Show ye council eats right well after ye slick barter deer Is thanksgiving meal Z t and indian Is goat TF F AMERICANS this thanks 1 giving are well able to appease both their consciences and their appetites their moral dexterity is no better than that of their forebears anthe town council at danvers mass in the year 1714 venison rather than turkey made up the piece de resistance on a thanksgiving feast there but religious complications arose as recorded by rev lawrence conant of that ciby after ye blessing was craved by mr garrich of wrentham brentham Wren tham word came that ye buck was shot on ye lords day by pequot an indian who came to mr epes with a lye in his mouth like ananias of old ye council therefore refused to eat ye venison but it was afterward decided that pequot should receive forty stripes save one for lying and profaning ye lords day restore mr epes ye cost of ye deer and considering si this a just and rightful sentence on ye heathen and that a blessing had been craved on ye meat ye council all partook of it but mr shepard whose conscience was tender on ye point of ye venison in nearby boston a few years later r the arrival of autumn with its storing of the winter supply of salt pork brought mingled thanksgiving and chagrin to a boy named benjamin franklin who often became restless during the long graces which accompanied massachusetts meals so one day after the pork had been dutifully stored away he suggested that if his father would PEQUOT VE WILL GET FORTY STRIPES ER VE COUNCIL will EAT SE IVE DEER 00 VJ mr Sh epards conscience was tender and so was poor back only say grace over the whole cask once for all it would be a vast saving of time in the latter half of the same century whenever a feast was in order in the back country of virginia and the carolinas young daniel boone or some other hunter would go out to find venison or bear meat to mix with pork in the habitual great stew of such a celebration with it were served roast pork or bear or broiled venison |