Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1922-11-24
From The Study Desk

"They begane now to gather III we
small harvest they had, and to titte up
their houses and dwellings against win
ter, being all we'll recovered in health
and strength, and had all things in
good plenty; for as some were thus
employed in affairs abroad, Others
were exercised in fishing, aboute codd,
& bass, & other fish, of which yey
tooke good store of which every fam
ilv had their portion All we somer
Their was nc wante And now, as win
ter approached Their was great store OF
wild Turkies, of which they tooke
many. Besides they had aboute
peck of meale a weeke to a person, or
now since harvest, Indean corne to vt
proportion And thus they found we
Lord to be with them in all their ways,
and to blesse their outgoings & in
comings, for which let his holy name
have We praise forever, to all pos
terrific"
In such quaint language William
Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Plan
tation, tells, in his diary, the story OF
the first New England Thanksgiving
Day. Says John Fiske, when pro-
visions and fuel had been laid in for
the ensuing winter, Governor Brad
ford appointed a day of Thanksgiving
Town-meetings had already been neld,
and a few laws passed. The history OF
New England had begun
Now some three hundred years later
= H.. ',,t Cd Statpc and
the Governor of our Commonwealth
call upon us to observe DAY OF Pub
lie Thanksgiving and Prayer, and we
accept the custom as matter OF
course with hardly a thought OF the
Pilgrim band and the hardships OF the
first winter on the bleak New England
coast. We of these later favored CEN
turtles accept our blessings altogether
too easily: we forget that this heritage
of ours cost the sacrifice, the suffering
nav more, the very lives of heroic
men and women who were willing to
die for their convictions Elder Brew
ster spoke the truth when he said 1T
is not with us as with men whom
small things can discourage or small
disContentmentS cause to wish them
selves at home again We men and
women of the Twentieth Century are
in danger of losing the real significance
of the occasion in our satisfaction over
the wild Turkies' that grace our ies-
tai boards. Thanksgiving Day IS a
time for rejoicing, and it is most appro-
pirate that families shall make the Day
an occasion for reunion, but gratitude
which spends itself in mere emotional
expression is not worthy OF the sacred
traditions of the Day Nor is such
gratitude sufficient for our present
need. Emotional citation over the viz
tues of the Pilgrim Fathers was all
very well when it was INDUCED in for
the most part by their direct descend
ants, but in these latter days the
American Thanksgiving Day is time OF
rejoicing not merely for the consider
able varieties of Christian who unite
with descendants of seventeenth cen
turv Separatsts in cherishing the Pill
grim heritage, but for HinduS Noham-
mcdans, Confucians and many another
strange faith who, when the Thanks
giving proclamation appears, know not
wherefore they are gathered together.
The time has come, as the Editor of
Life suggested the other dav. when
local transportation in New York City
as in way a world matter because it
has to do with the comfort of all the
Hittites, Invites, Jebusite, Amelekites,
Greeks. Italians, Jews, Russians, Turks,
Armenians, Germans, Irish and all
others who compose the population of
New York or who are coming here to
live" The very fact that all these var
ious people are here is in itself cause
for Thanksgiving. They no doubt
have valuable contributions to make to
our national life But their presence
is ample reason for the gratitude of
native-born Americans to take practi-
cal form in such civic and educational
activities as will tend to insure the per
manence of those institutions which,
thanks to the Pilgrim Fathers, have
made America blessing to the world
II =