two centuries al
most forgotten feast, and In New York
its place was usurped by New Years
day, as in New England by Thanksgiv
ing.
The Dutch had suffered so cruelty at
the hands of Spain, the stronghold of
Roman Catholicism, that the Reformed
Church, the church of early Manhattan,
abhorred the observances Of Rome quite
as much as they abhorred the devil, and
were in their way quite as ultra-Protest-
ant as the Puritans of New England in
theirs.
These latter were 30 careful to avoid
correspondence with Papistical usages
that their day Of fasting, of prayer
meetings and of all penitential observ
ances was Thursday, which in the Ro-
man church is next to Sunday as a gala
day, while Friday was with the Puritans
the usual day for any sort of merry
making.
The oldest of all these transpositions,
however, was removing the weekly fish
dinner from Friday to Saturday, on
which latter day every well regulated
New England family sat down to what
was called 'salt fish dinner" which
seems, according to tradition, to have
been a very elaborate affair, for the fish
must be of the quality known as "dun,"
and to be perfectly cooked must be
packed between two white fish, the
whole being laid without bending in a
copper fish kettle and stepped, but not
boiled. The outer fish were then taken
off and thrown away, and the center one
was served whole with white sauce,
pork scraps, young beets, parsnips and
potatoes. This was the traditional 'salt
fish dinner" of olden times in Massachu-
sets, and the survival of the fttest" is
seen in the fish balls that still grace ev-
cry Sunday morning breakfast table in
New England.
Of course we all know that the
Thanksgiving feast was established in
the first years of their pilgrimage by the
Puritans as real and personal thanks
giving to God for the harvest which
came to the starving emigrants, and the
game and fish that swarmed in the au-
tumn upon their shores.
1t used to be almost matter of con-
science to pile the board with part of
everything grown on the farm-beef,
pork and poultry, with specimens of all
the vegetables and dainties compound
ed as far as possible of native products.
But nowadays so many of us live in
cities and towns that if we feasted only
upon the products of our own labor and
our own hands the majority of us would
fast, and both the means and the spirit
of personal thanksgiving have so gone
out of fashion that probably few people
realize the meaning of the word or their
own obligations in regard to it.
Some of us also have but little heart
for the giving of thanks or for rejoicing
when we look back at those who have
helped us to rejoice, and for whom we
now sorrow in lonely desolation. But
although we no longer care for the na
tional feast of delicate food and gener-
Gus wines because we shrink from the
Thanksgiving toast of "a bsent Friends"
as from blow, we may yet make the
day a joyous one by giving of our abun-
dance in material goods to those of our
brethren who have nothing.
For several years l myself, instead of
mourning beside desolate hearthstone,
have been privileged to go on Thanks
giving day to help friend well known
in philanthropic circles who gives real
ly good dinner to some hundreds of the
starving poor of our metropolis.
1t is no play work; but dressed in the