The Colorado statesman., 1915-11-20
STORY OF The DAY
Thanksgiving 0bservances Have
Been General Only a Com
parativeIy Short Time.

THE day which is now called
j Thanksgiving day. and which is
a formal observance by proclama
tion of presidents of the United
States. usually followed by proclama
tions of governors of nearly all of the
states. has had it's poetry, it's rhyme
which is not poetry, and prosaic liter
ature which is better than either pc
etry or the rhyme. 1t was in it's orr
| gin really religious observance, the
first proclamations being promulgated
ligious New England, Bradford having
in history the credit of the first proc
lamation.
Observance was in the beginning
desultory, that is, not simultaneous.
and it was not general and synthetic
really, until 1864, when the first pres
| idential proclamation was issued by
Lincoln for day of thanksgiving be
cause of the apparent approaching
end of the Civil war. Naturally thai
day was not observed by the seeded
| states, but now it has come to be rec
ognized in nearly all of the states,
though in many of them it is not
| statutory holiday. 1t is not, and new
er was, national holiday by legisla
tive enactment.
i Just when the turkey flew in as one
of the almost imperative accompani
ments of the Thanksgiving table is
not worth mentioning, as it is an incl
dent so vague. That fowl, with mince
or pumpkin pie as a part of the des-
sert of the time-honored dinner of the
day, has for long years come to be
SO well recognized that it has been
urged as the only logical bird for
blazoning on the national escutcheon
the eagle having become mighty
'skase.' and having been much
missed both in this and other coun-
tries.
In 1853, the morning of June 5, frost
killed all that was killable throughout
the entire North. In October of the
previous year, as will be well remem
bered by elderly people who were
children then, the Donati comet sud
denly blazed across the heavens, and
for months was one of the most beau
stitious, fear and direful. When the
nucleus was low in the northwest in
the early evening the tail dominated
all other celestial phenomena, flowing
far past the zenith. The presage of
great Civil war to come was in the
air and to those who were in the least
| superstitious the comet was a sign
calamity near at hand. The freeze
of the following June clinched the
premonition, and in the fall of the yeaI
| of the frost there was quite general
| ly observed day of fasting and prayer
1t was this sort of recognition of the
omnipotence of Deity, solemn and pro
found and utterly sincere, which in the
earlier days of the nation gave founda
| tion to the origin of the days of thanks
giving for the good things of human
existence, and, when they were not a,
| good as they might have been, thai
they were no worse than they were.
Then the whole custom of settint
apart day for giving thanks to the
Almighty grew gradually into thai
present beautiful intermingling of re
| ligious services, reunion of familie.
and friends, feasting and general re
joicing, even if the times were porten
tous of adversely for some of the peo
pies of this and other parts of tn,
world.
1t is peculiarly an American "insti
tuition and our fat and frivolous fow
of paradise is its fetish. 1t is in al
its forms and colors, wild or domestic
essentially an American bird, ou
Thanksgiving dinner bird. yesterday
and today and forever. beloved by al
ages and races, and for at least thai
one day putting the Roman nose O:
| the eagle out of joint.