The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1906-11-23
HEN President Roosevelt is
sued his proclamation appoint
ing November % as a nation-

ing November 90 as a nation
al day OF thanksgiving he forged an
other link between the present an
the dim, prehistoric past. for In prac
tically unbroken chain the feast O
thanksgiving. the harvest festival
stretches back TO unknown origins Il
barbarous rites among savage people
when the world was young.
When next Thursday American IA
miles reunite around the plump tur
key and mince pies. after an hour D
religious service. following the feas
with attendance at a football game
they are executing programme inder
tical in spirit with the Roman feast o.
Ceres. the Greek festival of Demeter
the Feast of the Ingathefing of the
ancient Hebrews, and similar obser'
lances among the Hindus and
Chinese. The harvest thanksgiv-
Ing is universal mode Of
the weltgeist. an unchanging express
zion Of the time spirit that unites past
and present. civilized and savage, In
bonds Of brotherhood.
Among the yeilowing documents In
the executive departments and the
Congressional Library may be traced
the evolution of the National Thangs-
giving Day as an annual observance.
It was a struggle OF more than three
quarters Of century before the day
was nationalized, and 1t did not come
until the real birth Of a national con-
sciousness after the old bitter section
alism had disappeared in the bloody
solvent Of civil war In sense. the
Thanksgiving Day we Of the present
generation celebrate Is one of thanks
and joy for Peace between the North
and South, for the salvage OF the ma
tion after the old ship of state had
been battered and shaken in the long
weary years of the fiercest internecine
war in the history of the world
Old newspaper files show that the
devout enthusiasts. after the curtain
fell at Appomattox on the concluding
scene of the nations great tragedy.
planned a peace thanksgiving that
should perpetuate in annual religious
observance the victory of Northern
arms over Southern valor. Following
Lncoln's Thanksgiving proclamation
in 1864, for a while many pulpits bla- (
zed with PARTISAN bitterness, the heri-
tage of war, but as time passed the
harvest festival dominated more and
more, until to-day the peace thanks
giving idea is submerged almost be-
yond the reach of memory. +
The American Thanksgiving day
was not always devoted to the wor-
ship of turkey and football. That is
the present day evolution Of a pious
ceremony which had its origin on this
continent when gravefaced Puritans
at Plymouth Rock lifted their earnest
voices in sincere prayer Of thanks to
Jehovah who had guided the frail May
flower through storm and stress to an
asylum where conscience was free.
In 1921, after their first year in New
the Puritans in October, had
their first harvest festival, the annual
festival of old England, which as the
years passed was to become the do .
minant feature of Thanksgiving Day. .
But at this time, as in England, thanks
giving days were appointed for some
particular event, and had no perma-
nent connection with the ancient har-
vest celebration. in itself almost as
old as the human race. OF this first .
Puritan harvest thanksgiving Mounts f.
Relation" contains a quaint descrip-
ton of the feast with Massasoit and
his Indians as guests. 1t is now a IA !,
miliar schoolroom classic.
In 1923 occurred the second Puritan
Day. The year had been
one of disaster for the struggling col
onists Pitiless drought had scorched
the unwilling soil, and the crops were
perfshing under brazen sun and rain
less skies. Famine and pestilence /
to wipe out Of existence /,
the struggling colony In this extre-
nifty, true to their deep religious ex-
tincts, the Puritans, believing their
sufferings were due to the vengeance
Of an angry God Furnishing them for
their sins, appointed day of prayer,
fasting and humiliation to purge them,
selves Of their deductive wickedness in
order to placate a vengeful deity. But
before the day set for donning sack
cloth, and ashes the skies relented and
pouring abundant rains on the parched
soil and wilted crops saved the colo
nists from their impending fate. The
appointed fast day was turned into
one of fervent thanksgiving, the sec
md one to be celebrated in the new
and of promise.
From this time on to the revolution
thanksgiving days were observed with
regularity, the tendency
,eing to make a yearly thanksgiving
eature Of the old harvest festival
But this union was established only
n face of the vigorous opposition Of
he Puritan ministers, who viewed the