The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1923-11-23

People who do not chlOrOfOrm their
sense of fun before starting to read
history have had many a chuckle over
the Pilgrim and Puritan festival Of |
Thanksgiving. These early settlers Of |
New England were so militantly Chris |
tian that they could not bear any sug-
geStiOn Of an earlier creed. They |
objected to Christmas as "heathenish," /
because it cOntained-as it still con- |
tains-sO many relics Of pre-Christian |
days. Having done this, they turned |
round, seized on the most thoroughly |
pagan of all celebrations, that of the |
gathered harvest, and made it an insti- |
tuition that has grown and spread for |
three centuries, is the indictment !
drawn by writer in an eastern maya |
zine.
But the joke is not all on the Pill |
grims. True, they went back to fes-
tival which has been held ever since
man began to plant and gather crops;
but they made Of it something peculiar
~ modern, Christian, and, at the last,
American.
Thcr gave religious character to
Il celebration which for ages had been
a purely material jOllifcatiOn, and
made IL a part Of the cOmmunity's pub
lie policy: an occasion for coming to-
gether in common aspirations, hopes
and gratitude. All the changes and
developments of the last 300 years
have not been able to change the es-
sential character Of the Pilgrim
Thanksgiving. How many inventions
Of today viii last so long?
The first Thanksgiving feast, held
in the fall of 1921, was not ordained
by formal proclamation. The colony
was too small to need such a notice.
But the circumstances under which
the celebration was held are told in
Governor BradfOrd's history in a way
well worthy of quotation:
"They (the cOlOnists) BECAME now to
gather in the small harvest they had,
and to fitte up their houses and dwell
! ings against winter, being all well re-
covered in health & strength, & had
all things in good plenty: for as some
were thus Employed in affaires abroad
others were exercised in fishing abOute
codd, & bass, & other fish, Of which
they tooze good store, of which every
family had their portion. And
now begane to come in store Of fOule,
as winter approached, of which this
place did abound when they came
first, but afterwards decreased by de-
grees. And besides water fOule, Their
was great store of wild Turkies, Of
which they took many, besides vension,
&c. Besids they had abOute a peck
a meale a weeke to a person, OF
now, since harvest, Indean cOrne to
that proportion. Which made many
afterwards write so largely Of their
plenty hear to their friends in Ehg-
land, which were not famed, but true
reports"
Excepting small boys, one car hard
ly imagine the folk Of a modern com
munftv boasting about their plenty
under the stimulus Of ''peck a meale
q weeke to a person." plus such game
as could be trapped, or shot with flint
lock firearms. But such things depent
mainly on the point Of view, and tina
may not have improved so much il
the last three centuries as we think
We of today know more of thOusan
things than did Governor Bradford an
his companions, but it is not so certat
that we know more Of the basic bus
ness Of living.
Excellent hearts had our fathers
. old" and for steady, cheerful coul
age, the Pilgrim colonists never hay
been surpassed.
1 Twelve years later, the colony ha
! grown so much that a formal proofs
I nation seemed necessary. The mrs
| one was issued on October /, 163'
\ and the Thanksgiving celebration wa
| held two weeks later, October i
| The custom soon spread throughor
/ New England. Then, on October
! 1889. the new President of the ne
! nation, George Washington, called o
! the American people to assemble o
! Nov. 26 and give thanks, among Oth(
| things,
| ''FOr the signal and manifold Me
! cies. and the favorable InterposltlC
y of His Providence in the course an
. conclusion of the late War
- for the peaceful and rational mann'
in which we have been enabled to c
tablish Constitutions and Government
for our safety and happiness; and pa
ticularly the national one now late
instituted"
's Washington, it might be deduc
from this alone, was a nationals
with no leaning whatever toward sta
sovereignty, and with perfect rea'
ness to make his preferences maj
fest. in prayer as well as in any 9th
way. An amusing instance OF Il
franlness occurs later in the SAL
proclamation, where he asks the pr
= Die to pray heaven. ITO protect a
81 guide all Sovereigns and Nations {
peciaIy such as have shown kindn'
to usl."
~ An hOnored lineage, that OF q
best-beloved festival. 1t started
the days when the NeOlithie dwell
bv the lakes Of Switzerland finish
al bringing in his scanty harvest
it settled down to a secure winter.
or T. oIo-o olyiD m the DiOnVSiac fea