Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-11-19

day opened in this water-locked land with a great
ringing Of bells and over every shining doorsill
there stepped into the crisp morning air the house
holds full number. Each Hans or Gretchen, clasp
ing a silverbound prayer book, walked sedately to
the various places of worship and there, lifting up
their sweet Holland voices, harsh, perhaps, in
speech, but full and round in song, sent up musical
praise for the freedom of their land and the good
things of the earth.
Church over, the entire population for the nonce
broke through their usual s~tolidness and there was
a general scampering of young feet in game or
dance and a Gathering of older tongues in friendly
gossip as %neighbor visited %neighbor or a father vel
coined his large flock of grandchildren.
The great event q this Dutch Thanksgiving day
was dinner, at which was served as central dish
a queer stew of meat and vegetables which they
called Spanish hodge-podge. For once in their prac-
teal lives the Hollanders became facetious, and
over this hodge-podge they made merry and cracked
jokes at their old-time ~enemy-Spain. The general
'hashlike" appearance of the hodgepodge was sup
posed to represent the condition of the Spanish
army when the Dutch had vanquished it. Even
the children entered into the fun and kept their
history fresh by ~gleefully ~slashing into a potato or
a turnip and c~huckling as they swallowed the NOR
sells, "This is General Soand-So-ah! Me eat him
sou
We'll, the Puritans heartily approved of the early
religious services Of the morning and their healthy
a%ppetites could not fail to appreciate the Spanish
hodge-podge, however much they may have dis
approved Of the sentiment which favored it, so they
entered most heartily into the Dutch Thanksgiv-
ing of October 3. In 1923 these Pilgrims held Oc-
tober 3 as a day Of Thanksgiving in the New World,
and here We have our first true American Thanks
giving day.
This day has passed through many vicissitudes
since that date. There is not a festival on the al.
manac, fixed or movable, which has had the strug-
gle for existence that our November holiday has
endured.
From 1923 until 1880 Thanksgiving day was held
in America in various months, some of the Pilgrims
keeping to October 8 and other lcolonists holding
a different day by order of the governor.
In 1880 the people of Massachusetts were suffer
ing for food and clothing and Gov. Winthrop hired
the good ship Lyon to return to England for sup
plies. For many days the vessel lay stranded off
the Isle of Shoals, but finally put out. Winter came
on apace, and nothing was heard of the ship. The
colonists were nearly disheartened when, on Feb
ruary %, 1881, the Lyon was sighted, and the gov
ernor ordered that the day be given over to feast
ing and thanksgiving. This is the first written
record of a Thanksgiving day in Boston; it can
still be found in the Colonial Records of Massachu-
sets. 1t is an interesting fact that this first Bos-
ton Thanksgiving was held on what is now one of
our most patriotic holidays, Washington's birthday.
The first record of a joint celebration of Thanks.
giving day is given in the Colonial Records Of 1882.
when Gov. Winthrop of Massachusetts bay, asked
the governor of Plymouth colony to join him in is