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Show THANKSGIVING AS NATIONAL HOLIDAY. Thanksgiving season is near at hand and this gives rise to the question ques-tion as to the origin of this festal day the idea af a thanksgiving day goes back to antiquity. It was first observed ob-served in America by the Puritans, and was established as a national holiday hol-iday through the efforts of a New England woman writer on the subject sub-ject in the current issue of the National Na-tional Republic, Mr. O. H. Bishop says. Godey's Ladies Book, published at Philadelphia. She continued with the latter publication until 1877. "Editing a magazine is usually considered con-sidered a pretty big job in itself. Mrs. Hale, however, seemed to find time for many other things. She organized the Seaman's Aid Society in Boston, Bos-ton, which is the parent of similar organizations now existing in most ports. The completion of the Bunker Hill Monument was also partly due : to the efforts of this little woman. She persuaded the women of New England to raise $50,000 for that purpose. pur-pose. "Throughout her editorial work Mrs. Hale urged the practical advancement ad-vancement of women, advocating their employment as teachers and the establishment es-tablishment of seminaries for their higher education. "It was in the early forties that Mrs. Hale began her campaign for making Thanksgiving a national; holiday hol-iday and its celebration on the same i day all over the country. It was then the custom for different lacalities to observe the occasion on whatever day happened to strike their fancy. "For twenty years Mrs. Hale wrote editorials in her magazine, and personal per-sonal letters to governors and presidents, presi-dents, in behalf of a national Thanks-giving Thanks-giving Day. Her efforts and patience were rewarded in ISfil, when President Presi-dent Abraham Lincoln saw the wisdom wis-dom of her suggestion and decided to adopt her plan. From that day to this Thanksgiving has been celebrated celebrat-ed by the whole nation on the fourth Thursday of November." "At this particular season of the year it is appropriate to tell about the woman who, after twenty years of patient effort, succeeded in having an annual Thanksgiving celebration . in this country observed on the same day by all of the people. "The name of this woman was Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale. Few women, either before or since, have accomplished accom-plished more big things for the betterment bet-terment of men and women. I wonder how many people of the present generation gen-eration have ever heard of this gift-led gift-led woman? She was born at Newport, N.' H., October 24, 1788, and died in Philadelphia, April 30, 1879. She wis not a college woman, but was taught by her mother. In 1813, at the age of twenty-five, she married a lawyer named David Hale, who was a brother to Salma Hale, the famous historian and at one time a member of Congress from New Hampshire. Nine years I later site was left a widow with five I children. Site was a genuine old-fashioned American woman, and did not clamor fur governmental or individual aid. She was quite content to go to work. In 1S28 she became editor of (he Ladies Magazine, which had recently re-cently hern started in Boston. Site successfully edited this publication unlil 1837, when it was merged with |