Year: 1878

4


couched in the following terms:-


STATE OF NEW YORK.
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, &c.
In accordance with custom hereby appoint Thurs
day the 18th of November, a day of public thanks
giving in this State. WILLIAM l.. MARCY.


This was as business like as the state
ment once made by the Duke of Wellington
that on a particular occasion he was en-
gagged in ''transacting public worship in
the Queens chapel Governor Marcy prob
ably intended by his dry and naked an
nouncement to intimate the slight esteem
in which he held the great annual festival
Of the New England Puritans. More than
forty years have passed since the date Of
that singularly curt exhibition of official


pieiy, and within that period the regular
annual observance Of Thanksgiving Day


has become an honored custom in every


part OF the United States. The appoint
ment of occasional days of thanksgiving
was not an uncommon thing in the early


history of the country, but, like the singing
of public s.Te Deum" in foreign churches,


it did not recur at stated periods. except in
New England, being merely recognition Of
/ the Divine mercy in some extraordinary
benefit or success As regular autumnal
observance it had prevailed for more than
two centuries in New England before it was
generally adopted in the other States, and
in its diffusion it has we'll nigh lost its
original character and Significance.


In New York. which. as the only State
which borders on New England, would
naturally be among the earliest to adopt the
custom, the first regular Thanksgi wing
proclamation was issued by Governor De
Witt Clinton in 1917, but the scarcely
disguised contempt with which Gov
ernor Marcy felt at liberty TO treat
The observance nearly twenty years


later showed how little hold it had
as yet taken on the religious feeling of the
State. In the Southern States its progress


was still slower. A thanksgiving procla-
nation was issued in Virginia in 1856. but
two years later Governor Wise refused to
make one. In the Western States, whose
first settlers were chiefly from New Eng
land, Thanksgiving Day became from the
first favorite and honored festival, and its
popularity was gradually extended to the
Middle States and the South. Previous to
the civil war the custom had been adopted
by about one half Of the Southern States
1t is noteworthy circumstance that the
Governors Of the several States are abandon
ing their former custom Of publishing an
annual proclamation. Originally all these
invitations came from the Governors, each
selecting day to suit himself, SO that the
festival fell on different days in different
States. About the year 1860, or perhaps a


little earlier, a practice. began to grow up


of an exchange of views between Governors
of neighboring States and appointing the
same day by mutual concert. The con-
vcnience of common day was SO obvious
| and general consultation among the Gov
| ernors so troublesome that in 1863 Presi-


by appointing day of general


thanksgiving, and motives of loyalty


favoring its Endorsement the Governors
| Of nearly all the States which had not gone


into the rebellion accepted Mr.. Lincoln's
selection Of day and made their proclema-
tions accordingly. From that year forth o
regular annual Thanksgiving proclamation
has been ISSUED by the President Of the
United States with the full appreciation Of
the country. For several years this had no


effect in superseding the separate procla-


nations of the State Governors, who ac-
cepted the Presidents designation Of the


day, but tried their own hands at piece Of
graceful official rhetoric. But since they
could only repeat the Presidents topics in
different phraseology, which suggested


comparisons not always to their ad-


vantage, they have been gradually drop


ping the practice until the Ginning chorus
Of repetitions is likely to die out. Having
passed from its original character of State
festival to a national festival there is no
reason for the multitude Of local proclama-
tions. 1t is fully established as a national
observance and will probably endure as
long as the Republic. But in the process
of it's extension its deep color Of religion has
faded into palencss and it has taken on
character in which social and especially
family feeling predominates. It's distin-
gushing popularity is the gathering to-
gether Of all the scattered members Of
household under the one roof to brighten
the links Of domestic affect ton.


Originally it stirred the religious senti-
ments of the observers to their profoundest
depths Borrowed by the Massachusetts
Puritans from o similar Hebrew festival
the copy very far surpassed the model. 1t
was not merely that the Puritans were pro-
foundly religious and that their whole
nature shot up into one growth Of fervent
piety, but that they were so circumstanccd
that their very lives depended on the
harvest Of each year. Their lot had been
cast in bleak climate and on sterile soil,
and they were SO secluded and distant from
the rest Of the world that they were beyond
relief in the event Of famine. They had
Ii 70 lArir,1t fcnl