Smyrna times., 1895-11-27
" THANKSGIVING DAY" "
W. PENN WILSON.
Corresnondence to the Times.

enough.
AS a nation we have, however, only
three holidays, that are ours exclusive
ly in origin and meaning. They are
Independence Day, July 4th) Memor-
ial Day, and Thanksgiving. Christ
mas and New Years we got by inherit
ance and race-imitayi6a The first was
originally church festival exclusively !
and the people who foundedt2ur civil |
zation i'll New England, would have
nothing to do with it. The settlers, III
Virginia were not Puritans, and they
alone observed it in the time of onr be
ginning. To the three holidays first
mentioned as distinctively American,
may be added one other: Washington's
Birthday. All four are now what are
called illegal holidays" that is, they
have been declared such by law.
Three of them are so by statute, and
without proclamation by the President
or the Governor Of a State. One,
Thanksgiving, is always set apart each
year by the familiar proclamation,
which requests all good citizens to
cease work on the last Thursday Of
November, and rest, worship and re
turn thanks. To at least One-half of
the inhabitants Of the United States it
is the chief holiday of the year, and by
far the pleasantest and most widely
observed. It is the home holiday.
Men often travel hundreds of miles to
be with their families on that day. No
| visiting is DONE Grown sons and
daughters come together, and all the
children of each one, and if there is
still an old home and a mother, it is a
time for both smiles and tears. The
feast, at which their is seldom a
stranger, is often one to be remem-
bered It's chief dish Is always turkey,
an American bird at the head of an eX-
clusively American festival.
And of all our National holidays
Thanksgiving is the oldest. Indepen-
dence Day is hundred and nineteen
years old. Washington's Birthday is
still younger, the great man having
been dead more than half a century
before it began by degrees to be
thought of, as it came around eacl
year. Memorial Day, also exclusively
American, is the youngest of all. L
also began in custom as holidays do
The women of the South began it b!
: by decorating with flowers the grave
of their dead heroes, who had fallen il
their cause. The touching beauty o
the custom appealed to the common
heart North and South, and in 1856
Gen. John A. Logan, then command
ing the Grand Army, issued genera
order setting apart May Both for 1t
f observance. Thus begun, the custoI
finally grew into the most beautiful c
our holidays, set apart by law and Gus
tom and observed with the same feelin
l in respect to the soldiers of both Unio
# and Confederacy, and taking a deepe
IS significance as the years pass.
!, But the first Thanksgiving was hel
q two hundred and seventy-four yea
h ago. 1t was strange time for such
d feast, since it was the gloomiest perio
d in American history. The Pilgrim
n had landed in December, 1920. Thel
u were one hundred and one of then
l. During the winter forty-six of the
to had died-nearly one-half Rose, Il
ID young and beautiful wife of CAPITA
e. Standish, afterward the wooer of Pri
il callay, as told by Longfellow, W
Is among the number. During the wint
- they had all suffered severely. Wh'
II the tide went out they dug CLAIMS, al
III caught Holsters. Sometimes they kill
a deer, but most of them went abo
dizzy and weak with hunger. So afra
were they of the Indians that tn
tried to conceal the fearful number
" their dead from them by planting co
over their graves early in the sprin
Yet, it was in company with these sf
ages, that the first Thanksgiving fe;
was held.
1t was not intended as such, but t
, Indians were friendly with them, a
in the spring of 1921, ninety of tn,
came in a body to pay them Wis
There would have been very slent
a fare, but the Indians first went il
the woods and killed five deer as th
part of the feast, and there is no gu
ton but that the fathers and moth
do of this republic were very glad to j,
Wv in what was not only the first Than
giving, but also the first AmeriC
nd barbecue. There were no religiC
observances whatever, and the fe
lasted about a week. There W
games and pastimes, both civilized 6
'ei savage, and the sad faced Puri
- women and the squaws did the co
:, ing.
60 And it is not generally thought
now that squaws taught our fC
a mothers how to do the first cooking
the country. Even pumpkin pie
standard Thanksgiving dishis of Ind
origin. So are all the preparations
corn, even to the names we have
them such as ''hominy" "succota
'samp" ''pone" even potatoes are
e Indian dish, and we were a longt
Ea learning how to use them. Cranl
Es ries are also in the list, for sauce.
"a The first religious Thanksgiving
held in 1923, two years later. Squa
the Indian had taught the Pilgr
how to plant corn, and they had raj
sw one small crop. But in July of
year mentioned there was a se'
drought and nine hours of contin
= fasting fasting and continuous prI
T. was ordered. While they were pray
sE rain fell, and their the fasting
e changed to thanksgiving. The e
made an impression, but Thanksgi'
as a holiday was long in coming.
idea grew slowly and there was no
!. that was calculated upon and CO
Thanksgiving Day" until 1880
that was in Boston. Long after