The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1910-11-24
neW York Store
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
Dickson u Taitt COmnanv
SCOTLAND, S. D..
Our National Thanksgiving,
Then and Now.
SCOTLAND. s. D.

Tits only a little more than 40 years ago-1ss4- when Thanks
giving was first observed as a National Festival. Our Pilgrim F-
thers set US the example of Thanksgiving 2s9 years ago. twas at
the close of their first harvest raised on the rugged New England
Coast. That meager crop of 1921, scarcely enough to supply natures
wants, was in marked contrast to the one which as a State and Ma
ton we are asked to remember.
Let us with the same spirit show our gratitude to the bountiful
oliver Lest we Forget the true Source of our Blessings, which in
this year of our Lord 1910are many.
But those early New Englanders as they sat down to their
annual Thanksgiving Dinner did not have the variety of good things
to eat-with which we see our tables spread in these latter years. They
had perhaps a wild turkey, pumpkin pie, onions, cranberry sauce
and potatoes-but they did not have nor for many years afterwards,
tomatoes, peas or string beansbecause in those days there we're no
canned goods, of any kind. There were no tin cans. No cars to
bring the lucious fruits and vegetables from the Southland-and from
California, oranges, bananas. pine apphs Crane hut olives malaga
grapes and other tropical fruits, with which we are now famiiar-but
which were never seen on the markets and in the stores of even rs
years ago.
Dinners were cooked in fire places-on account OF there being no
stoves of any kind. Housewives had no baking powder,no yeast
cakes, graduated sugar or fayoring extracts. No prepared break
lat1 oods u soda crackers. The coffee had all to be roasted and
ground at home. Fire places were the only means of keeping a
house warm. All travel was done by horses and stage coaches.
Then there were no postage stamps the person who received a ] letter
paid for itn cash according to the distance it had come. In that
age there were no envelopes the letters were simply folded, and the
corners held together with sealing wax, and the address was written
on the outside of the letter. Money was a scarce commodity, and
when the taxes were paid one year it was looking ahead tosee where
the money was coming from the next year. About the only thing
which brought money in those days was the black saltsmade from
the wood ashes of the forestand these had not unfrequently to be
hauled 100 miles to the nearest market.
But people of those times were happy and contented-a and their
hearts went out in gratitude t a kind Providence for their many
blessings.
How much more thankful ought WE to be on each recurring
Thanksgiving Day for the innumerable blessings of the age in which
we live.
Yes, let us be thankful that we have passed beyond the Pill grim
and Colonial Days, with their frepaces and cracklings logs, the
hardships, dangers and many trials, to this time of plenty, when
the frugal housewife can cover the Festive Board, at a small cost,
with the finest of pure inen-and on which even the luxuries of the
age can be setat a comparatively small cost.
You can meet every requirement for the Table at Prices most
Reasonable, by calling at the New York Stoer.
Choice Apples-by the peck, bushel, box or barrel.
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