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Show Woman's Exponent The Ballot in the Hands of the Women of Utah should be a Power to better the Home, the State and the Nation. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, DECEMBER Vol. 31 CONTENTS. Thanksgiving Day Ladies' Meeting A.Wadrop Timely Suggestions Pueblo, Colorado Mary Cummings Mattie B. Hanson In Memoriam Tenth Annual Celebrated. .. .Julia A. Druce Obituaries R. S. Report Woodruff Stake. .K. H.Eppich Ancient Relics Notes and News Semi-Month- ly Editorial Christmas Editorial Notes Thoughts 4 5 50 51 54 55 55 55 56 56 new-bor- The Christmas Saint. . A W. Cannon 49 Christmas Carols Lydia D. Alder 51 L. L. G. Richards 51 Mother's Birthday Poetry THE CHRISTMAS SAINT. ' Tis Christmas, The bells again and o'er all this fair, broad earth proclaim the royal birth. It was in Bethlehem, in Judea, What wonder that at Christmas Hundreds of years ago. That Mary in her travail Of anguish and of woe, Felt that joyous heart-throThrill to her inmost soul With the first faint sound Of that little cry, And tears beyond control Shed in joy, in rapture rather With the thought of the gladsome gift She had brought the world from All the world is full of joy. And the heart is full of gladness For every girl and bov; Is it alone the Christ child That stirs the world to giving. Or the sacred thought of mother That actuates the living To deeds of love and kindness, To thoughts of peace divine ? Every Christmas more than ever Is her knee a holy shrine. b heaven, Men's sorrows to uplift. All through our years of childhood As we lisped our prayers of grace, We remember how the lovelight Shone through her dear, sweet face, And every thought of mother Js treasured as divine And we surely make no error When we call her heart a shrine; For our secrets safe are hid Within its sacred wall Where no ke3 but love can open, And so we do recall, That always at the Christmas When joys and gifts abound And songs of praise, and words of peace Are passing 'round. That the saint we most adore, And you'll grant there is no other If each man the truth would tell Is his own sweet, tender mother. Annie Wells Cannon. Cradled once in lowly way The King of Kings, the Prince of Peace Even in a manger lay, But the shepherds came to worship And the wise men gathered too. Bringing gifts of wondrous workmanship. For very well they knew Of the promise of the Christ child, And guided by the star, As they wandertd o'er the desert From their travelings afar They sought the lowly manger Where shone the light divine, There the mother clasped her baby And they called the place a shrine. And so throughout the centuries With love for that glad morn Have men brought gifts and been With kindness newly born. And a greater love than ever Permeates the hftart, when The Christmas bells are ringing "Peace on earth good will to men. " The mother of that long ago. A saint we deem her now; And our fancy clothes her royally With a halo o'er her brow 'Mid clouds of angels picture her Reigning a gracious queen For within her arms there nestled once The child of Joseph's dream The mother of the Savior Oh wondrous thought divine No wonder that sweet motherhood ' Is called a holy shrine ! ! ' Could she have known the sorrow The torture and despair ; That waited for his manhood, Like a thief within his lair, Could she have seen the thorny crown Have known how friends betrayed Have dreamed of Calvary and the cross Would she then have prayed That a child might be given her A child to call her own, To care for and to cherish In fcer fond heart alone ? . THANKSGIVING DAY. There Origin of Tlianksgiving: two opinions that may be cited in regard to the origin of Thanksgiving; the one which is geneially, or quoted most widely, is that it was suggested by the Hebrew feast of tabernacles, or feast of ingathering at the end of the year. The English people, however, claim it is after the manner of their "Harvest home," which it is said dates back to the early days of the Druids, with whom the custom originated. In the agricultural districts of England more especially in Suffolk County, the festival of the harvest home is kept with great hilarity, and is not at all a religious observance. It occurs simultaneously with what is known as the harvest moon. Hay racks decorated with bright drapery and garlanded with gorgeous flowers piled high with hay, also the horses decked out, are drawn about full of girls and boys seated aloft on the hay, singing through the streets The are 15, 1902 ! self-sam- 52 52 52 Testimonial to Sister M. I. Home & and every mother Since that sainted one of old Feels those e heart throbs When her babe she first enfolds And the joy of the moment Surmoi'Qts all future fears As she clasps her little darling And 'mid her smiles and tears Casts aside all thoughts of sorrow n In this joy so sweet The first kiss of her baby From its mother's life, complete Yet lite always has a shadow And it deepens with the years, And the mother, the outlines First, through tender fears She wonders how the little steps will lengthen, How the little mind will grow, If life's struggles will be valiant Or weak and vain and slow. And from babyhood to manhood Her thoughts but breathe a prayer For the child that God has given Unto her tender care. Ah yes E. B. W. 1 j Nos. 1- 3- r4 till midnight, after the outdoor feasts of roast oxen, etc., and often these young people are uproarious in their demonstrations of jollity. This custom could not have prevailed or even been allowed among the early Puritans. The earliest Thanksgiving in America was kept by the Pilgrim Fathers and their families at Plymouth in 162 1, just one year after they landed on that cold, bleak and desolate shore. They were, intensely zealous and trusted in divine providence implic-itelindeed had they not been fired with religious fervor they could never have endured the hardsh'ps and privations that fell to their lot. There is very little upon record of what they had to eat on that occasion, but their hearts were filled with gratitude to God, that their Hires had been preserved in the mew land among savage Indians, and they were glad to have liberty to worship Him as their own consciences dictated. d Legends and poets tell us that the least of wild game, such as venison and wild turkey, and that the venison was furnished by Miles Standish, whose success in hunting in the forests was a feature of his remarkable career; besides these meats they had ears of corn roasted at the great wood fires in the wilderness, as the Indians had taught them; they had no miik, for cows were not brought until the fourth year. We can only picture to ourselves what constituted the menu; but of one part of the program we may feel positive; that there was preaching of the word of God, singing of hymns and fervent prayers nf gratitude. This custom of observing Thanksgiving was repeated often, we are told, in subsequent years, being appointed by tiie churches; also that it became customary for the governors of the colonies to appoint a fast day in the spring for fasting and prayer and a day of thanksgiving in the autumn for gratitude and for mercies vouchsafed, and a fruitful harvest. The winters were long and cold and the pilgrims had very few comforts. There are positive official records of appointments of thanksgiving by the Governors of Massachusetts, in Massachusetts Bay in 1633, 1634, 1637, 1638 and 1639, and in Plymouth in 1651, 1668 1680, 1689 and 1690. This does not by any means prove that Thanksgiving was not observed in other intervening years, but that these are the only dates on record of such appointments, indeed it is stated on good authority that Thanksgiving was kept annually in New England from 1633. It must have been very difficult to keep correct records if everything, considering the peculiar life of those Pilgrims and its environments; in a new land among Indians and amid the great forests. Occasional Thanksgiving days were ap-- p j in fed by tha Dutch governors of New York in New Netherlands: These we find were in 1644, 1645, 1655 and 1664, and by the English governors of New York in 1755 and 1760, but their thanksgiving days were much more elaborately celebrated in regard to display than the thanksgiving days in New England. The Dutch women dressed in bright costumes, with much jewelry and y, con-siste- |
