The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-22

| threw themselves into the spirit Of
| thanksgiving with glad hearts. 1t was
| the most genuine and thorough season
! of rejoicing since the days when the
! Pilgrim Fathers made merry in the
woods of New England.
| But if this Thanksgiving season OF
| 1864 had been one worthy of rejoicing,
| that of 1895, Notwithstanding the fact
that it was marred by the murder of
the martyr president, was one in which
there was no room for any feeling, but
one of joy. The war was over; and
the battered and riven country was re-
| covering itself from the effect of the
devastating struggle. The wheels OF
industry so long silent and rusty, were
beginning to hum again. Swords and
muskets had been laid away, and the
men VINO had used them in fierce con-
1ict had taken up the implements of
peaceful and prosperous labor. Inc
horses that had been accustomed to
eallop into action dragging the death
dealing guns, were now seen IN the
fields helping to gather in the harvest.
The rights of the citizens were being
restored to them, and martial law nc
longer governed the land. No wonder
then that Dec. Z, 1865, the day set
apart by President Andrew Johnson,
for the annual Thanksgiving feast, was
celebrated with rejoicings that were
heard the world over. The North and
the South fraternized, and in the spirit
of general rejoicing the Ratchet was
Hurled forever. There have been many
Thanksgiving days since then when
the nation has had good and sufficient
reason to throw it's hat in the air and
cheer itself hoarse, but on none has
there been such widespread cause for
rejoicing.
Some Thanksgiving days have dawn
ed dark and threatening, the air heavy
with rumors of war. Thanksgiving
day, 1866, found the peace of this
country threatened by news which
seemed TO point to inevitable war with
Mexico. The report reached America
on that morning that United States
troops had crossed the Rio Grande TO
occupy MatamOras, and that the usurp-
ing Emperor Macmillan was about to
leave the country, though never per
mitted to do so, as the MeXlcans shot
him in the following year. Cool diplo-
macy averted a war, but the Thanks
giving day of 66 may be numbered
among those when the national sky
was clOuded and the festival season
darkened by gloomy fears.
The next Thanksgiving day on which
the people of the United States had
especial reason to rejoice was in 1868
An event had occurred in the sporting
GRID, of which Americans had good
reason to feel proud. England, long
possessed of the sculling championship,
had lost it to an American. Walter
Brown. of Portland, Maine, had gone
to Newcastle on Tyne and in the home
waters of J. H. Saddler, the English
sculler, had wrested the championship
from him. The country went wild with
enthusiasm over the success of Walter
Brown, and Thanksgiving day of '6S,
WAS celebrated with q WhOOp.
Again, on the Thanksgiving day of
1873, the dark-winged angel of war
hung threateningly over the country.
News was received on Thanksgiving
morning, however, that the seizure Of
the Virginius, by the Spanish authori- |
ties which had seemed to be the pre-
Jude to inevitable war; had resulted in /
the peaceful yielding Of Spain to
Americas demands, and so what had |
theatened to be another gloomy |
Thanksgiving was changed, like that |
of the Pilgrim Fathers, to one of re-
joicing.
Among the days set apart for thanks |
giving which in reality have been days |
of national sorrow, may be numbered |
that of 1875, when the entire country |
was mourning over the death of Vice |
President Henry Wilson, whose re-
MAINS on the Thanksgiving day of