The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-11-28
Thanks giving.
L. H. W. ID.
Sec'y.

Thanksgiving is Il day which fills us all with
thanks and roast turkey. and as such day it is
dear to the hearts OF all Americans. Thanks
giving doesn't make as much noise as does the
Fourth of July. with its tirecrackerS. or as
Christmas. with its bells. The country is the
only place in which Thanksgiving may be en-
1oyed to its fullest extent. although there are
people who claim that it is not without its own
peculiar charm in the smallest kind of a fiat At
first it may seem absurd to the student of human
affairs that 16 pound turkey should be able to
perform with its maximum grace in a $50 flat.
But this fact is not mystery when we come to
look it squarely in the face and meet it with the
mental dissecting knife. 1t is because these
fiat jewellers enjoy many Thanksgivings i'll the
turkey of the present.
After the head of the family has gone to the
table alone to do the carving, because he would
not have sufficient elbow room if the family
were cOngregated about him, they sit down and
dream of the turkey. of the past when they were
out on the farm looking across dreamy vistas of
Nesting landscape, punctuated by the scare
crow shiverlng in his straw hat and linen duster
to let the world know that summer was a thing
of the past. And still they fancy they see this
old scarecrOw standing among the cOrnstalks,
They see him right over there on the fre-escape
of the neghboring fiat. for all the tiatscape to
them is large area of farm land nesting with
raised by hand and are not self-raisiDg like the
flour raised upon it.
1t has brought with it pleasant memories
which cover period OF 80 years. 1t only goes
back to last March in the flesh. but it carries the
n, an hack m tho time when he silent like ton
on cornhusk mattress and arose in the early
morn to gather the steamng pancake on the
fly. long before he dreamed that he would ever
have to catch the matutinal horse-car on the
fly 1t takes him back to the old game OF
shinney, and brings back to him faces that had
long since faded from his memory. Out in the
crisp chilly air he shouts, ''Shinney on your own
side!" as of old. and hears the yelping of the
hound, shining like patent leather with enthus
asm. and is stirred once more by the ripping
whiZ of the flushed partridge. and the reverber
ating bang of the sportsman's gun, that sounds
so sweet in the aisles of the silent forest. He
will not wake from this pleasant dream of past
happiness until the morrow, for then the turkey
will be cold, and the logs of fancy's fireside will
have been reduced to white ashes to stir fitfully
in the vagrant gust of wind. Even when the
turkeys shining carcass has been chopped up tC
be utilized as the base OF an economic soup, the
reminiscent charm will have vanished grace
fully, like $40 bill at a seaside resort, for the
turkey. like love, is never itself again wheI
once it is cold. Its feet are ON the ash heap ant
will strut about no more. Its head. with its
great Dundreary whiskers of flaming red, will
no more MARBLE in the rosy kiss of dawn ant
fill the beholder with rosy anticipation of the
| jOcund feast. It's work is DONE and its days are
past. and now the family, so well begrmed with
gravy to the very eyes. sit and regard one
another in silent joy. The smaller member:
will have to take a bath to get the turkey of
them. But the victory is theirs as they sit il
the city fiat filled with visions of ecstasy ant
break the magic wishbone and wish that every
one from the highest to the lowest has had JUS
so merry and glad a Thanksgiving as has faller
| to their happy lOt.-R. X. Munkittrick.