The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1895-11-28
THE ORIGIN OF THANKSGIVING,

No holiday, or ''holy day." set apart
for special observance in the United
States, can be said to have more fit
ting origin or endearing foundation than
Thanksgiving. Those of the little band
of pilgrims who landed from the May
flower upon Plymouth rock two and
three-quarters centuries ago and lived
to share i'm the harvest from the first
seed sown upon that bleak and rocky
coast, had abundant reason to appoint
day of special praise and Thanksgiv-
ing for their preservation from death
from cold, hunger or sickness during
that first terrible winter in the new
world. History presents few instances
Of such sacrifice for principle as that
made by the stern, uncompromising
and indomitable men and women who
were led by religious prejudice to for
sake homes of comfort and plenty in
the old world to establish in midwinter,
Puritan colony upon the cold and in
hOspitable border of the then great
wilderness of America. There, upon
the rugged edge of the new continent,
the turbulent and painless Atlantic
rolling between them and all the civili-
-zatfon of the globe, and ali about them
trackless forest giving shelter to saw
age beasts and savage tribes of men this
sturdy little band of a hundred fearless
souls sought to and did establish per-
manent colony whose corner stone was
religious freedom. The hardships and
sufferings that they endured were such
rs to make the stoutest hearts tremble,
and death came as welcome relief to
many of their number who had not the
strength to bear them. But the survi-
vOrs chung with steadfast faith to the
stern religious principles which anima-
ted them all, and gratefully rendered
thanks to God for the mercies with
which the miseries of that first year
were tempered, and for the harvest
which sprang from the first seed they
sowed. The imposing national monu-
ment to the Pilgrims which now stands
at Plymouth is a fitting memorial of
, the grand principles for the establish
ment and maintenance of which in the
new world their lives were a constant
struggle and a mighty sacrifice. The
granite of which its great base is built
is fitting emblem i'm itself of the firm
ness of their faith and their steadfast
adherance to principle. And around the
lofty granite pedestal which stands up
on it are statues twenty feet high of
Morality, Law, Education and Free
dom, surmounted by colossal statue of
Faith, thirty-six feet high, holding a
Bible in her right hand.
To these stern, unyielding Puritans
the nation owes mighty debt ofgrati-
tude, for they first planted i'm New
England soil the seeds of high morality
and nursed the plants with tender care
as they grew and spread; they inculca-
ted in the minds of their children the
love for liberty and law which found
expression long years afterwards in the
immortal declaration of independence
aud grand constitution of the United
States; they were the pioneers in Amer
ica of higher learning, and the school
that they established at Cambridge and
which Rev. John Harvard endowed
with half of his estate is now one of the
greatest Universities in the world; they
were the apostles of freedom whose de-
scendants led in the mighty struggle
for the overthrow of slavery a third of
u century ago, and, In short, they stood
firm for every principle which has help
ed to make this nation great among the
nations of the world. In rendering
thanks to-day to the Great Oliver of all
good and perfect gifts for the manifold
mercics and blessings of the past year,
let US not forget to honor the memory
of the Pilgrim Fathers, who admidst
t.ials and sufferings that have had few
parallels in history, laid the founda-