The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1897-11-20
THANKSGIVING DAY.
Bls.t 3 those feast. With simple plenty

Dlest " those fsasts With s!npls plenty
crowned ls
Where's AL. the rnddy family arounl,
Laugh at the Jests or pranks that never fail
Or sigh with pity ateome mournfulE tAlc.r
zGoldsmith.
The Puritan emigrants who came to
shtsc country brought with them . stern
hatred for all fasts and feasts assoc
GATED with the church from which
they had cu themselves free. Judged
by easy modern standards, the sc.siri-
tan character seems grim, narrow and
u~nattractivc. 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 owe what is best in
our national life today.
The Maytiower is usually now re-
garded as a sort Of Noalis ark. capa-
BILE OF holding any number of passen-
gers, SO that it is somewhat startling
to remember that she was only of 15S
tons burden, which is less than that Of
an ordinary coastwise fishing boat.
When we further think that lC2 peo-
pie We're packed away on board Of her
for 81 days, it is astonishing that only
one man died. and as little Oceanus
Hopkins was born at sen, the number
Of the ships company was the same
when at last, by the early dawn of the
ninth of November, 1920. they sighted
q sandy and well-wooded shore.
The grown men me in the cabin of
the Mayiower as she lay in the harbor
OF what is now Provincetown and
framed the first American constitution
for the government of the colony.
1t is not unlikely that the first
American Thanksgiving followed soon
after. The date usually accepted, how
ever, is ut the end of the next Octo-
Der, when the first harvest had been
gathered in.
The winter after they landed was
Il of great suffering. nearly half of
their number having died between De-
cember and March, but In their own
words warm aud fair weather came
at last, and the birds SANG In the
woods most pleasantly" They sowed
six acres with barley and peas, and 20
more with Indian corn found in a ma
tive storehouse during the winter.
which their Indian friend Squanto
showed them how to cultivate. When
their simple crops were gathered
in they prepared to hold a festival.
perhaps with wistful memories of the
English harvest homes which they
were never to sec again.
This first real Thanksgiving seems
like the calm warmth of Indian, sum
mer among the bleak days of those
hard years. The next one 1922, was
full of misfortunes.
Winslow, one of the colonists, says
he saw strong men staggering abcat
ut noon-time faint for want of food,
and Elder Brewster was found II
day sitting down to table with nothing
but a platter of broiled CLAIMS and a
Jug Of water before him. But his spirit
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
ures hid in the sand"
AT last things came to such a pass
that in the end Of July n day was set
apart for fasting, humiliation and pray
ers for rain. For eight OF nine hours
without intermission they pleaded and
strove with the Lord, and us they leftthe
little fort which protected their
as me- do who see help at hand when
they have been a death, for clouds
We're slowly gathering, and before
many hours the rain was falling gent
ly and steadily upon the cracked and
dusty earth. Another Thanksgiving
followed.
The camps and councils Of the Kevo-
luton brought men together from all
parts of the country and it was Il great
force in the development Of social life.
Three fasts were set by the Continental
Congress before the first Thanksgiv-
ing, but that vas one not to 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
mt 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 to 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 aud brigades, and earnestly ex-
horts all officers and soldiers whose ali
II is not i~ndispensably necessary
to attend with reverence the solemni-
ties of the day"
That was III first national Thanks
giving Day, but it was not followed
by one each year. AS time vent on
IL state after another made it a Gus
tom to keep an autumn holiday. New
Work for instance, having done so since
lS11, but is was not until Abraham
Lincoln appointed the twenty-sixth OF.
November, 1863, that the day now uni
versally kept was nationally acknowl-
edged.
--I Nr ASnAacAl -, -~>-- 49,