Show THE DAY IN HISTORY significant in the united states with turkey and football began with lincoln thanksgiving day coming with the regularity ot a movable feast Is pe cullar to the united states other countries now and again as in great britain upon the occasion of the ju allee of the late queen have a day of thanksgiving but here by an un written law almost by the general will of the people and certainly bi the power of custom thanksgiving day comes each year as regularly as christmas As a generally observed national holiday thanksgiving day Is jonii forty one years old this year yet its history is in a measure of much greater antiquity like many adoth er custom we owe this to those stern puritans who separated and came to massachusetts bay to make a last ing impression upon the social life of the new world the history of the first thanksgiving day in the mas plantation has been varl bously given in 1621 it Is said a day of thanksgiving was observed in ac know of the pilgrims firsa harvest in america those were trying days tor th colonists the winter was one of great severity and scarcity the peo pie we are quaintly told were ne to live upon clams and mussels and ground nuts and acorns and these got with much difficulty in the winter time people were ver much tired and discouraged especial ly with the last batch of bread in the oven winthrop had early in the preceding july sent the ship lion to england tor a cargo ot provisions but after an interval of many months the ship was not forthcoming on the ath of february 1631 while the governor was giving the last handful of meal in the barrel unto a poor man dis by the wolf at the door at that instant they espied a ship arrived at the harbor s mouth laden with provisions tor them all A general fast day had been pre appointed but the arrival of the lion bearing this sorely needed relief changed their mourning into joy and as winthrop records in his journal a day of thanksgiving was held in all the plantations franklin has left an interesting ac ciuni of the origin of thanksgiving in america which is not without his hu touch and which like most of his similar writings iss perhaps not as veracious as it might have been there Is a tradition he wrote that in the plantations of new england the first settlers met with many dit and hardships as is generally the case when a civilized people at tempt establishing themselves in i wilderness country being piously disposed they sought relief from heaven by laying their wants and distresses before the lord in frequent set days of fasting and prayer constant meditation and discourse on these subjects kept their minds gloomy and discontented and like the children of israel there were many disposed to return to that egypt which persecution had induced them to abandon at length when it was proposed in the assembly to proclaim another fast a farmer of plain sene rose and re marked that the inconvenience the suffered and concerning which they had so often wearied heaven with their complaints were not so great as they might have expected and were diminishing every day as the colony strengthened that the earth began to reward their labor and to furnish jib brally for their substance that the seas and rivers were found full of fish the air sweet the climate healthy and above all that they were there in the full enjoyment of liberty civil and religious he therefore thought that reflecting and conversing on these subjects would be more corn fordable for table as tending moie to make them contented with their situation and that it would be more becoming the gratitude they owed the divine being if instead of a fast they should proclaim a thanksgiving his advice was taken and from that day to this they have in every year observed circumstances of ity sufficient to furnish employment for a thanksgiving day which is therefore constantly ordered and re observed while thanksgiving day prospered in new england it was not until the time of the revolution that it became general then a day of national thanksgiving was annually becom mended by congress As we now have it the festival dates from 1864 when president lin coin issued a proclamation for setting apart the last thursday in november of that year as a day of national thanksgiving in his proclamation lincoln says it has pleased almighty god to pro long our national life another year de fending us with his guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad and vouchsafing to us in his mercy many and signal victories over the enemy who Is in our household each succeeding president of the united states has annually proclaimed a thanksgiving day and this is gen brally followed by similar pro clama alons by the governors of the various states the day however is not ob served in every state for in arkan sas colorado delaware georgia louisiana mississippi oklahoma and utah thanksgiving day finds no place in the list of holidays by pro clama tion of their respective governors |