Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-11-29
THANKSGIVING DAY

THANKSGIVING DAY
To us "moderns" 1t may seem that q
little group of people with barely a
foothold on the bleak New England.
ock-bound'' coast, 302 years ago.
had little to be thankful for. Certain
imaginings respecting that group.
imaginings of tenor different in this
generation from those Of the earlier,
bring them to mind as a bigoted folk
with narrow outlook, psalm singing
and Sunday observing. the while
greedily grasping lands and plumber
from the red people. When the car
toonist about this season Of the year,
responding to the seasonal impulse.
essays to depict them it sometimes il
with a humor that bears the stamp
of modernity. For instance the cover
illustration of popular magazine
shows pig-faced Puritan. Of cor
pulency never acquired on orn-meal
mush. dickering with red man for
the Thanksgiving turkey. The Puri-
tan in wheedlins fashion holds up the
string Of cheap glass beads his hands
outstretched. palms turned upward in
true Semitic gesture.
Perhaps our ideas respecting cause
for thanksgiving have undergone
equally unsuitable change. Harriet
Beecher Stowe, describing "Oldtown
Folks" tells us: "Great as the prepar-
atoms were for the dinner, every
thing was SO contrived that not soul
in the house should be kept from the
morning service Of Thanksgiving in
the church" Modern thought dwells.
when not upon sports and viands,
more on the Puritan accompanying
Eye fayre ladye" to religious service,
his bell-muzzled musket borne in
readiness for the Indian lurking be-
hind such undergraduates as New
England landscape in November
could afford. And there Is the town
drunkard SOLDERING up in the stocks,
his Thanksgiving cheer consisting of
the Implying looks of his cruel, I'M
sympathetic world. Nowhere is SYM
pathy much in evidence in the mo-
dern conception of the Puritan
Thanksgiving day; possibly it wasn't
then; possibly, too, the Puritan
thanked the Lord "for blessings DER
=" for the sake Of getting more"
but he certainly did go through the
forms Of thankfulness, which is more
than may be said Of many of the
present generation. & s.
The Puritan may have been SNUG
In self-righteousness in competency
to think himself better that 9TH
ers. We do not feel sure about this.
but we are confident there is good
deal Of SNUG complacency among
present day folks, not so much over
their religious qualifications as over
their superior civilization. their
creature comforts, the achievements
for instance of the electrical and
chemical wizards of the twentieth
century. Why. we can make a
thunder storm with bolts Of light
ming, mix the ingredients Of bomb
with which we may wipe away every
vestige Of humanity within radius
of ten miles. As yet. however, we
have discovered no way to prevent
the other fellow from making the
same kind Of bomb.
Two antagonistic methods OF living
met head on. back in 1892, and strug-
gled for something like three hundred
years. The Indian that ruthlessly in
terfered with Thanksgiving day cele-
brations when so minded has been
relegated to the enervating embrace
of the Indian Bureau; but AZ for
savages. why to theAmakins Of these
we have applied our supurb
methods, Of cumulative production.
are turning them out faster than In
dams were depleted by Buffalo Bill.
Today the mortality on turn In the
cement highway may be greater than
1t ever was at the bosky bend in the
hunters path.
From such observations We may
conclude that smugness II not APP
propriats at this time:. that we need
to be - alert. ~ quick Of perception.
~ dauntless. - vigorous. - strong
IN sslf-control ~ capable Of self
: denial, - much In need Of unssldsh-
ness, Of the spirit Of thanlkfulnsss, q
was the ancient Puritan. Moreover.