Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1897-11-18

1clt Eratltuue 10 DC Il becoming eiIlo'ioi'
Instead, too, of n general expression of
thanks. as is now the custom, they rem
dcred up thanks in detail-on one occa-
sion it would be in return for much need
ed rain, then for triumph over the Indians
and again for the afe landing of the Eng
fish supply ships. One time, indeed, in
July, 1921, when rain finally came after
a prolonged period of drought and prayer,
they appointed thanksgiving of one
week in duration.
Were such peripatetic Thanksgiving
to come in vogue again it would be quite
a shock to MS of this generation, with our
pre-established notions of Thanksgiving
as inscplrabe from roast turkey. cram
berry sauce and pumpkin pie. Fancy sit
ting down to our Thanksgiving dinner in
April when we might esteem ourselves
lucky if we were furnished with aspara-
gus as delcacy and rhubarb pie as II
dessert, for if we had been pilgrims or
even Massachusetts Bay colonists we
would have been obliged to choose be-
tween taking what the soil produced or
going without. these present happy days
of whole Florida garden being landed
by express at our doors in midwinter not
being yet on the American program. Or
imagine the Thanksgiving dinner of July,
1921, partaken of perhaps to the delight
full accompaniment Of the patter of the
rain for which they had so fervently pray.
ed and with green corn as the piece de
resistance or that THANKSGIVING in June,
1857, after victory over the Pequods.
when maybe Strawberries garnished with
roses formed the menu.
I'm thnSa oono S:npS thOuph tho CO1nniS 81
had evidently quite lost sight of the part
servance--the prehistoric significance of
the festival. the season being with them
purely and simply many-voiced thank
offering in acknowledgment of the better
ing of their condition. After it became an
annual affair it supplanted in a measure
the English Christmas, whose celebration
was too riotous to meet their strict re-
ligious notions--this the puritanc Thanks
giving, supplying the unalloyed devout-
ness which was the one thing they would
willingly have retained in the Christmas
of their forefathers.
AS has been seen Thanksgiving day for
the first sixty years of its existence was
n hitand miss affair as to time and place.
and even after it had settled down into an
annual autumn festival if the people did
not feel particularly encouraged the OBJ
servance of it was liable to be omitted
and it did not assume its national charac-
ter till during the revolution, when Con-
gress recommended the yearly appointing
of such day. In spite Of this, though
in the years intervening between 1884
and 1880 there were no Thanksgiving
days. In 1889 Washington issued a
Thanksgiving proclamation in view Of the
adoption of the Constitution and after
that to the time of Lincoln, the example
of the first President was intermittently
followed by his successors.
But only since 1858 can Thanksgiving
be said to have been fixed and universal
American custom, and in that year the
Governors of the different Southern
States united with their Eastern brother
officials in issuing Thanksgiving proclama-
tons, and the example set by Lincoln in
1863 of issuing a Thanksgiving proclama-
ton suggesting the last Thursday in No
vember as an appropriate day has been
followed since without break by every &C.
cupant of the presidential chair.
Though long in coming to its fufillment.
like some fair oak tree that requires many
years Of storm and sun to bring it to its
full beauty, Thanksgiving, the Sunday of
our national year, is now an imperishable
monument of the faith, the benevolence
and the softer graces so often averred
to have no existence in this practical
work a day American world.