The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-28

nation.
 
 Thanksgiving Day, coming with the
 regularity of movable feast, IS pecu-
 liar to the United States. Other coun-
 tries now and again, as in Great BTU.
 ain upon the occasion of the jubilee of
 the late Queen have a day of thanks
 giving. but here, by an unwritten law,
 almost by the general will of the peo-
 ple. and certainly by the power of cus-
 tom, Thanksgiving Day comes each
 year as regularly as Christmas.
 Although Thanksgiving Day must be
 proclairned by the President or Cover
 nor. and usually by both, and the time
 of wear and the date itself are left to
 their judgment so strong is the custom
 that the calendars for next year have
 denoted the day far ahead of any proc
 lamation. On the last Thursday in No-
 yember the figures are printed in red.
 The hanks know it will be that day. al- ! though there is nothing but precedent . to establish it; business men know 1t will be day of thanksgiving, and never stop to reason why. The school
 boy. the football enthusiast. the farm
 CT, the poulterer, all know Thanksgiv-
 ing Day is the last Thursday in No- | vember Ys
 Began With the Druids.
 As a generally observed national hol- | iday, Thanksgiving Day is only forty i years old this year, yet it's history is in a measure of much greater antiquity. During the Dark Ages the Druids, who were the priests of pastoral people,
 had great thanksgiving festivals. and | the Goths and Huns alike had their pa gan celebrations pertaining to the same occasion. In fact, in all the accentu- ated stages of nature, the most notable of which were seed time and harvest, seem to have been seized upon for mak- / ing appropriate celebrations, identified as they were with the solstices, or the / turning point of winter and summer. To the pastoral man, with his limited sphere of action and resources, the gathering of the harvest was an all- important item in the calendar of the year. He charged plenty or famine to the unseen powers and sought to pro- pitiate them as far as possible by giv- ing thanks for favors at each harvest. In the great fruit countries the time of vintage was the period selected for these rejoicings and thanksgivings, l while farther north the harvesting of the cereal crops was celebrated. The rise of the Church, consequent upon the l dawn of the Christian era and the spread of Christianity. transformed these celebrations into monotheistic in- stead of pagan ceremonies, but the out ward form of the observance differed little from them. except that the wild orgies with which some of the pagan l rites had been accomplished were done away with. In all the European coun- tries the custom of giving thanks after the harvest has been gathered con- tinues, and m1st of the Christian churches hold 4 ervices befitting the oc- casion. ~@<ssf
 First American Thanksgivins.
 As ain American institution, Thanks giving Day commenced with the gath rfx slf ft.afv Arcf hxy ha H. grim Fathers. in what was then the New England wilderness. and the day has always remained the principal hol- iday with us. sturdy pioneers having carried the good custom along with them into every State of the Union. With the gathering of the crops of the year 1893. the second harvest after their arrival, the day gained especial significance from the fact that a long period of drought had threatened tho colonists with famine. which was for tunately averted just as if in response to their prayers by the coming of rain and the custom of holding a thanks giving annually after harvest was thereafter most solemnly observed
 The American Thanksgiving Day is really, therefore. of Puritan origin, and on that account. perhaps, has always held it's own as great national holi- day, more strongly in the Eastern States, If possible, than anywhere, the subsequent feast Of Christmas never having been regarded as of equal i'm portance. The pivotal point which the Thanksgiving Day celebrated 276 years ago occupies to one of our great na- onal institutions therefore makes the ails of that event of the very high interest to all Americans. It was Bradford, the first Governor New England colonies, who had l. H' v of initiating the custom now d by our Presidents by issuing .rst Thanksgiving proclamation. looking back, across almost three centuries to- that time when those stout-hearted wanderers. who were then unaware of what a Canaan they had found and who had been fearing the worst on account of the adverse weather. stood rejoicing over their cannot fail to be touched by the pa- thos of their situation and thrilled with the gladness which caused them to offer up their praise and thanks for the mercy vouchsafed by Provi- dence. There has probably never been Thanksgiving Day celebrated since when the feeling of thankfulness was so heartily gratefully expressed.
 The period of one day was absolutely inadequate for the rendering of all the thanks which the worthy Pilgrims felt 1t their duty to offer so they made good haII week or lI. Honored guests at the celebration were the Indian Chief. Massasoit. and ninety of his leading warriors. The issuing of the proclamation by Gov ernor Bradford had stirred up the hunters of the colony to make what preparations they could for the feast by ransacking the forest for all the game which could be found, and the bags secured by them were such as would arouse the envy of many a modern Nimrod. There were wild tur- keys in abundance. together with ducks and various kinds of game with which the primeval forest abounded Massasoit and his warriors brought in a plentiful supply of oysters to swell the feast. The bill of fare which re- suited from the united effort of the hunters and the good Puritan house. wives was one with which any but the most exacting epicure might have been satisfied. The entrees consisted of oy- eters, venison pasties. savory meat stews, boiled fish, clam chowder, flour dumplings and roasts of all kinds. This was followed by the piece de resistance which has ever thereafter remained the principle feature of the Thanksgiving dinner-roast turkey-with which the cooks served a dressing of beech nuts and numerous vegetables and salads Cakes and nlum DorridRe lent the fin