Arizona republican., 1892-11-20
HISTORIC FEASTS
EARLY THANkSGIvlNGS AM
 EVENTS WHICH LED TO ru,R

U" "i'h MaSsasoh
 Their Guest-A Curious LoD.
 c.,o ''o"s- Ias4
 We wonder how many boys and know the facts which we shall ten sis
 about this holiday. How many te t.ae
 stance, can tell in what year thes,r&
 first observed? To recall the eva Ss stances of the first day of Thanks-;.
 may serve to remind us of how o" ,
 more we have to be thankful fo, s
 had those early pilgrims. Historv ,-~ .S us that of the l02 emigrants that I,,se e on the bleak and rocky coast of C Cod bay in the winter of 1920 ,lsF half died before the following v--. ,s,N fairly set in. Today in our copfo,tag country and city homes we cannot Ds a- imagine the sufferings of the survir,, both from destitution and the inclo,,.'l, weather, which they were not pren,,', either as to clothes or habitatior,] ]a brave. The most of the brave nao,' were not inured to hardships Gm.r' them were gentle and delicatelv r't tured men and women.
 They staked and laid out two row, ;, huts for the nineteen families that c,. prised the colony, but within the f-s year they had to make seven times mo, graves for the dead than houses fo, g living. Notwithstanding all their t-,i. and hardships these brave founders If. great and glorious race had so much f., which to be thankful that they ba5t appoint "an especial day on which to gv. especial thanks for all their mercies
 So they agreed among themselva that, since their prudence and fo,. thought had been so wonderfully blesss3 of God, they would send out four ns, hunting that they might rejoice togetbs, in a special manner after the fruit if their labors had been gathered. Ar cording to the historian, barley and h. dian corn were their only cropS tb, "peas were not worth gathering, for m we feared, they were too late sowpr This was under the good Governor Brad. ford. The four men who went huptir, brought in as much game as served tbs company for week. The recreatjop of the day consisted of the exercises 4 their arms-Massasoit, the Indian chisi and ninety of his men coming amorg them for three days, during which time they were entertained and feasted tv the colonists, the Indians killing and bringing to the feast five deer. Tbt was in l621 and was the beginning of Thanksgiving day in America.
 The next New England Thanhgiviug day was in July. 1893, which had been appointed a day of fasting and prayerm account of drought. While the peopls were praying rain fell abundantly and the governor appointed it instead day of thanksgiving. In June, l632, Gov. ernor Winthrop, of the Massachusetts Bay colony, invited the governor Of Plymouth colony to unite with him in day of public thanksgiving because the action of the British privy council had been favorable to the colonies. In Mas. sachusetts Bay colony old records show that days of thanksgiving were 3D. pointed in 1632, 1884, 1637, lG3S and 1883 and sometimes on more than one day in the same year. In Plymouth We find mention of one in 1851 and again in l66a In 1880 it seems to have become an sn. nual custom.
 During the revolution it was annually recommended by congress; then there was thanksgiving for peace in l1a, and in l7S9 President Washington rec. a day of thanksgiving tr the adoption of the constitution. h 1795 there was one for the suppresSOn of insurrection, and in April, 1915, the president appointed day of thanks giving for peace. In New England, during all this time, however, annual were issued by the gov. ernors of the various states officially recommending the religious observance of the day, where indeed it became tht principal social and home festival of the year.
 During the war of the rebellion Pres ident Lincoln appointed special thanks giving in 1862 and 1868, and national proclamation of annual thanksgiving was issued in 1863 and 1864. Since that time the president, as we'll as governoE and mayors, have issued such prOcla- nation annually.
 One of the most remarkable thanks givings on record was the custom ID Southampton and Easthampton, Long Island. Montauk Point, consisting Oi about 5000 acres, was owned by numer' Ous proprietors in those two towns. They used it as a common pasturage for then stock. The time for driving the focE home for the winter was fixed at by the town council, land came," says the historian, "to be rule from the period beyond which the memory of man runneth not that the of the week following the re, turn of the cattle. from Nontauk should be observed as a day of thanksgiying
 But thanksgiving is older even than ,he United States. IR many countries there have been from time to time thankful hearts. In Holland the fn' anniversary of the deliyerance of the ,ity of Leyden from the siege, Oct 2 I575, was kept as a religious festival % thanksgiving and praise. In the Engllsl church service the 9th of Noyemberr 70 celebrated in commemoration of the