Show 1 afy f i T v A Q v t v J r li J t 4 lf tt yr rf 1 l A x r t y y 1 iv efti y sv i jt ia y M t i S g we you for this glorious land of freedom and of peace we thank you for its harvest true and for the year n s increase in health and wealth of wisdom lord we lift our hearts to thee and thank you for our year of peace and great prosperity bwy Js M give thanks that are so greatly due it Is told thit a scotsman ande at one time a road through the rough hills of the highlands and at the top ot the last height hewed a stone into a coat and inscribed thereon kast and be thankful in this spirit also Is thanksgiving day appointed at the peak of the year as nature lias rash boned it for rest and the strengthen ing of the spirit and for the giving of where thanks are so greatly due don itose writing in the ehla ledger reminds his readers throe centuries ago the wherewithal of the first thanksgiving feast was provided by four pilgrims blun der busses who in one day killed as many fowl as bened the company al carst a week in less dramatic fash ion the turkey of today comes to our blaid though his persistence over a week in the various re incarnations of cold pickings hash and soup Is a cus torn well established the turkey let it be noted Is in all respects a fitting offering having pure american an bestry and no entangling alliances with birds of other feather in hallowed memory out of the past this feast Is hal lowed by long and honorable history by the pilgrim fathers who stirred batter and peeled potatoes under the orders of the pilgrim moth era its first observance was in rea bonalle peace with indians enough and to spare but no unpleasantness later occasions were spiced and peppered with unfriendly arrows and the indian sign of a feathered barb in the stout plank door interrupted many a peaceful meal the indian sign no longer marks our threshold it Is trans berred to father s pocketbook where it leases a scar deep aud ominous enough though one endured with cheerfulness man Is an adaptable creature for most of the year he Is content and well fed on a breakfast of hasty eggs and coffee rashly inhaled a lunch snatched on the run and a dinner discreet and digestible hut on high days and holidays his capacity la thrice multiplied thanksgiving dinner la no mere meal it Is a symphony in food stuffs an epic of eatables a pino rama of tha animal and vegetable ling doms its calculated harmonies the fruit of long years of feminine als dom convert even the cynic and dys peptic into a valiant trencherman ls temptations and opportunities must call on the special providence that Is kind to ambition it good digestion Is to wait on appetite and health on both the fact that we survive it marks this marvel that there Is no like good company no spice like good talk and laughter no appetite like that which attends the warmth of opened hearts gifts beyond price tills Is a universal feast that snows no creed it Is good to give thanks unto the lord it Is good for all men to find gratitude on special occasion for the grace that knows no occasion the free gifts are the greatest gifts the high privilege of life the knowledge of the loveliness of the varied world the unmeasured wealth of love around us for these we give thanks for it Is by their mystic alchemy that success and peace and strength are made worth while thanksgiving Is not a human habit which Is a fact little to our credit for this we shall probably be forgiven as we are forgiven so much if the habit of remembrance lives on the gods have always been lind to human happiness and when our thanksgiving Is adorned with good cheer with laughter with sports of strength and skill and with the companionship of those we love we practice an ancient custom and a true one there have been many creeds many peoples many strange habits and observances but never in the history of the world nor in any race or country have men for gotten the joy of the harvest nor failed to honor the eternal faithfulness of the chancing seasons remember only mercies so we may forget the faint hazard of abdominal repentance on the morrow and forget also the cold winds of the young winter and the coal bills that settle like birds of prey on the budget of november instead we may think of our mercies as preached old uncle tom and remember old friends and the distant ones of our family and remember also to give a helping hand with the dishes that will soon be piled so high so for this day the latchstring Is out the fire bums bright on the beirth the family Is home again and the past and future do homage to the present loneliness we shut out of doors with the shivering trees and the wind swept streets and happiness la complete fa the full circle of familiar and friendly faces and more than these are with us for the heart of all america knows today one happiness and the history of her people for years Is renewed in the countless homes that are her glory and her bulwark true thanksgiving in spirit of happiness the only di spiriting feature 0 Is that it Is popularly observed but once a year who enjoy deep november weather with its accompaniment ot rich hued leaves crackling under foot who approve roast and all its comrades of the groaning board who now and then relish a well played game of football who welcome the homecomings of relatives and friends whose heart does not warm to Us maler tn the active consciousness of the blessings surround ns providence Is blind the AIn lenty Is gentle ills face smiles when we are thus in celebration happiness often Is the purest form of worship we often hear it lamented that thanksgiving has come to be but a day among other days that its oreg inal significance has faded it probable that we male a mistake however when we attempt to tute the dead ashes of yesterday for the live embers of today those first thanksgivings are of tender memory and have indeed their lessons yet they serve not as proper standards for present day observance our problems are different our environment la vastly changed our hopes and vf have graduated with 9 the father U tie passing of years same the human faith and love are oi the sam alre farm and ranch combining holidays it has been suggested that thanksgiving day be combined with arm alce day and celebrated november Io vember each year with legislation by congress and the legislatures of the set eral states malting it a legal holiday but the proposal has not made lacal headway 9 yet during the revolution the people observed an annual day ay iy proclamation of the continental congress after peace observance of the day waa discontinued until 1789 when washington as president appointed thursday november 26 1789 a day for general thanksgiving throughout the union later he also appointed february 19 1795 proclamations were followed occasionally by those of other presidents but for the mast part thanksgiving day although regularly regu jarly observed aas a state affair for a number of ears in 1861 president lincoln issued a proclamation appointing the fourth thursday m november with a view of having the day kept thereafter annually without intern jr fon cinc that time each president with the exception of gar field whose assassination national prevented holiday lias issued an annual proclamation and day has become a |