The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-25
A National Thanksgiving DAY.

How many Of our good Americans re.
member when Thanksgiving became q ma.
tional holiday 1t is worth while to re-
mind the younger generation, at least,
when and how this happened. Every
schoolboy is familiar with the story OF the
early settlers OF bleak New England, who,
when unexpectedly delivered from the
perils of starvation in q savage wilderness,
solemnly gave thanks to Almighty Con for
this signal interposition In their favor.
And how, from age to age, from genera
ton to generation, this pious resolve
bloomed and ripened until Thanksgiving
became national and not sectional, this,
too, Is a matter of history so conspicuous
that to recall all the successive stages of
the process would be sup%erfluous.
Still, the annual call to thankfulness from
all the people remained a matter of local,
not national, concern. Up to the breaking
out of the great civil war, each State (possi-
bly, with avery few exceptions) through it's
W Executive made public proclamation of
an autumnal day for thanksgiving, prayer,
and praise for the material blessings of the
year. True, during the Presidential term
of the illustrious WASHINGTON, the unex-
dilpleu prosperity u Il CluSScb VI OuT ClJl-
zens" and our enjoyment of peace and tran
quillity induced that great and good man
to issue his proclamation appointing the
10th of February, 1895, as a day for thanks.
giving and prayer.
It is also true that, of all WAsHINGToN's
more immediate successors, only JAMES
MADISON was devout enough or thoughtful
enough to ask the people of the United
States to come together and observe a day
for national thanksgiving. The festival, so
far as the nation was concerned, lost its
homogeneous character.
1t remained for ABRAHAM LINCOLN of
blessed memory to revive a custom 30 CRATE.
full to the hearts and so alluring to the
homes Of the American people. The cause
of the imperilled Federal Union was at the
lowest low-water mark in the summer of
1858. The men and women of the present
generation of Americans cannot know the
bitterness of the dark days of that summer.
GOD grant that they may never know such
days! The turning point came in July,
when, in the midst of a popular depression
most profound, the fall of Vicksburg opened
the Mississippi so that the Father of Waters
thereafter flowed unvexed to the sea, and
LEES invasion of the North was frustrated
by the battle Of Gettysburg. The country
famed with excitement, and although the
war still lasted longer han the most san
guine of those who agonized for peace
could have expected, It was felt that the
end Of strife could not be greatly delayed.
President LINCOLN issued an official bulle-
tin addressed to the people of the United
States in which, after recounting the events
which appeared to be the harbingers of the
return of peace, he expressed his de.
sire that HE whose will, not ours,
should e~ermore be done, be every
where remembered and reverenced with
~profoundest gratitude" This was on the
Fourth of July. 1868, and on the fifteenth
day of that month the President issued his
proclamation appointing the 9th Of Au-
gust as q day for National Thanksgiving.
He recited the reasons for the peoples
augmented confidence that the Union of
the States would be maintained, their
Constitution preserved, and their peace
and prosperity permanently restored"
And in his recommendation for an OBJ
servance of the day appointed, he be.
sought the people to invoke Divine wis
dom "to lead the whole nation through
paths of repentance and submission to the
Divine will, back to the perfect enjoyment
of union and fraternal peace" Young stu
dents Of their country's history cannot do
better than read this unique proclama.
tion, If they would know something of the
great, loving nature of ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
whose heart. in the midst of wasting war,
yearned SO fondly for the happiness, peace,
| and nrnonaritu IF auaru inn aa5 Jo,olAo.
of the republic.
On the Sd Of October, In that same year,
President LINCOLN issued another procla-
nation setting apart the last Thursday in
November to be observed as a National
Thanksgiving Day. From that time for
ward each succeeding President of the
United States has followed the precedent
set by ABRAHAM LINCOLN, to whom be-
longs the credit of making the festival
truly national.
The civil wal accomplished many things
for us as a people. Some of these
things were to have been expected; many
of them were unlocked for. Among the
results of the war was the establishment
of a national homogeneity before unknown.
No section of the Union lost its self.respect,
and all gained in respect for every other.
Briefly, sections and sectional lines disap.
peared. We became one, with one hope,
one destiny.
And will the animation of one common
purpose, moved by a common impulse, on
this National Thanksgiving Day, we may
well thank the Almighty Ruler of Man,
kind that He has made us and preserved
us a nation.
Uncle San as a Land Owner.
The statistics of the General Land Oh9ca