The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-11-27
By A. w. rGeeley.


proclamation appointing November 2s
as a national day of thanksgiving he
| forged another link between the pres
| ent and the dim, prehistoric past, for
in practically unbroken chain the feast
| of thanksgiving, the harves- festival,
| stretches back to unknown origins in
barbarous rite among savage peoples
| when the world was young.
When next Thursday American famI-
lies reunite around the plump turkey
and mince pies, after al hour Of rell-
gious service, following the feast with
attendance at a football game, they are
executing a programme identical in
spirit with the Roman feast Of Ceres,
the Greek festival of Demeter, the
Feast of the i~ngathering Of the an
cient Hebrews, and similar Obser-
vances by Egyptians, B~abylonians,
Hindus, and Chinese. The harvest
thanksgiving is a universal mode Of
the weltgeist, an unchanging express
sion of the time spirit unites past and
present, civilized and savage, in bonds
of brotherhood.
Among the %yellowing documents in
the federal archives in the executive
departments and the Congressional lib
rary may be traced the evolution OF the
national Thanksgiving day as an an
nual observance. It was a struggle OF
more than three-quarters of a cen
fury before the day was nationalized,
and it did not come until the real birth
of a national consciousness after the
old bitter sectionaliSm had disappeared
in the bloody solvent of civil war. In
a sense, the Thanksgiving day we Of
the present generation celebrate is one
Of thanks and joy for peace between
north and south, for the salvage of the
nation after the old ship of state had
been battered and shaken in the long,
weary years of the fiercest internec1ne
war in the history Of the world.
Old newspaper files show that the de-
| vOut enthusiasts, after the curtain fell
at Appomattox On the concluding scene
Of the nations great tragedy, planned
a peace thanksgiving that should per-
| petuate in annual religious observance
the victory Of northern arms over
, southern valor. Following Lincoln's
thanksgiving proclamation in 1864, for
a while many pulpits blazed with part
isan bitterness, the heritage Of war,
1,4 90 4.-oo ,1~-ol TIM ryyoC f0CTirol
| feature dominated more and more, un-
til today the peace thanksgiving idea
is submerged almost beyond the reach
Of memory.
The American THANKSGIVING day was
| not always devoted to the worship OF
turkey and football. That is the pres
ent day evolution of a piOus ceremony
which had it's origin on this continent
when grave-faced Puritans at Ply
mouth Rock lifted their earnest voices
in sincere prayer of thanks to Jehovah
who had guided the frail Mayfowel
through storm n stress to an asylum
where conscience was rree.
In 1921, after their first year in New
England, the Puritans, in October, mac
their first harvest festival, the an,
nual festival of old England which as
the years passed was to become the
dominant feature of Thanksgiving day
But at this time, as in England
thanksgiving days were appointed fol
some particular event, and had nc
permanent connection with the ancient
harvest celebration, in itself almost az
old as the human race. Of this frs
Puritan harvest thanksgiving "Mourt's
Relation" contains a quaint description
Of the beast with Massasoit and his In
dams as guests. 1t is now a familiar
schoolroom classic.
In 1923 occurred the second Puritan
Thanksgiving day. The year had beer
one Of disaster for the struggling col
onists. Pitiless drought had scorche6
the unwilling soil, and the crops were
perishing under brazen sun and rain.
less skies. Famine and peStilence
threatened to wipe out Of existence
the struggling colony. In this extremi.
ty, true to their deep DELICIOUS instincts
the Puritans, believing that their suf.
feriRgs were due TO the vengeance o.
an angry God Furnishing them for their
sins, appointed a day Of prayer, fasting
anu uumllldtlOu W purge themselves "
their deductive w~ickedness in order tt
placate a vengemul relty. But before
! the day set for DOMINIC sackcloth ant
ashes the skies relented and, pouring
abundant rains On the parched soil and
wilted crops, saved the colonists from
J their impending fate. The appointed
fast day was turned into one OF
thanksgiving, the second to be cele.
brated in the new land Of promise.
From this time on to the revolution
thanksgiving days were observed with
increasing regularity, the tendency be.
ing to mako yearly tnarSsci,ily fea-
ture of the old harvest frtival. But
this union was established only in
face of the vigorous opp os:t.cn of the
Puritan ministers, who viewed the har-
vest festival games aui merrymakins
as deepest sacrilege On Thanksgiving
day. 1t was the same old battle which
had been fought and .ost il ENGLAND.
In the old country days appointed by
the church for religious Thanksgiving