The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-29
OLDEST OF
 OUR HOLIDAYS Thanksgiving Day Dates
 to Pioneer. COMES OUT OF CAPE COD Instituted Year After Landing of
 Pilgrims. First Proelamation Was Issued 2s7 Years Ago by Governor Bradford -Oid Time Features of It Are
 Fast Disappearing.

Boston. Nov. 2s--Although probably few people interrupt their appreciation of turkey and cranberry sauce to think about 1t. Thanksgiving Day Is the old est as well as in many respects the most typical of American holidays. It is in fact 2s7 years old, its observanee dating from the time when the Fil- grlms, year after their landing from the Mayflower, held thanksgivIug ser vice. for their first harvest in the new country. It was Governor Bradford who officially established the autpupnal day of thanks which has been ob- served near the end of November ever since that time. Thus Thanksgiving Is more than a century and q half older than Independence Day and ante dates even farther than this our other holi- days. most of which are of coinpara- lively recent creation.
 Thanksgiving is so firmly establish ed among the red letter days of the American calendar that there ie very little prospect that it will ever lose its place. Although the method of it's ob- servance has changed greatly in two centuries and a half and football has taken the place of church going. It stiIl retains It's New England characteristics as day Of family reunions and 1t still brings thousands of people from other 
 homes In these Northeastern States.
 It Is probable Indeed that Thanks- giving Day will stand as e permanent monument of the New England Yam kee. He will be in need of nonu- ment within a few more years for the Yankee himself Is passing away. dis appearing before the influx of foreign population that is taking place in the New England States and before changed conditions of living. Curiously enough Cape Cod, the spot which dYst iweIs comed him to q new land and the scene of the. first Thanksgiving observance, is proving to be also his last strong hold. Here in, fact Is about the only place where there are still to be,found men of the hardy type that made the Amerieen. clipper ship famous, men like those who whipped England's boaated seR-hghters in the war of 1872 to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy"
 Not only is Cape Cod the oldest spot In the country so far as it's occupation by English speaking persons Is con- cerned, but 1t is almost the only one that looks Its true age. If those for eigu writers who record their impres. sions oe Amerieap h books could visit the Cape they might qualify their pat roniziAg ststements about the new ness and the unfniehed appearance of Everything in the Uaited States. There is nothing new about the famous flsh- | hook curvingsout from the Massaehu- setts coast resisting the steady bat tering of Atlantic pillows on one side and of Massaehusetts Bay on the oth- CT. There Is nothing new about the appearance of the inhabitants either. except some oe the summer visitors who flock to this hundred mile long sand spit for their annual vacations.
 From Buzzard's Bay to Provincetown everything, except here and there a summer hotel brilliant In new paint has weather-beaten settled look as much as to say, We've been here a long time and don't care who knows it." The houses, smuggling into hol- lows to escape the bleak winter winds, the ancient captains" and their wives
 captains are as numerous here as | colonels are reputed to be in Ken lucky; even the gnarled and scattered apple trees leaning over at threatening angles from long resistance to heavy storms--aIl suggest that a great many tides have ebbed and flowed since they were set down here.
 It is in the low-roofed rambling dwellings of the little Cape Cod towns that we find the real Yankee of past generations. resisting the changes that time brings to the outside world In very much the same passive but effec- tive way that his sandy home resists the assaults of old ocean. The ancient burial grounds standing close to each village contain the bones of men who helped to lay the foundations. of the American nation and whose descend ants are to be found in every part of the country. Some of their headstones contain Inscriptions that throw an in interesting light on the conditions of : life that these pioneer Americans had to contend with. For instance in the long unused cemetery of the First Par ish Society of Eastman on the summit of a bare hill strewn with glacial boulders and swept by the salt winds which blow in from the Atlantic on one side and Cape Cod Bay on the oth- CT. there is a small, weather-worn slate slab which marks the resting place of l Major John Freeman, who died in 1850 l at the ripe age of 9S. Beside 1t Is an- | other stone. that of Mercy, his wife. daughter of Governor Prince, one of | the first rulers of Plymouth colony, whose farm was nearby and to whom
 was granted tract of Cape Cod land nearly ten miles square.
 Lieutenant Freeman, the Majors son,
 Is buried near his father. So also Is
 the Reverend Mir. Treat, first pastor
 of the society, who for forty-lve years i preached In the church beside the cem-
 etery. Among other virtues the quaint 1 inscription tells of his Christian labors
 and travail among the salvages."
 meaning. of course. the native Indians
 in that vicinity
 The Indians on Cape Cod were. as a
 general rule, peacefully inclined and | dweit among their white neighbors in | friendly intercourse. But those against
 whom Major John and the lieutenant
 his son, went forth to battle In the
 service which earned for them their 1 military titles, were of another breed entirely. For the Freemans tough
 In King Phillips War" and
 there is on record a letter from the
 Major in which he gives the names of | two Eastman soldiers Killed this morning by ye salvages just outside | out posts of guard"
 It was a hard life that these early Americans led, fighting the periis oi the deep during the greater part of tho year and combating the wiles of hos l tile savages and the hardships of pio'
 neer life in the period while they were l ashore. No doubt these conditions | contributed to the development of th' | familiar traits of Yankee character Trading around the world matching 1 his wits against the trickiest dealeri l In all the ports of all the seven seal | made him a shrewd hargaIner while
 the severe conditions surrounding hi ! life ashore forced him to be indus
 trious. frugal and persevering. It wa
 a hard schooling but a good one for | people whose task was to be the turn
 ing of a wilderness into an industria
 empire.
 As long as Americans continued t'
 share in the ocean trade the cape cot