The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-28
THANKSGIVING AND THE CHIEF
DUTY OF THE DAY.

i ne SplnOlcS anu IN ilISAS "
try will cease their music; toiling men
will enjoy q day Of rest; men oused
in the city offices will seek the ex-
hilaration of a day in the woods;
country people will repair to their
churches or to the towns to visit rela-
tives; college boys and football en-
thusiasts will wear theiL favorIte
colors and hurry to the gridiron where
the proves Of the players will be
tested.
Thanksgiving Day originated in New
England, or rather we should say II
originated in Palestine, and was re-
vived in the days when the first set
tiers Of Massachusetts gave thanks Tor
their abundant har1ests and their
preservation in the new country. 1t
has never been generally observed IN
the rural South. The reason is cimati
and economic. Christmas and Christ
mas time is the winter festival on the
Southern farm, whereas in the North
the Fourth Of July and Thanksgiving
Day takes the highest ank On the
Fourth Of July, as a rule, the farmers
are SO busy they can hardly spare a
day from making the crop for a cele-
bration, whereas they can take it for
August meetings and other gatherings.
before the crops are all harvested.
The farmer can better take two weeks
at Christmas than q day at Thanks
giving, and when ali the South was
rural the jollities and the gaieties n
Thanksgiving Day and celebrations
were all rolled into the August meet
ings and Christmas Holidays. Never
a single day, mind you, but a week
or weeks Of happiness n good cheer
with the big pot in the little one! In
the summer it was camp meetings or
fishing frolics, or both, n visiting
from neighbor to neighbour, and with
the children coming home to see the
old folks after h crop was laid by,
n day was not holiday enough in
days Of slow transportation. The
braced a half a month or more. Not
much time was taken in November,
for the crops were being harvested
and it was not time for hog killing.
Parties Of winter celebrations In the
country not cheered with hog killing
time and rabbit hunting and partridge
shooting and the old-time parties,
were not to the liking Of the old-ttme
South.
With the newer days and larger
towns and the passing of the great
plantations, Thanksgiving Day is com
ing to be generally observed in the
South. We have our football contests
and That gives zest to the younger
people, but the chief thing about
Thanksgiving Day in North Carolina
today is the fact hat on this day the
people, but the chief thing about
the orphans. There are fifteen hun
dred children being cared for in the
several orphanages in North Carolina.
They are the peculiar wards OF all
good people. These institutions have
been established by churches and fra
ternaI orders and have received the
children without parents or homes in
the faith that supplies would come to
pay for their feeding and clothing
them. So far. that faith has never
been disappointed, and every year
voluntary contributions have gone into
these institutions, so that none Of
these orphans have suffered for bread
or shivered for the want Of clothing.
But, beloved, the umbe Of orphans
has increased steadily. the cost OF food
and clothing has steadily gone up, and
this year there comes q greater need
for larger contributions than on any
Thanksgiving Day in the past
One of these days this paper pro-
poses compiling a story Of the useful
AZ H. i%----