The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-11-30
BUSINESS HOUSES CLOSED.
Common Pleas Court Adjourned Till
November 80.
LEGAL HOLIDAY OBSERVED
But Not In the Same way That the Puri.
tans Observed 1t In the Good Old
Days Long Ago-Rsv. q. A.
Hilps Eloquent
Sermon.

Bin's Eloquent
Sermon.
Thanksgiving day customs and OBJ
servances in Canton are not what they
used to be. Were the iron-slnewed
pioneer to appear today at the celebra-
tion of almost any holiday, he would
express surprise at the marvellous
changes which have been effected since
he was a boy. Thanksgiving day Is
pre-eminently a native one, and at first
1t was religiously and piously observed
The first Thanksgiving day proclama'
ton to the people. issued by President
Washington, in 1889, recommended
that the day be spent in prayer, with
grateful hearts to the Almighty fol
their deliverance and for giving them
an opportunity to establish peace
able form of government.
s A STRIKING CONTRAST.
The last Thanksgiving of the nine
teenth century will offer a striking con
trast to the first Thanksgiving day
which our forefathers observed so SOL
emnly in their faraway New England
home. or even the first Thanksgiving
day of the century. In those days the
religious spirit was strong in the minds
of the Puritan settlers, and although
the occasion was beginning to take on
the holiday aspect. religious observance
was it's chief characteristic.
But now at the close of the nineteenth
century and at the threshold of the
twentieth, the solemnity which sur
rounded the day, remembrance Of the
hardships endured in the wilds of q
new country, amid hostile bands of
savages, real heartfelt thanks for
deliverance from the horrors of war and
the bondage of despotism, praise for
the blessing of freedom and the
bounteous gifts of Providence have
faded and the day that a century ago
was held sacred as the Sabbath is now
one great holiday all over this broad
country given up to sports and amuse-
ment and revelry that would make a
Puritan father weep could he but look
upon the desecration.
A DAY OF PRAYER.
In the olden time it was a day of
prayer when the pious New England
father in his broad hat, knee breeches
and blouse, set out early in the morn
ing, Bible in hand, accompanied by his
good wife, in her plain gown Of gray
and Quaker bonnet, for the little
church on the edge of the settlement.
AS the little family passed along. some
times through heavy SHOWS, the. dis
course of the parents was onthose topics
most befitting the occasion, and was
characterized by the deep religious
feryor that had led to setting aside of
a day OF thanks by the early colonists.
Across his shoulder was slung his
trusty fintlock and as he told his
sturdy boys of the privation and dan
gers from which God had delivered
them and bade them raise their hearts
in thanks TO Him, he kept sharp loek-
out for ed-skinned enemies lurking in
the shadows of yonder wood.
Nearly all the day was spent in re-
ligious services In the meeting house
and the early shadows of a November
night We're falling when the little
family trudged back to the log cabin
in the clearing of the forest. Some
times the home coming was one to
make the heart grow chill. for the cum
ming red man, the sworn enemy of the
whites, never relaxed his vigilance, and
his cleaning eye and bright-hued
head feathers might be seen behind
some rock or tree, always near the cab
in of the white man. Frequently this
was his opportunity. and on the return
of the family to their home they found
only a smoldcring ash heap to mark the
spot where they had cast their hearth
stone.
A FAR DIFFERENT WORLD.
1t is curious to note the objects that
have taken the place Of the book OF
prayer with which our forefathers set
forth at early dawn through the snow
to the little meeting house, the sub
stitute for the song of praise and tho
pulpit and shcaf of wheat which the
Puritans laid on the altar, thank Of
fering for abundant crops.
Instead of the Book of Prayer Is this
pigsldn ball which iusty iong-haired
youths kick over the football gridiron
while grace and beauty wave frantic
approval of every point in the game
Instead of the song Of praise the land
resounds with the "Rah, rah. rah," OF
the college boy. the pulpit has partly
given way to the footlights and this
stage. and the modest sheaf of wheat
to tho luxurious bloom of the chrysan-
themum.
The members of the Business Mems
faasocia tiGn observed the dav by closin D