Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-11-28
New nngIand's Thanksslvlug.

(Hon. John d. Long In the Consregstionalist
CThis article by Hon. John D. Long Il
mot only of general interest, but 10 Of
particular interest to the people OF Ok
| fond County and Of the town OF Buck
field, a. 1t refers to the Thanksgiving
scenes of his boyhood days In thai
town.
ii A man must have been born In New
England village more than generation
Iago to know the full old-time flavor ol
Thanksgiving Day. Then was the day
of the 'old home" Then families were
/, large. Flocks Of boys and girls were In
J evidence and filled the half dozen OF
more scattered schoolhouses which since
then have become so depopulated that
most of them have been abandoned, and
The vastly diminished number of success
sors OF former crowds of scholars are
J carried back and forth 10 single omnibus
to some more pretentious structure al
the village center. Then holidays were
rare. New Years Day and Washing.
toms Birthday and even Christmas, still
under the blight of the old Puritan
protest, were for the most part unobserv.
ed. Fast Day had no significance In the
way of its recognition, except possibly
sermon or, If the snow was of the
ground, a game Of ball. The Fourth OF
July was an outdoor celebration, often
as quiet as a Sunday after the old swivel
had been fired off at sunrise.
The browning festival of the year was
Thanksgiviug-the festival OF the ire
side-when tho apples and pumpkins
had been gathered, when the early snow
flakes had fallen and when grandfather
and grandmother and Uncle Isaac and
Aunt Betsy were invited to dinner and
any boy who had strayed away to an
occupation elsewhere came back with
the appetite of hound and burst In at
the kitchen door with a shout and got
the hearty home greeting. 1t was,
"Hello, mother''-nObody then said
"Mamma"-and, swell, If that amt
you, Sam" Then the "beef critter"
had been killed and bis quarters stored
for the winters only supply of fresh
meat. The hog that had grunted all
summer in his pen and grown fat bad
gone under the butchers knife; souse
and sausage had sent their appetizing
odor through the house, and the pork
barrel was full. mother" and "the
girls"-there were no eervants-for days
previous had been making marvellous
constructions of mipce and apple and
pumpkin pies. The turkey fanked one
end of the table and huge chicken pie
the other. The small boy, already goig-
ed, when his aunt slyly asked him which
kind of pie he would have as If he could
have but one, timidly but eagerly answer
ed back, "All three"
THE GOOD OLD DAYS.
love to think of it as a golden or
Arcadian provincial age. The popu-
laton in the rural districts was entirely
native. They were all of the Pilgrim or
Puritan stock. A resident foreigner in
our village was unknown. The German
Hebrew peddler who once year came
through with his pack on his back-bis
grandsons are now probably New York
milionaires-was as much an object OF
curious interest as the annual circus. 1t
was pure democracy. There were no
large fortunes and the very rare man
who was "wuth" ten thousand dollars
was passing rich" But he was no bet
ter than the man who moved his hay or
chopped his wood. The pauper was a
rare bird. And yet there was little
money in circulation. Clothes were
made at home, and groceries and calico
we're bartered over the traders counter
for dried apples and pelts and heavy
wooden stockings knit over the winter
fire. The town meeting and the wrestl-
ing ring on Saturday afternoon we're the
public occasions. Politics were dis
cussed in the shoe shops and around the
stove of the country store. And fancy
that the discussion differed little in
ability or discrimination from that
around the Cabinet table in the White
House at Washington. The meeting
hous.-never then called the church.
was better filled certainly than nowadays.
Children read the Bible, and its phrase
ology tinc,ured their later speech, where
as many of the children of to-day never
read it, and to them the delight Of the
old Bible stories is lost literature. II
we're teacher of English in college l
! would make my students commit and re-
peat a psalm at every recitation.
! Peace was over the land, not only the
peace of arms, but the peace Of social
and industrial classes. There was no
such term as the "masses." There was
no array OF capital and labor, no trusts,
hardly a corporation, rarely city, no
stock market boiling like cauldron.
The transcendentalists were dreaming
and instituting their communities"
The poets were singing, and Whittier and
Bry ant we're embodying in their verse
the charm and serenity and gentle ideals
of New England life and nature. And
Thanksgiving Day was the consumma-
ton of all.
Looking back we, of course, forget the
evil things, the dangers and vexations OF
the old time, and We recall only its idyl-
lies. May it not be that now we com.
paratively exaggerate the dangers and
vexations of the present and somewhat
fail to appreciate the blessings OF our
time for which Thanksgiving is still
due? or course the problems that are
upon us are terrific. Social and political
and commercial convulsiors threaten
disaster. Greed and graft and crime
and impurity stalk. But myriad springs
and streams of counteracting and re.
dseming influences are allow; and un.
numbered good men and good women,
in cougested city centers and in the
rural fields, are at work as never before
restraining intemperance, inspiring social
purity, uplifting, reforming, snlighten'
ing.
THE ADVANCE.
Ieis not the immediate step, however
much 1t counts, that wholly counts
Thro ugh all the choking dust is the
steady advancing march towards the
higher life and better things. 1t Is the
slow but sure widening of the thoughts
of men with the progress Of the suns.
Each sore to-day and Its exposure how
ever Notifying and disheartening, each
financial dishonesty, each corrupt In
fidelity to the trust Of Office or OF prop
erty, each political prostitution, taken IN
conn cotton with the scrutiny and attach
that unearth It, with the outraged anc
aroused public sentiment that pursuef
and Furnishes it, and with the reform
that follows 1t, is step forward.
II the old provincial and exclusively
native possession has passed, 1t 10 be-
cause 1t has shared itself with the whole
world and opened an asylum for all who
seek Its blessings and to whom Its album
d. dance and better living have gone ont.
What an advance In common educa
. ton for all, In avenues opening wide
and wider to higher pursuits, In house
hold comforts, In relief from excessive
hours of labor, 10 easy and cheap con
veyance making the seashore and tn
!. interior landscape all the peoples play