Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-12-05
A THANKSGIVING POEM.

The first open session of the Monday
Afternoon Club, of the season. was
held at the residence of Mrs. r. L..
Young on Thanksgiving day, and an
excellent program was rendered and all
elaborate entertainment enjoyed. Be-
sides the members of the club, many
invited lady guests had the good for.
tune to be in attendance.
One of the principal features of the
entertainment was poem composed
by Mrs. Young for the occasion. 1t is
pronounced by competent critics to be
a fine literary production. BY permits
sion of the author we take pleasure in
publishing it:
- THANKSGIVING DAY"
A band of Puritan fathers, had gathered one
autumn day
To meet His Honor. the Governor. and list to
r. the words he would say.
And this is the message he brought them, as
he looked on the plenteous yield;
At the hay-stacks that dotted the meadows,
This is the message he brought them as he
looked on the piled up grain:
~ entreet that the Lord of the harvest be
thanked for His sunshine and rain
He hath given US peace aud plenty. and the
freedom we've sought so long;
HathcOnQuered the witty savage, and kent
him from doing us wrong.
'Though sse miss the old world dsinties wa
can have the luscious pie,
For yellow as sunshine the pumpkins in the
upland clearings lie.
Therefore. l.: Vim. Bradford. Governor of
Plymouth. say
Ye shall hold in the month of November your
first Thanksgiving day.
And men; and maidens and matrons, shall
sF.sth Cr. wit ann
To listen to Elder brewster, and feryentIv
| - thank the Lord
So the deer and the bear from the forest.
were brought for the autumn feast:
And Of all the game that wns slaughtered.
|: the Wild turkey was not the least
They had plums ana grapes from the thicket
and home nrewed ale ana wine:
Bread that was light as feathers, and dough.
nuts fiaky and fine.
And the fishermen took their nets and
brought fresh fish from the seas:
And the wild bees gave of their honey, they
had stored in the hollow trees;
And the danes and maidens CT Plymouth did
all their skill employ.
To make their first Thanksgiving, a day of
feasting and joy.
And to the feast the Sachem was asked with
his hundred braves,
To come and partake of the riches of pa I'd ems
and fields and waves,
That they might learn lesson, and thus be
brought to know
That they worshiped the same Great Shirt
- that made the harvest to grow.
But when Massasoit, the chieftain, sat down
with the other guests
He muttered: The. Great Spirit loves His
white children the best
Miles Standish was there in his corselet-Goy.
Bradford sat by his side.
Elder Brewsters grace was quite lengthy, but
its goodness could not be denied
But tears were mingled with laughter their
JOY could not have full sway,
AS they Thought of sweet Rose Standish who
died in the month of May.
AND they covered her grave with laurel
on that Thanksgiving day
So many mile through the forest, tho dan
They came at the call Of their Governor
to keep Thanksgiving day
And when the trees in autumn, dress in Grim
son and russell and gold;
When the katydids chirp in the meadows and
the nights grow frosty and cold;
Again we are called together, to keep in the
With frolic and fun and feasting, glad
Thanksgiving day.
For, says our Governor smiling, as he looks
this great state DER:
u request the people of Kansas to come to-
gether once mOre,s
To give thanks to GOD Almighty. for another
fruitful ear;
For the evidence of prosperity. that on all
Providence ias bestowed His blessings on US
with lavish hand
Our herds increasing. cities growing, labor
And ask that all :citizens.f from secular work
And TO your houses of worship, to praise the
Therefore, W; E. Stanley. Governor of Kan
The a9th Of November shall be Thanks
giving day" =
Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name. o!
Most High