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Show PILGRIMS NOT ALWAYS "BLUE" Also, Writer Asserts, Far More i Liberal Minded Than Is . ' Generally Believe! Differed Wlder From the Puritans, Though Popular Belief Has Coupled ThemFormer Body Permeated '.. With Aristocracy. , Thanksgiving always suggests to us that double Impulse of respecting Christian Ideals and of feasting plcnti- : fully. The latter element Is quite pre dominant In the general attitude toward to-ward the day. It would be a good Idea to hyphenate hyphen-ate the words "Thanks-Glvlng," for In ! that way the word "giTlng" rather than "taking" would be emphasised and thus he In better accord with the . true spirit of the day. In any event, we are all very thankful that In our country we still express our gratitude to the Lord In the same language used by the Pilgrims three hundred years ago in 1621, writes Prof. D. J. Cigrand, ' member of faculty. University of Il linois, In the Chicago American. t It la to be regretted that so many people use the terms Pilgrim and Puritan Interchangeably. In reality they are widely different Pilgrims Uberal-Mlnded. The Pilgrims were liberal-minded people. They were double Protestants, having rebelled against not only the Roman Christian methods but also against the regal or English government govern-ment church. In the belief that they could not reform the former and certainly cer-tainly not amend or change the latter, lat-ter, they chose to go to Holland and later to America, there to worship as they pleased. The Puritans believed they could alter the Episcopal or government church, so they remained faithful to the regal religion and the sovereign. The Pilgrims were liberal minded, far more so than they are given credit for being, while It was the Puritans who were strict. The Pilgrims taught equality. They aid "love one another," and their united these two colctfe n4 they formed the Congregational church. The. pictures we paint of these people peo-ple cause the rising generation to shun contact with these welV-mean-Ing early Americans. There Is more cruelty In the average-sized community communi-ty today, there is more tyranny In the land this moment among Industrial classes, more unreasonable civic taxation, tax-ation, to say nothing of various religious re-ligious restrictions, than was exacted in those days of the Pilgrims' regime. There have been more unjust seen sntions against these "nation found era" than Americans realize. Those people were not half as "blue" or severe as "we have been led to believe. be-lieve. They were human and most charitable. Let us teach aud preach to love and revere them. Laws Did Not Exist, la Claim. Arthur Gilman, a great authority on legal affairs In the colonies, writes that "It Is almost needless to say that the so-called blue laws, which have been made the butt and Joke and object ob-ject of violent objurgation, were never in existence In that colony, but were manufactured by a writer who desired to hold the colony up to ridicule." Certified copies of these blue' laws fall to materialize. In fact. New Jersey, Virginia, and parts of the South, were by far more strict about the observance of the "First Day" as the Sabbath was called. New Jersey forbade traveling for pleasure, or other oth-er similar recreation. Infraction of these rules might be punished by the whipping post, a line or Imprisonment Let us not point our fingers too sharply at the Pilgrims. It may surprise some to rend thnt rum, Madeira wine and punch, with plenty of mule power (kick) could be obtained In Pilgrim communities. The ordinances specified the prices to be charged. Ladles often served the drinks at the public taverns, which were under the Immediate Jurisdiction of the county coun-ty laws. Those taverns were clean, wholesome places, often serving on the Sabbath as pieces of religious worship. We are all glad that the pioneers had good things and knew bow to use them. Stirred Punch With Sword. I have before me a long and well-defined well-defined account of a "stag" Pilgrim party. That famed military spirit Capt Miles Standlsh. hud a Ms bowl of punch before him. The ao Captain Miles Standish, at the Pilgrims' "Stag" Party, Stirred the Steaming Punch With His Shining 6wor"t : Z count tells of the captain stirring the 'steaming contents with his i sword. I The Juice of the grape was osed In a sanctified way, not In that reckleos, tfehflucMng wny enj cnrpngotinhlc fashion of the present. The pleasures pleas-ures and merriments, too. were of a sane and profitable character, tending tend-ing to uplift and make better the entire en-tire soclul fabric. Let us not find so much fault with our rilgrira ancestors. The mothers knew how to darn stocklnjs In those days. They do now, only the word lias a different meaning. Give these pioneers of republican Institutions and democratic ways a place In your heart Give credit and honor where It belongs. That form of truth will not only make ns free but will keep us free. cordiality and Viospiunty towarn newcomers new-comers Is one of the sweetest memories memor-ies of pioneer America. They were ever anxious to win people peo-ple to Christ, without completely making mak-ing over tie ve rccralt. It Is wr.mg ' to charge thsm with even "exacting that all In their midst be of their faith," for of the 102 who came over hi tlw Mayflower, all were not of the same ttith. When the Puritans of Boston (and they came many years subsequent to the Pilgrims) made It so unpleasant for Roger Williams, It was the Pll-grim Pll-grim community of Plymouth which welcomed him and made his trip to Rhode Island safe by Insuring kindly treatment from the Indiana. Williams j was banished by the Turltans for as serting "It Is wrong to prevent ft man from holding office If be be not a Chrlsllan." Clung to Old English Idea. The Puritans, too, were aristocratic. aristocrat-ic. They dung to the old English Idea that a man was measnred by hit blue blood and again some blue and bloated pocketbook. But not so with the Pilgrims. They cared nothing about blood and less about the king's metallic picture. The Puritans were the Republicans of Kew England and e Pilgrims were the Democrats. The former decided they wonld not associate with the chsv going "pfjnull-ty "pfjnull-ty community," as they cnlled the I'll (trims. Soon, after the Lord canned a grint slckno.es to full upon the Boston Bos-ton colony, Governor Kndlcott was :t'iI.'Ml to bej Covcrnor Pritdford of I!yinini;h to "plciise come to our rescue res-cue i! ttd wti'l Doctor Fuller, that fame's fam-e's pi 1. !;!! n n, to take ctire of the iik co:ui.)," -Ililg sU'go of lilies |
