The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-11-24
from a-Curri'er GIres Print

November, which had been Washington's choice,
a universal holiday. In the hope of bringing
pressure to bear upon the governors, she next
opened correspondence with literally thousands
of private persons of influence with senators and
congressman and the clergy.
In her effort for the establishment Of state
Thanksgiving she was almost Immediately sue
cessful By 1s49, the third year of her cam
paign most states and territories were keeping
individual festivals. but attempt was made
to coincide the dates-Maine might celebrate
and frequently dd-in September, Virginia in
October and Pennsylvania in November.
conglomeration of state holidays, however.
was not by any manner of means Sarah Hale's
goal She dreamed of the states Joined in a
great national observance, and to this end she
soon began appealing to whoever happened to
be the President in office. Using Washington's
single act as a precedent and example. she
privately wrote again and again TO Fillmore.
Pierce and Buchanan, all to no avail 1t was
an age when women outside the home were
seen and not heard. She herself at the time
was the only successful business woman in the
country. Feminine meddling in public affairs
was not only frowned on but resented
Mrs Hale was quite aware of this antago-
nistic attitude. In one Of her letters to Presi-
dent Fillmore. now preserved in a public col
lection at Buffalo, she begged his excellency
not to be prejudiced against the idea because
he was being addressed by womanl He may
not have been so prejudiced. but at least he
did nothing about it. Neither did Pierce, his
successor, nor Buchanan, who preceded Lin
coin.
Failing with the Presidents. she fell back on
her editorials. thus carrying her appeal again
directly to the people. AS early as 1852 she had
succeeded in whipping % states and territories
into line for the last Thursday of November.
Each year all through the seething SOS she
proclaimed In Godey's Lady's Book that that day
would be THANKSGIVING day, and in the main the
country kept it with her. The most gigantic civil
strife in the history of the world was pending
and political and sectional bitterness rife
But from 1852 until 1850 she held the states in
harmony at least this one issue-though they
quarreling most others-by the sheer
force of her personality.
In 1850. while the storm was brewing. she was
more vigorous than ever with her thanksgiving
plan. in hope that it might help to avert dis
union. sIf every state" she wrote in an editorial
in Godey's. would join in union Thanksgiving
on the twenty-fourth of this month. would it not
he a renewed pledge of love and loyalty to the
Constitution Of the United States which guar
antees peace, prosperity, progress and perpetuity
to our great Republic?' So in 1859 an almost uni
versal Thanksgiving day was kept. not in re-
Spouse to a Presidential proclamation but be-
cause a woman asked it.
In 1861. with the smoke of battle darkening
the land, Mrs. Hale begged for "Thanksgiv-
ing Day of Peace" but there was peace. In
1862 she again failed, but in 1868 she won-after
II years.
1t came about in this way. In the September
number of Godey's she wrote: "Woud 1t not be
better that the proclamation that appoints Thurs
day the twenty-sixth of November (1S63) as the
day of Thanksgiving for the people of the
United States of America should in the first
instance emanate from the President of the Re-
public-to be applied by the governors of each
and every state in acquiescence with the Chief
Executive advisor?"l
On the twenty-ninth of September she received
from Seward. Lincoln's secretary of state an
answer to her letter to the President, stating
that it was receiving official attention. Four
days later. Abraham Lincoln issued the first ma
tional Thanksgiving day proclamation since
Washington's day. In it he said "And so .
the last Thursday In November is hereby set
apart as a day of thanksgiving and praise" That
set the precedent and Lincoln followed it up the
next year. 1864. by naming the same date 1.-THE
last Thursday in his second and last regular
Thanksgiving day proclamation Since that time
other Presidents have never deviated from the
custom. nor have governors of the states.
As for Sarah Josepha Hale. 1.-THE Mother Of
Thanksgiving" so long as she remained editor
of Godey's Lady's Book (she resigned in De
cember. 1S77). she stood guard over her cherished
holiday. Had 1t not been for her, In the years
Of civil strife and reconstruction the precedent
set by Lincoln might very well have been put
aside. but by the time she laid down her editorial
pen. in her ninefieth year, the custom had been
firmly established Thanksgiving day had taken
IT'S place in the hearts OF all the people and on
the calendar Of the nation for all time to come