Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-11-27
THANKSGIVING DAY.

Elest be ihoso feasts with sim pie plenty
crowned
Where all til; ruddy family AROUND.
Laugh at the iests or pranks that never fail
Or sigh with pity Of some mournfui tale"
-G~oldsml;h.
The Puritan e%migrants who came TO
ibis country brought with them d stern
hatred for all fasts and feasts assoc
Gated with the church from which
they had cut themselves free. Judged
by easy modern standards. the ri
tan character seems grim. narrow and
unattractiye, but to the handful Of
men and women who faced exile.
hardship and danger of death for the
sake Of their souls freedom we in
America largely ~ what is best ia
our national life today.
The Mayfiowor is usually now re-
Sarded as Il sort OF Noah's ark, capa-
Die "f holding any number OF passen-
gers, 80 that 1t is somewhat startling
20 remember that she was only Of l5s
tous burden, which is less than that of
an ordinary cOastwise fishing boat.
When we further think that 1c2 pco-
pie were packed away on board Of her
for 81 days. Il is astonishing hat only
one man died, and as little Oceanus
Hopkins was born at sea, the number
of the ships company was the same
WHOM al last, by the early dawn Of the
ninth OF November. 1920, they sighted
a sandy and well wooded shore.
Ila urnsgn -t.r mat fn tI,., "a H.. ~
the Mayfiower rs she lay in rhe harbor
of what Is now "ProvincptGwn and
framed the first American constitution
for the aoveranept of tb. colony.
II is not unlikely that the first
American Thanksgiving followed soon
after. The date usually accepted, how
ever, is ar he end If The next Oct0-
Der. when the first harvest had been
gathered IN.
The winter after they landed was
one of great suffering. nearly half Of
their number having died between De
cember and March. blt in their ~
words warm aud fair weather came
AT last, and the birds saug IN the
woods most pleasantly" They soWed
siA acres with barley and peas, and 20
more with Indian corn found in n ma
tive %storehouse during the winter.
which their Indian friend Squauto
showed them how TO cultivate. When
their simple crops were gathered
in they prepared 10 hold a festival.
perhaps with wistful memories Of the
English harvest homes" which they
were never 10 see again.
This first real Thanksgiving seems
like the calm warmth cf Indian sum
mer among the Bleak days Of those
hard years. The next one, lG22, was
full Of misfortunes.
WiusIow. one of the ~coloniSts, says
he saw strong men staggering about
at noon-time faint for van Of food.
and Elder Brewster was found one
day sitting down 70 table with nothing
bat a platter OF broiied clans and q
jug of water before him. But his spirii
was unbroken and over this meagre
fare he gave thanks that he and his
were permitted ito suck of the album
dance of the seas. and Of the treas
urcs hid in the sand
~ last things came To- such a pass
that in the end of July "A day was set
apart for fasting. humiliation and pray
crs for rain. For eight or nine hours
without intermissiOn they pleaded and
struve with the Lord. andaSthcy leftthc
little fort which protected their wor
ship they looked in each Others faces
ma .,,.u do who ~-r N-Np al, nnnss when
\ they have been near DEATH, Tor ciouos
We're slowly sa,hering. ana oetoss
Is and steadily upon The cracked all
dusty earth. Another Thanksgiving
followed.
The camps and councils OF the Revo-
luton brought men together from all
parts OF the country and II was Il great
force in the development OF social life.
Three fasts were set by the Continental
Congress before the first ~Thanksgiy-
ing. but that was one not 10 be forgot
ten. Burgoyne had surrendered.
which meant that he could not shut the
New England colonies off from the
South by holding The Hudson River.
Washington was then with his army
at Valley Forge, and his order for the
day runs: Tomorrow being the day
set apart by the honorable Congress
for Public Thanksgiving and praise,
and duty calling us devoutly 10 express
our grateful acknowledgements to God
for the manifold blessings he has
granted us. the General directs that
the army remain in its present quar-
tiers, and that the ~chaplains perform
divine services with their different
corps and brigades, and earnestly eX
norts all officers ana soldiers whose ab.
sence is not indispenSahIy necessary
To attend with reverence the solemni-
ties OF the day"
That was our first national Thanks /
giving Day, but IT was not followed
10y one each year. As time Went on
one state after another made il 4 Gus.
tom to keep an utum holiday. Nav
York for instance, having done so since
1917, but is was not until Abraham
Lincoln appointed the twenty-sixt:i Ga
November. 1863. that the day now uni
versally kept was nationally acknowl-
edged.