The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-11-30


Tn the Spirit of old Colonial Times.
Home Comings and Fenstiug Celebrate
the FestivaI-The Bill of Fare.
Thanksgiving day What memories are
coniured up by the simple naming Of this
day of festivityl 1t is am offspring of early
New England, and it lis t..I New Engand's
own day of rejoicing, instituted uudercou-
ditions which we in our days of self seek
ing and of plenteous ease, rarely attempt
to pause and contemplate
The history of Thanksgiving day reaches
back to the earlier colonial days, when
little band of strong hearted, earnest men
and women who had ventured across the
seas in search of freedom of life and liberty
of conscience were knowing the suffering
which is so generally part of pioneer life.
Their hearts were filled with a new hope
and thrilling with a deep joy, and their
bands were steadfastly set to the pillow of
courageous advancement,
Though they were suffering from the rig
ors of a new cline, with insufficient means
of protection from its severity, even though
they were suffering from severe privations,
yet they were not cast down nor disCuur-
aged.
They were largely cut off from communi-
cation with all the civilized world, they
had the deep, wide, restlessly pulsating
sea hemmiug them in on one side, and the
wide, pitiless wilderness eucompassed them
on the other and they were surrounded by
savages Of whom they stood in unceasing
dread and fear. Added to all these was
the appalling fact that their provisions had
run low and their expected ships of relief
had failed to appear.
Yet, with starvation staring them in the
face their courage was undaunted. They
had taken their lives in their hands and
had come forth with stern heroic resolu-
tion. They We're going to establish new
homes in a new land, and in those homes
there should be freedom. They were de-
termined to succeed, and their prayers for
succor were the prayers Of faith, not of de-
spair
One happy day the word came to the de
voted company that the relief ships We're
in the otling. Their faith had not failed
them nor led them astray Relief had
come. From the fullness of their grateful,
| devoted hearts they gave such thanks as
! overlooking, trusting hearts can give.
Those Puritan ancestors of ours had a
| goodly fashion of acknowledging with un-
| limited grace of heart the good gifts that
came to them. They were ready and will
| ing to suffer and die, if need were, for con
sciences sake, and when any of the sue
cesses or good things for which they longed
and toiled came to them they gave thanks
with the humble devotion of gratitude of
| those who received it as a gift and not as a
| right.
The festival which was so long ago inau-
| gurated still survives. Each year the presi-
dent of the United States sets apart "A day
,l-g T.,
what of the earlier spirit is attached to its
| celebration, and no other feast day takes its
| place there. 1t is the day of the family
home gathering. Men and women leave
their professional, social and worldly cares
and interests and go back to their homes
and friends and the days of their childhood
| Children visit the scenes and are initiated
into the youthful recollections pastimes
and associations of their ancestors Even
the bill of fare is traditional The united
families everywhere sit down, each beneath
| its own home rOOftree, to tables loaded
down with the same viands.
The turkey is sacred to the day, and the
| accompanying vegetables fruits, pies and
| puddings are also traditional. 1t is not es-
sential to have soup, but if one does, oyster
| soup is the kind to be served. The turkey
| is a matter of course; chicken pie is usual.
vegetables of all the ordinary kinds form a
! part of the regular menu; cranberry sauce
| is as generally used almost ass the turkey
| itself, and mince and pumpkin pies also
are on every bill Of fare To these are lre-
| quently added plum pudding, rice pudding
or the old fashioned cracker pudding, and
many if not most people add not only ap-
| pies and chestnuts and hickory nuts but
raisins, grapes and other nuts, not always
nor altogether of home growth.
Thanksgiving day is one Of especial en-
| joyment, looked forward to with keen
anticipation, enjoyed with pleasant partici-
! patton and enjoyed in retrospection. But
| with these pleasant home uniting qualities
and remembrances the memories of the first
| appointed and observed THANKSGIVING
should be blended and held most sacred in
all our thoughts, for such memories
should incite in us the desire and eudeavor
to make our lives worthy of the noble,
earnest, cousecrated lives of our New Eng
land ancestors, the real fathers of our
country, who baptized with their loyalty
to truth, their devotion to principle, their
heroism, their deathless hope and no less
deathless faith the new country to which
they came, and which they have left to us,
a heritage of such value as no pen can por.
tray.
May the sacred influence Of their lives
still reach down to bless us anew into
niger freedom and truer liberty May we
grow into truer ways of hemtiuess, unself-
lshness, simplicity, sincerity and kindness,
which shall make us worthy descendants
of those heroic forefathers of ours who have
bequeathed TO us the lreeSt country in the
world. New York Observer
The President,s TnrI.ax.