The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-11-29
THANKSGIVING DAY.

Most Americans find 1t difficult to
make Thanksgiving day seem real on
tropical soil. The historic setting OF
the day is snow and ice and harsh Mo-
vember gales; it's local habitation
lonely farmhouse half-smothered In
feecy drifts: its keynotes the sound OF
approaching sleighbells and the CHEEKY
notes of hospitality and family reun-
fon at the door. In a million hooks and
corners there will be such sights and
sounds today How many there are
among us, far from New England
SHOWS. who can conJure up the scene
The farmers family turned out early
this morning before darkness had left
the sky and while the chill was keen
est. for there was much to do. From
far and near the scattered members OF
the home circle were coming. with the
grandchildren to the old manse. Roar
ing fires must be built not only in the
kitchen stove but in the two base
burners and in the wood-consuming
stoves upstairs All the dreary house
must be warmed and coal and wood
enough brought in to keep up the heat
for the day. There are chores to do
before the hasty breakfast of ham and
eggs has been laid: cows to be MIXED.
paths to be dug from the roadway to
the door. outer drifts to be cut down;
and "slicking up" must be done by the
"women folks" Much Of the prepara-
ton for the coming feast had been car
ried on the day before. Then the TWEEN
ty-five pound turkey, lordly gobbler of
the flock. long fed on corn and beech
nuts, had been killed and hung. Chick
fob nil .hpQn
prepared; mince meat, redolent Of
spices and cider. was chopped and put
in a lar: big potatoes were sorted out
for the oven: a white batch" of bread
was cleverly baked; red apples had
been chosen from the barrel and set in
the pantry near the stove; butternuts
were cracked and the best barrel OF
cider was lifted on saw-horses. ready
to have a hot poker thrust through the
frozen part to let out the cold. concen-
trated juices at the heart. So what
remains this morning is to cook the
meal and lay the table and receive the
company-enough. though, in all con-
science, when II Is remembered that
dinner comes at noon. But all will be
well: the table will groan as Of yore
with the best of good things and the
old father and mother and the maiden
daughter will be dressed in their fad
ed best when the married sons and
daughters reach the homestead. God
bless them all. and may good digestion
wait on appetite and health on both.
There isn't much Of that sort of a
Thanksgiving day here in the tropics. A
moist heat rises from the earth or per-
haps a summer rain makes the grasses
greener and floods the rice fields;
plumy palms browse along the shore
where bathers plunge OF fishermen cas'
their nets: the mountain peaks rise
like ochered islands in lake of clouds
the strange. foreign birds call harshly
to one another: when the sun shines
the perspiration starts and the appe
tite fails: alien races trudge the streets
and lanes. unmirdful Of the meaning
Of the dav. But for the spirit Of tbos
who worship and for the turkev tina
appears. whether VI tastes like turke,
or not. THANKSGIVING day would seen
distant and intangible indeed-a mer
Pigment OF the calendar. the mer
memory Of good times far gone.