The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1915-11-23
Thanksgiving 0bservances Have
Been General Only a Com
parativeIy Short Time.

i Thanksgiving day. and which Is
a formal observance by proclama-
ton of presidents OF the United
| States, usually followed by proclama.
| lions of governors of nearly all of the
| states, has had its poetry, it's rhyme
| which is not poetry, and prosaic liter
| allure which is better than either po-
| etry or the rhyme. 1t was in it's orr.
| gin really a religious observance, the
first proclamations being promulgated
| by provincial governors of very re-
| 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 that
| 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 a
statutory holiday 1t is not, and new
er was, national holiday by legisla-
tive enactment
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
the eagle having become mighty
"skase,' and having been much
missed both in this and other coun-
| tries
In 1859, 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
tiful of spectacles, but, to the super
! stitious, fear and direful. When the
nucleus was -ow in the northwest in
the early evening the tall dominated
all other celestial phenomena, flowing
far past the zenith. The presage of a
great Civil war to come was in the
air and to those who were in the least
superstitious the comet was sign of
calamity near at hand. The freeze
of the following June clinched the
premonition, and in the fall of the year
! 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-
ton to the origin of the days of thanks
giving for the good things of human
existence, and, when they were not as
good as they might have been, that
they were no worse than they were.
Then the whole custom of setting
apart a day for giving thanks to the
Almighty grew gradually into that
present beautiful intermingling of re-
| ligiOus services, reunion of families
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 the
world.
1t is peculiarly an American "insti-
tution,' and our fat and frivolous fowl
of paradise is its fetish. 1t is in all
! it's forms and colors, wild or domestic,
essentially an American bird, our
Thanksgiving dinner bird, yesterday
and today and forever, beloved by all
ages and races, and for at least that
one day putting the Roman nose OF
! the eagle out of joint.