Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-11-28
MOTHER OF THANKSGIVING
Worked Twenty Years to Have Oh
servanoe Made National.
PHILADELPHIA WOMAN HONORED
Transition In Modes OF Celebrating
the Day From the Inception
Down to Civil War
Times.

safely after their perilous voyage, he
doubtless recalls, thanked God for His
goodness in bringing them to land
where they could be free and have a
chance for happiness according to their
own ideas OF that elusive condition. But
this was not the origin of the present day
Thanksgiving
The first national OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
was destined to become a permanent fea-
ture of the American year--had nothing
TO do with the praise services OF the Pill
grims. nor was It intended as a continual
ton Of the early New England custom.
It resulted from the turn Of the civil
wars crimson tide when II began TO ebb
from the bloody heights OF Gettysburg,
and Philadelphia woman, Mrs. Sarah
]. Hale. then editor Of that famous pub
LEGATION. Godey's Lady's Book, was re-
sponsible for having it established as a
national holiday. The first thanksgiving
celebration held under proclamation by
the New Engianders was the occasion for
long and gorgeous feast, which lasted
three days.
In wnybRck Days.
! In 1921 Governor Bradford of Massa-
/ hhheNAtS IAbNAsdiANh DNNNAhbNA 1" -
day Of thanksgiving, to be observed in
gratitude for the plenteous harvest OF
that year. This festival was such a sue
cess that IT was repeated at frequent in
tervals throughout the year. As the
years wore on It became popular with the
stern New Englanders, as an offset Il
Christmas. which savored too much OF
high church to please their austere con-
sciences, and in the middle of the last
century Thanksgiving day rivaled New
Years as a calling day. Society wined
and dined at noon, drove on it's fashion
able roadway, and then held receptions
open house was kept, and one man, by
reason of his great hospitality, has come
down In social history as Turner the
Generous"
During the Revolutionary war. whom
ever the festival was celebrated, there
was less feasting and more praying. on
December IS. 1777, Washington proclaimed
day OF thanksgiving for the army, and
on May Z, 177s, at Valley Forge, the poor,
worn out Continentals knelt down In their
rags and thanked God for their deliver
ance from the enemy.
Several presidents after Washington
proclaimed special Thanksgiving day,
but II was not a regular custom, and 1t
was usually left to the governors OF the
different states to decide when the day
should be. or II it should be at all, al
though in New England It was hardly
ever omitted.
Agitation for National Observance.
! Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale became editor
of Godeys Lady's Book in 1880. She was
native OF New England, having been
born in Newport N. H., on october "a,
1TSS. She was surprised to find. when
she came to Philadelphia, that Thanks
giving was not celebrated as much as or
in the way she thought it ought to be.
Mrs. Hale was a woman Of great charm,
strong character and extremely energetic.
She was also very tenacious Of her ideas
and very persistent in pushing them. For
twenty years or more she untiringly agi-
tated the question Of Thanksgiving day
being made a national and annual holi-
day. She wrote letters to all the gov
ernors OF the different states and terri
tories, urging that they appoint the last
/ Thursday in November in each year as a
day for Thanksgiving, celebrating II with
general holiday and by services in the
churches. thanking God for giving such
a land of plenty and so many and great
opportunities for happiness and advance
ment TO the Americans.
This is the spirit In which Thanksgiv'
ing day is supposed always TO have been
celebrated by modern Americans, but
until Mrs. Hale succeeded in having II
made a national holiday, it was really
more day set apart for gorgeous feast.
ing after bounteous harvests than any
thing else. The custom Of observing the
holiday by dressing up in fantastic cos.
tunes and parading the streets is a sur.
vival of the old Guy Fawkes' day OF Eng
land. and was brought to America by the
early English settlers. The feeling which
the colonists still had for the mother
country caused them to remember this
custom and include Il with their harvest
festival.
BY 1859, after twenty years OF effort
two governors had yielded TO the entreat'
les OF Mrs. Hale. but there was no very
widespread interest, and the custom
Jagged. especially in the south.
President Lincoln Approves.
Lincoln was the first president who re-
/ hH0u0Nu AhNbAbhlg W N1AHs AAeANN SNc
gestion Directly after the battle OF Get
tysburg, in July. 1863. Mrs. Hale wrote &c
President Lincoln, inclosing a copy Of
Washington's proclamation, and suggested
that he also proclaim national day OF
Thanksgiving. President Lincoln followed
her suggestion. and on July 10, 1863 BY
proclaiming the sixth day OF August Of
that year "as a day for national thanks
giving. praise and PRAYER" In that yeal
there were two thanksgiving days. fol
Lincoln proclaimed another late in thu
fall. and from that time on Thanksgiving
day became a regular national holiday
owing TO the persistent effort Of this in
defatigable woman.
Mrs. Hale was the widow o. Davis
Hale, who died when she was a lltth
over 80. leaving her with five children e