The Benson signal., 1917-11-24

%- RANCE is adding new feast
day to her calendar-Thanks-
giving Day. All along the line
- behind the battle front where
the French and British are
hammering back the invading Germans,
and General Pershing's boys are begin
nlng to "gO to it," all up and down
thelr lines of communication at all
thelr training camps; at their naval
Dases and depots; wherever there are
americans in unifOrm-there Uncle
SANS boys will be eating turkey and
cranberry sauce, and listening to SER
mons by their chaplains on the last
Thursday of November this year.
France has never before been in
close touch with this, the most char
acteristically American of all our hol-
idays. OF course their Christmas, their
Easter, their New Years Day, and
their various church festivals, CORE
Spond to our own. They have an ade-
quate understanding even of our
fourth Of July, for it is close akin to
tnelr own Fourteenth of July, the an
the dawn of real liberty in France.
But Thanksgiving Day has always
Deen Uncle Sans own private and per-
sonal feast day, in which nobody else
had part. 1t had it's origin in no
great international, nor even national,
event. AT first it was not really Amer
lean in scope, but was confined to the
feW hundreds of religious enthusiasts
VINO liked day of public devotion and
thanksgiving for deliverance from In
dlans and cold and hunger
Even the materials for the feast we're
indigenous to America. Despite his
name, which would seem to indicate
an oriental origin, the turkey is a ma
tive of America, and was unknown in
the domain Of the sultan until import
ed there. The potato, which plays g
minor but very important part at the
feast, though later adopted by Ire
land, was discovered in America. So
was corn, which in one of it's many
forms usually makes a part of the
meal. And even the tobacco which
follows the meal in most homes, was
not known outside of America until
Sir Walter Raleigh and his compeers
took it back to England.
Further, the American manner of
| celebrating this most American of all
days has never been of a nature to
call the attention of other nations or
Of their citizens visiting here. On this
q onrio hoc
wont to retire from public gaze, to
refrain from any great public demon
stration, and to give thanks in his own
way and eat the meal in the privacy of
his own family. The only notable
seeming exception to this is the insti-
tuition called the Thanksgiving Day
games of the college football teams.
But this is no real exception. The
! games themselves are always amateur
affairs primarily for the students
themselves, and after the game every
student who can possibly get home
goes into retirement with his family
for the great and solemn feast.
This year war has brought change.
Young Americans to the number of 90
OO0-or is it 100000? Nobody knows,
or is permitted to say if he does know
are in France, 5000 miles from the
family circle and the accustomed tur-
key. Most Americans had little hope
that the day could be observed at the
front, but General Pershing thought
otherwise.
"The boys shall have their Thanks
giving Day." said the general.
That was all, but it was enough. It
showed that the general had thought
it all out beforehand, and that turkeys
and cranberry sauce and all the ''fix-
ms" for the feast, had been provided
months before. Without doubt there
will be football games, for many of the
country's famous gridiron stars are
wearing the khaki. And Uncle Sans
boys will sit down to their Thanksgiv-
ing Day feast, their bodies in France,
but their spirits in the old home cir
Gle, with those whom they have gone
forth to defend.
And France-What of her? It is her
first experience with the Yankee hOl-
iday. But it will fit her case exactly.
Thanksgiving Day had it's origin in the
religious spirit of gratitude for deliv-
erance from very real and pressing
danger. France today is full of that
same spirit of thankfulness, for the
presence of those clean-limbed, square
jawed, clear-eyed young Americans is
the guarantee that France will be Ga-