The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1908-11-21
THANKSGIVING DAY.


may not be amiss at this time, to give
short sketch of the manner of man
the Puritan was, and the causes which
contributed to the formation of his
character.
The history of the Puritan goes
back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
when he dissented from the worship
and ceremonials of the Established
Church of England.
He claimed the pure word of God
as his only religious standard and also
set up a certain standard of pure life,
entirely free from any participation
IN worldly amusements or unseemly
levity.
Life was to be lived for the glory of
God alone, and was to be free from
even a semblance of worldliness. A
rigid adherence to this standard made
life for old and young about as severe,
solemn and somber as human life can
well be.
But, the Puritan was sincere and
he was earnest; to him, the glory Of
God was everything and the glory Of
man nothing.
To him, life was too serious to be
lived in trifling manner, or to be
given up to such ungodly amusements
as theater going, dancing, etc. These
he regarded as leading souls down to
hell, and away from God. He was con-
cerned not alone in the salvation Of
his own soul but in the souls of those
about him.
The early days of the Puritans in
England were days rife with relig-
lous persecution. Men and women
often WENT the stake for conscience
sake, and the Puritans had to worship
in secluded and out-of-the-way places.
To escape there prosecutions, in the
land of their birth, number of them
became exiles in Holland and, finally,
in the winter of 1920. sought a home
for themselves and freedom to wor-
ship God, according to the dictates of
their own conscience, in the New
World.
December 81, 1860, the Mayfower,
carrying the first installment of the
Pilgrims from Holland, landed at Ply
mouth Rock, on the Massachusetts
coast, founding the third civilized set
Element within the present boundaries
of the United States. The two pre-
ceding settlements were at s. Angus
tine, Florida, and Jamestown, Virginia.
The stern and rock-bound coast
where the Puritans landed, in the
middle of bitter winter, proved q
fitting background for the men and
women who had faced the storms and
stress of an angry sea for conscience
sake. They were stern and sturdy in
setting themselves to work to erect
houses for shelter, and, when the
spring came, to till the soil in order
to provide food sufficient to keep the
wolf of hunger from the door.
Aside from his severe and rather
gloomy religion, the Puritan was not
only Industrious, but thrifty. He
worked early and he worked late. His
motto was, waste not, want not" and
this he carried constantly into prac,
tice.
Although austere in his religious
views, he lived we'll and he usually
sat down to bountiful. table. His
correct habits of life had a tendenc,
to make him strong, stalwart and
robust; his industry and his DISPOSE
ton to save soon gave him a fair
share of worldly goods, and not onl,
put him beyond want, but in circum
stances of comfort, II not luxury. To
MS saving characteristic we owe the
allusion to Yankee thrift" which if
SO familiar to people in all parts OF
the country.
Although in time the Puritan re-
Taxed somewhat the severity of his
religious views and their relation 1c
personal conduct, he has always stood
Tor an exceedingly rigid public ant
private morality.
He believes in the regulation O,
moral conduct by laws and ordi
nances, and we find him back of ever,
movement having for its object a. more
general observance of the Sabbath
He insists strongly on the enact
1nent and enforcement of prohibitor,
a laws and all laws which he believe.
. VIII up-lift the moral and religious
I. u standards of the country at large.
+ Although he has got away from tn.
rigid regulation Of individual conduc
which made it an otfense against Law