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Show rbapfeoil09J)ay flere and in femip (jiroes flw'l By rfls. ESward Punroy-Rccd' 1 f i M Mill 'fttr W IHSBawfito ra mwflffil CmlJsrSL 'nSkm. SWWEKTm W !mm-mitW-KB-m-jlttBL-B- II llYJ tBtjsbIbBBbSmSiit8'! Br" mtrnttt-W-rii- f(( ifkSiW P Jv IBYBKft JBBfflBfflBfflBfBKBlflBfMBffllBK .atBMffl I TMe Jtuihoreaa I BltfKff9lflflflYjfSIIBV 2Yfll I TmTmT elevate our chins, ex- IBl y pniul our chests don iBlflfll YY our on tho IBBBl mmm Mayllowcr" exprosslon IBBMb E5S5r2 when some ono mentions IVBJ IttrAMXi ti, rRM of Thanksglv- IHMD lug. Unhesitatingly we lay IbMI claim to the honor of having the "only IVfBH orlglnnl" Thaiiksglvlng day the IqBI globe. Then along comes a long-haired IBH historian with tils array of facts and jHfl our pride receives a shock. IBM Thorn Is hnrdly a country In the IHB world which does not glvo thanks for IH one reason or another. So mo havo bet- HB tor rensons than others, but they all IB claim to have sufficient excuse for being IIHllR grnteful to set aside one day each year HHLHH Thanksgiving dny was held long be fore tho timber for the Mayflower or the Anno wsh planted It had Us origin In antiquity when (he Itomans and Greeks held a fast day In October which Ihey dedicated to tho goddess of agriculture nnd followed the day of fastlug by ono of feasting and royal frolicking, a day on which tho clmsu and nil sorts of rustic sports held sway. Going even further hack Into the remote ages of not our country, nlas hut of the world, wo final tho early Egyptians setting aside a day for general thanksgiving and burning of incense and offering sacrifices to their divinity of the crops, tho Goddess Isls. Kor soven or eight days tho Jewish "Feast of Tabernacles" was, centuries ngo, held during the seventh month, which Is November, and after tho completion of Solomon's temple the people that year held n 14-day festival which was o tlmo of thanksgiving, and during which time they gave thanks for tho nbuudancu of their land. Living In booths they decornted their entire homes with branches of the palm and of rltion trees nnd then hhowod that It was for the yield of the season ns well (IB for the completion of the temple that thoy wore giving thanks. Coming forward n century or two we find Thanksgiving Thanks-giving day being held In England under tho nnmo of "Harvest Home" This day was usually eatly In November and It opened by n church service, which was followed by a day of gayety and feasting. Thnuks wero given In the rhutehes for tho benefits of tho senson and then the "iuhhmch" Hocked to tho grouipls of the 'Tlnssos." to which the) wero nil invited Hero squlio nnd gentry enteiialueil tho peasantry with free and ensy dimres In the hnrns, wrestling matches and feats of aiehery, fur which prizes wero given In the evening harvest songs were Rung liy tho light of tho moon, out tho beer nnd nle, which (lowed freely. A dinner, such ns only tho ently English Eng-lish know how to propare, wus seived to these grent crowds of thanksglvers, nnd the Harvest Homo day ended In repletion both of appetite nnd merrymaking. merrymak-ing. Ilefore the Information u special day was set apart In England for giving thanks, nnd nftcr tho reformation tho custom wns continued with added fervor, hut after all, It Is not from our English ancestors, an-cestors, as we might suppose, that wo received tho inspiration for our first Thanksgiving dny Neither did tho Iden originate with the I'llgilms themselves. They merely continued a custom with which they had become familiar and of which their natures approved, when they wero living with their Dutch cousins. To digress just a little it has been claimed by somo Investigators vho stopped Just a llttlo short of the beginning In tracing backward that tho first real Thanksgiving day of true American meaning was held by the I'opham colonists of Monhegau, but as thoy wero Episcopalians- and gave, thanks every week In tholr regular church ritual this must be blackballed and cast out of our calculation And now to return -o tho Pilgrims nnd the customs cus-toms they abkorbed while ptotected In Holland. The pious Dutch, beforu the Pilgrims Hocked to their peaceful laud, had set apart October 3 on which to glvo thanks for their harvest, but more especially for their deliverance from Spanish authority. The lliHHi BLLVLaLalLmjBBAVLaLalaLaLaLaBiB(i3l dny opened In this water-locked land with a great ringing of bells and over every shining doorslll there stepped Into the crisp morning nlr tho household's house-hold's full number. Each Hans or Grotchen, eliciting elicit-ing a sllvcrbound prayer hook, walked sedntoly to tho various places of worship nnd there, lifting up their sweet Holland voices, harsh, perhaps, In speech, hut full nnd round In song, sent up muslcnl prnlso for thu freedom of their land and tho good things of tho earth. Church over, the entire population for the nonco broke through their usunl stolldness and Micro w-ns a general scnmperlng of young feet In gnme or dance nnd n clattering of older tongues In friendly gossip us neighbor visited neighbor or n fnther welcomed wel-comed his lnrge flock of grandchildren. The grent event of this Dutch Thanksgiving day was dinner, at which was served ns central dish a queer stew of meat and vegotables which they railed Spanish hodgepodge. Kor once In their prne-(leal prne-(leal lives the Hollanders became facetious, and over this hodge-podge thoy mado merry nnd cracked Jokes at their old-time enemy Spain. Tho general "hash-like" appearance of tho hodge-podge was supposed sup-posed to represent tho condition of tho Spnnlsh army when the Dutch hnd vanquished It. Even the chlldioii entered Into the fun and kept their history fresh by gleefully slnshlng Into a potato or a turnip nnd chuckling ns thoy swallowed the morsels, mor-sels, "This Is General Sonud-So ah' M ent him so"' Well, the Puritans heartily approved of the early religious services of (ho morning nnd their healthy appetites could not fall to appreciate tho Spanish hodge-podge, however much (hoy may have ills-approved ills-approved of tho sentiment which flavored It, so they entered most heartily Into thu Dutch Thnuksglv-Ing Thnuksglv-Ing of October X In 102.1 these Pilgrims hold October Oc-tober 3 ns a day of Thanksgiving In tho New World, and here we liuvo our Hist true American Thanksgiving Thanks-giving day. Tills day has passed through many vicissitudes since that dnte. There Is not n festlvnl on the ol-manac. ol-manac. fixed or movable, which has had tho struggle strug-gle for existence that our November holiday has endured From 1C23 until 1(130 Thanksgiving day wns held In America In various months, some of the Pilgrims keeping to October 3 and other colonists holding a different day by order of the governor In 1G30 the people of Massachusetts were suffering suffer-ing for food nnd clothing nnd Gov. Winthrop hired tho good ship I.jon to return lo England for hiv plies. Kor ninny days the vessel lay stranded off tho Isle of Shoals, but finally put out. Winter enmo on apace, nnd nothing was heard of tho ship The colonists wero nearly illsheaitened when, on February Feb-ruary 22, 1631, thu Lyon wns sighted, and the governor gov-ernor ordered that tho day bo given over to feasting feast-ing nnd thanksgiving. This Is the first written record of a Thanksgiving day In Uoston; It can still be found In tho Colonial Itecnrds of .Massachusetts, .Massachu-setts, It is an Interesting fact that this first Uoston Uos-ton Thanksgiving wns held on what Is now one of our most patriotic holidays, Washington's birthday The first record of a Wnt celebration of Thnuks-giving Thnuks-giving day Is given In tho Colonial Hecords of 1G32. whuu Gov. Wluthrop of Massachusetts bay, asked the governor 'f Plymouth colony to Join him In Is- i suing a proclamation of a public Thanksgiving day The Invitation ( wns accepted, nnd In November, i 1032, Plymouth colony and ' Massachusetts Hay colony celebrated cele-brated Thanksgiving day together to-gether In a manner pretty much tho snmo as their descendants de-scendants of today. In religious re-ligious service nnd feasting nnd funinnklng. The ono notlceahlo omission wns tho grent football game which mniks thu day In our geueiatlon. l-'iom 10.32 until 1(77 tho New England lecords show that 22 different dif-ferent dates were set upart by tho various goxernors as days for public pub-lic thanksgiving, nnd that with tho exception of the two colonies mentioned men-tioned no two held the dny on the same date The celebrations, however, how-ever, were held In October or November. No-vember. In 1077, as other denominations had c-iept Into Plymouth colony, oer which the Puritan church had no ruling, the governor decided that It would ho well to have tho power of llxlug public holidays, "whether for feasting, prnlng or funmnklng," vested In civic au- I thorlt) Accordingly In that ear the first printed Thanksgiving day proclamation was printed. Thanksgiving Thanks-giving day proclamation was printed, print-ed, selling November 2b ns tho festival The law reads; "That It be In tho power of tho governor nnd assistants as-sistants to commnud solemn dntos of humiliation by fasting, etc., and also, thanksgiving as occasion shall bo offered." This shows that the law called for only "occasional" Thanksgiving days and so tho holiday was buffeted buf-feted about hither and on, from October to November, according to tho pleasure; of the rulers of the colonies and there never was any fcollng of certainty as lo the holiday That It was held annunlly without with-out break In Plymouth and Massachusetts Hay colony from Its Inception until 1C89, with tho exception ex-ception of the yca,r when King Philip's wnr Interrupted, Inter-rupted, there nre records to show. In this colony tho church nnd government alternated In nrrang-lug nrrang-lug tho dnto of celebration |