The Raymer enterprise., 1912-11-21

ItIblOus ttGtHOUS OIL
'" thanksgiving. The Joy.
GUS celebration OF the gathering OF the
years harvest, a day or week OF feast
Ing. song. dance and reyel. Is found
In all ages and among all peoples
Thanksgiving days are also common
10 all religions. past aud present, but.
they were not regular or periodical
e'ehts-occuHing generally after
some victory OF war. The Purltans
and the Pilgrims brought with them
from England both the Harvest festl.
val and the Thanksgiving days. the
latter being observed whenever the
deeply religious mind OF the Puritan
saw In their prosperity or good for.
tune the direct Intervention OF Proyi-
dence. The Puritan also stripped the
ancient Harvest festival OF much OF It's
rude license that had grown up around
the celebration In England and grad,
uaily through the two centuries fol,
lowing the settlement OF New England,
there grew up the practice OF combn.
ing the two events and making the
Thanksgiving annual The religious
element has been greatly subordinated
rs the years passed until at the pres
"ht time 1t Is To majority OF AmcrI.
cans only an Incident that by many is
observed only In the breach.
To the stern old Puritan OF almost
thrce centuries ago. the Thanksgiving
day OF 1912 would seem little less than
sacrilegc so far as the thlnksglylng
feature OF II is concerned But he
would understand and appreciate the
days feas,ng and rcvel as part OF
the celebration Of the Harvest fcstl.
val The difference is apparent In the
records O! the early settlement of
America. The first Thanksgiving serv.
ice held In North America was OBJ.
served with religious ceremonies con.
Quoted by an English minister in the
year 1878 on the shores OF Ncwfound
land. This clergyman. accompanied
the expedition under Frobishcr who
settled the hrst English colony in
America. The records Of this sIgnlA
cant day have been preserved in the
quaint rules and regulations OF the cx.
pcdltion as follows.
In priugpy To Danish Swearing
dice and card playing. and filthy com.
munlca,lUn. aud to serve God twice
day with the ordinary service Of the
Church Of England On Monday morn.
inG. May y, ISIS. aboard the Aydc,
We received all. tho communication by
the minister Of Graycscnd. prrparod
as good Christians toward God and
rcsolutc men for all fortunes,
and MRi6tcr Wolfall made unto us A
goodbye sermon, cNhortng all espe.
cinlly TO be thankful to God for His
strange and marvellous dclIycranco In
those dangerous places"
The second record OF Thanksgiving
service In America Is that Of the Pom.
ham colony which settled at Sagada.
hoe on the Maine coast in 1907 II
consisted Of prayer and sermon as in
the hrst Instance These we're thanks. |
giving days pure and simple. and after
tho settlement OF Plymouth many 9th.
ers OF similarly solemn religious ma.
ture occurred
The first Harvest festival held in
America was upon December l3, 1921.
II has been called wrongly. the frs,
autumnal thanksgiving held In Amer.
lea. but It was In reality the obsery. |
ance OF the Harves, festival with |
which the settlers had been acquaint.
ed In England It was not a day set
apart for religious worship and 1, is
not likely that any religious service
was held; o. the contrary, 1t was the
beginning Of whole week OF festlv.
ity In celebration OF the successful
garnering OF their FIRST harvest In