The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-12-04
lext harvest FESTIVE! was celebrated

With the greatest pornp and tho most
heartfelt reverence and gratitude.
Certainly even in our favored land
where seedtime and harvest SO gener.
cusly and almost invariably follow
each other that we stupidity think them
matters of course, few things ara
sweeter than the smell of the earth
after rain. All the poor. tired. dusty
plants. all the green. growing things
God, without waiting for the official
harvest festival; and we, perhaps be-
cause we are made Of the dust. feel
greatly refreshed. too, and glad and
grateful in sympathy with the great
mother from whom we came and to
whom we return.
NIcCormick's Reaper.
1t was Virginian who made it pos
| siblo TO harvest the perfectly enor-
| nous crops of grain of the West, and
not man of broad acres, either, but
! one who came from a little billy
farm of few acres on mountain
1 side in Rockbridge county. and q
cabin--a new proof that necessity, not
afiluence, is the mother of invention
| The vast plateaus of India, South
Virginia inventor. The good of one. ir
these days of steam, telegraph. tele.
phone, is emphatically the good Of all
| Every meal that we take, rich or poor
declares this: for the simplest repre-
sents the ends of the world, and its
marvellous web of traffic In our pepper
salt. coffee tea, sugar and other
things We call them "necessaries'
now. But they are really luxuries. A
hundred years ago. two hundred,
three, how many of them could have
been found In the homes Of even the
rich and great? We are very spoiled
children in this country. We feel
that the earth and the fitness there.
OF" are ours as a matter of course
Thanksgiving at least suggests some
subject.
That Point Of View.
The turkeys views Of Thanksgiving
would be interesting. Why poor, in
nocent, unoffending bird should be
pounced upon. with millions of other
fowls of hts tribe. and be slain and
eaten to slow music. like the Anthra-
clan kid, every November must he a
puzzle to the limited turkey lntelli-
gence, and they arc naturally indlg.
nant and get red In the comb over ii
In honest rebellion. The turkey heaven
must be that land which was seen By
the eyes of faith only. There wac
once negro preacher who thus pray
ed: 80 Lord! bless all mankind. c
Lord, bless the people OF the unln-
habited portion Of the globe" They
might be trusted with a thirty-siX-
pound Valley of Virginia turkey, stuff
fed with oysters and basted every ten
minutes till done, like ours; but no
one else could resist sending 1t as
promptly. as possible after grace is
said to the limbo OF strasburg geese.
The ides of November and December
passed a hopeful bird can breathe
again for ten months to come, and
even mate and settle down comforts
ably on any farm. "The English take
their pleasures sadly after their fash
ion,, said dear old Froissart but a
turkey cheers the most saturnine OF
Rritons. They are uncommon scarce,
but Very fine, there, like all thel,
carcfully-reared, cleunly-lept crop
fed poultry. which is also admirably
cooked, well-larded, Drowned to a
turn and served piping hot. with al
most solcmnly selected bits Of fnt,
skin, giblcts. gravy and chestnut stuff
ling. Charles l. had twelve rules for
T. feasts" The eleventh was, Make no
long meal. That was almost prophet
ic, so steadily have elaborate, Homeric,
fintermlnable dinners lost favor even
In country whose climate makes for
great abundance In both food and
! drink, The baron Of beef on wheels
rolled up to the man at a London res
taurant who has tramped thirty OF
forty miles in cold. drizzling rain;
tho quarts of fourpenny Burton and the
great dish OF mealy potatoes that dis
appears with them make such thews
t3,,pI eina,vS n rp Iari1 ing.hant "A
thousand battlehelds have shown that
1t remains to ba seen what sort OF
. man will be turned out by our