Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 281, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1916 — Page 3

The History of Thanksgiving

President lUashington established the custom officially in the United States, but men have fervently thanked their Gods for blessings in all ages and every clime

Opinions Differ.

“Men are like i wagons,” remarked the man who dispenses aphorisms. ••They make the most' noise when empty.” ; „ “Your trolley Is off the wire, rejoined the 'Contrary person. “A man rpakps the most noise when he is full."

S goddess 6f the Roman hnrvest was Ceres. Her festival ( >lll \ was celebrated annually and was called Cenilia. It was a day \ 'wk /II J) of worship and rustic sports. Men and women formed proII Jp cessions and went to the fields with music. Virgil refers to this festival. He mentions the sacrifices that were offered In the temples, and alludes to the joyousness of the occasion. But JF-Xt Roman thanksgiving days were not confined to this annual celebration of the festival of Ceralia. Sometimes they were held in commemoration of victorious martial campaigns. Plu- / tarch tells us of the emperor who to conceal his defeat ordered I 1 thanksgiving, which was observed. Then when the facts of mg disastrous campaign became generally known, he excused himself on the ground that he did not “wish to deprive the people of a day of enjoyment.” t . . In one way or another, a thanksgiving day has been observed in Christian Europe for centuries before its celebration in New England. On the continent, and for a time in England, it occurred at Martinmas, which was a day of feasting and drinking. Occasionally, too, civil authorities recomx mended the observance of some fixed day. To celebrate the victory of Kng Henry V of England, at Agincourt, October 25, 1415, a public thanksgiving was held on Sunday, the feast of St. Edward, the King and Confessor. Such a day, too, was observed in Leyden, Holland, October 3, 1575, the first ann - versary of that city from the siege by the Spaniards. Many Instances of a thanksgiving day can be pointed out in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1559, the second year of Elizabeth’s reign. Thanksgiving day entered Rogation day. Then it was ordwed that thanks should be given to Almighty God “for the increase and abundance of his fruits upon the earth.” In this reign, too, there was a national thanksgiving day that Is worthy of note. This occurr Tuesday, November 19, 1558, and was In commemoration of the great victory over the “Invincible Armada.” One legal and annual thanksgiving day, because of the long time It was such, deserves special mention. After the traitors In the Gunpowder plot had been tried and punished in 1605, It was ordered that because of their deliverance the English people should keep the fifth of November every year “as a public thanksgiving day to Almighty Godithat unfeigned thankfulness may never be forgotten, and that all ages to come may yield praises to Gods divine majesty for the same.” The “fifth of November” continued a legsT thanksgiving day for more than two centuriesl but In later years it fell into disuse, and in 1833 was abolished by parliament. Long before the advent of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, all rituals contained expressions of gratitude to God for his mercies. In that of the Church of England, special prayers were provided for the Sunday service. This service, however, must be carefully distinguished from the Thanksgiving day of the Pilgrim fathers. Failure to make this distinction has led to the groundless claim that the Popham colonists were “the first to keep Thanksgiving day” in America. The service at Monhegan, on which this claim is based, was the regular Sunday service of the Church of England; and while it had an element of thanksgiving, the Hay can In nowise be regarded as a thanksgiving day as that term is understood. The record made in his “Breeches Bible” by William White, who came over In the Mayflower, has far more significance in determining the origin of our American Thanksgiving day than the event at Monhegan. The record read: “William White married on ye 3rd day of March, IG2O, to Susannah Tilly Peregrine White born on board ye Mayflower In Cape Cod Harbor. Sonne born to Susannah White 19th ye six o’clock morning. Next day we meet for prayer and thanksgiving.” This meeting “for prayer and thanksgiving” was not on Sunday, but on Tuesday. The fact that It was not a part of the regular Sunday service makes It more nearly accord with our idea of Thanksgiving day than does the Monhegan event. The prototype of our present Thanksgiving day is found tn the harvest festival at Plymouth in 1621. The long winter that followed the establish- ‘ ment of the colony had been so severe that less than half the settlers had survived it. “At one time during the winter only Brewster, Standish, and five other hardy ones were well enough to get about.” In the spring and summer that followed, their fortunes improved, and by autumn they had cleared 26 acres and made it ready for cultivation. This Industry, too, had been rewarded by a bounteous harvest. Now food and fuel sufficient for the needs of the approaching winter were laid in. Then Governor Bradford ordered a thanksgiving—the first In America^ — - The first thanksgiving was not for a day only. It continued a week. In a letter to a friend in England. Edward Winslow has given us a brief account of the festivities. This letter bears date of December 11, and in it Winslow wrote: “Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sent four men on fowling that so we'might after special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labors. They killed as much fowl as with a* little help beside served the company about a week At which times among other recreations we exercise our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king, Massasoyt with some Ztv men whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer which they brought and bestowed on our Governor and upon the captains and others.”The records make no mention of a thanksgiving day in the next year, but in the year following. 1623, such a day was held. This, however was not in the autumn, but in July on the. arrival of provisions from England. Nearly 50 vears pass before we hear of another thanksgiving day at Plymouth. There was one in 1668, and another for the accession of the Orange Stuarts, William and Mary, In 1689. An autumnal thanksgiving was held in 1690, the last in the history of Plymouth colony, Tndenendentlv of Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay cMony had occasionally .. own thanksgiving days. There was such a day for the “safe arrival of ships ” July 8 1630 r and again the next February, when the provision ship, Ambrose arrived. In 1632, the general court ordered a “publlque” thanksgiving dav in recognition of the “m’cy of God vouchsafed to the churches of God in Germany and the Pallatinate.” The next year the court, because of fl bountiful harvest, appointed October 16 as a thanksgiving day-the Srst harvest festival In the history of the colony. By 1680 the autumnal thanksgiving had become an annual festival. No doubt in its games and snorts it took the place of the English Christmas, for until comparatively recent date all that savored of Rome and the episcopacy was held in dlsfaV°Duringathe C Revolution Thanksgiving day became national. All through the war, congress annually set apart a day for thanksgiving; but after thfe “Thanksgiving for Peace” in 1783, there were no more until Washington became president in 1789. On October 3of this year at New York he issued « proclamation asking the observance of Thursday, November 26, as a day for national thanksgiving. This was the beginning of the orthodox “last Thnrsdav” that has since been named in presidential proclamations. By ■ ;A ihi<tlme the festival had genera} official recognition throughout New Englandl and in this year, 1789, the Protestant Episcopal prayer books recognized the authority *of civil government In the appointing of thanksgiving days. The chief differences between the two was the want of Ceremony at Plymouth that characterized the English festival. Ip some parts of England the merry-making was around the “noddingsheaf,” or “kern baby;” and in many places the last load of the harvest was drawn to the barn Ina wagon called the “hoch cart.” In front went pipe and tabor, and around it glath- - ered the reapers, male and female, singing joyously as they proceeded. At Plymouth there was no ceremony.

His Only Hope.

“Tell me," ,-spake the easy mark, “what sort of a girl should I propose to?” “She should be rich,” rejoined the female fortune teller, “and if you expect her to accept you, she must also be foolish.”

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

Advice That Failed.

Rich Uncle —What! Broke again? You ought to take Solomon's ad vic# to the sluggard about going to the ant so ■■ Nephew (Interrupting) —So I did, uncle, but aunt says she is in the same deplorable condition.

“DO YE BELIEVE?"

Challenge of Our Lord Stands Today as It Stood on the Eve of His Passion. Jeaua answered them. Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, la now come, that ye ahall be scattered every man to hia own, and ahall leave me Alone. . . . Theae things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.—St. John 16:11-31 Only it did not look like it It looked exactly the opposite; no one could have failed to see what the appearances indicated. This great prophet, Jesus of Nazareth, had challenged the world with his tremendous claim, and to all appearances the world had been manifestly too much for him. True there were times when the mass of the people In Galilee appeared likely to support him. The common people could not but hear gladly one who spoke words of compassion and had a mysterious power corresponding to his pity, so that it was a pity that had power in it actually to relieve and remedy their distresses and diseases. No doubt the common people heard him gladly. But they found very soon that the claim which he was making on their Ilves was a claim for a profound conversion and change of spirit which we all know is the most troublesome claim that can be made upon Us. It tested their sincerity. There were only a few who were ready for such a sacrifice. So it was but a very little band which formed the disciples of the new teacher. And now, in their turn, they were trembling In anxiety and vacillation of spirit. Our Lord challenges them there, in the eve of his passion, as they sit or stand around him —this little trembling group: “Do ye now believe?” And in their heart of hearts they cannot give him the answer which he would have. Nay, he knows the future and it came as he anticipated: They all forsook him; one denied him, one betrayed him. The failure which at tfae moment seemed so threatening became complete. Obstacles to Belief. “Do ye now believe?” I would chalenge you with that question. I would say investigate, think, as freely as ever you can; but challenge yourself with that 'question —“Dost thou now believe?” There are the normal obstacles to belief. The cause of Jesus Christ is always up against great interests, and the normal vacillation of the human heart, and it is always seeming to fail —that is the ordinary experience. But also we are in the midst of an experience which is extraordinary, and the minds, imaginations and hearts of people of all sorts are forcing them to ask themselves: Can I now believe that central and fundamental witness of Jesus for which he lived and died, that witness to his father? Can I believe that the world, this horrible world of hostility and enmity, of bitterness and lying—can I believe that the one God who made this world and who is responsible for it, the one power who made and sustains all things is love, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whose name he bare witness? My friends, challenge yourselves, but remember that the strength of the witness of Jesus is that it is given in the face of just those experiences which are at the moment staggering your imagination, that witness which lies behind the witness of Jesus —the witness of the Old Testament Scriptures; the belief, - there developing itself, in the one God of perfect power and perfect goodness, came Into the hearts and minds of those prophets of Israel, and through them into the hearts and minds of other men, under experiences exactly like thoge which are now staggering our minds and imaginations. It was under the tramp of those terrible armies—Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, Roman —that men first came to believe in one God of power and goodness. And when that witness was Intensified and deepened by our Lord, remember the circumstances. The Man of Sorrows. There is nothing that has ever led men to doubt the love of God or his power that did not lie in the immediate circumstances which closed around the form and history of Jesus of Nazareth. If it had been some bright angel who had come down from heaven and told us-with never so many miracles that God was love, we shoulu have listened respectfully but at the end, when he had flown away, we should have said: “It sounds very pretty, but we know better.” But It was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Everything, I say, that has ever led men to doubt the love of God, every pain of body, and agony of mind, every experience of malignity and hostility and bitterness, every experience of the weakness of the good and the strength of the evil, everything that In slow and embittering experience has turned philanthropists into pynics and made wise men mad —everything Jesus Christ bore; and it was out of the very depths of all that experience that he cried that great cry, asked that tremendous question to which there is no answer—“My God, my God, why didst thou forsake me?” And truly, if entering into the innermost chambers of your being you can answer that great question, Do ye now believe? with an affirmative becoming more and more confident, “Lord, 1 believe, help thou mine unbelief,” then there is no doubt about it, you may have, you must have, peace—that central peace subsisting at the heart of endless agitation.—The Bishop of Oxford.

Americans Must Lead in Establishing New Civilization to Follow World War

The deeper challenge of life seems to me this year to be twofold. On the one hand the perpetual challenge to the more serious living, which is implied in the very undertaking of college training, and, on the other hand, thq particular challenge which is contained in the present world crisis. In this latter crisis there is a very definite and stirring challenge to all American youth, whether already trained or in training. First of all, we must believe in the possibilities of the new civilization, and throw ourselves into the struggle oHtroncoming. We must not be cynics or standpatters. In the second place, we must accept our special obligations as Americans today, be intelligent, unselfish, thoughtful American citizens, with world vision, ashamed not to think in world terms, in terms of humanity. Remember that no generation since the world began has ever witnessed such a destruction of youthful leaders as has yours. In the third place, we must forecast with alTthe h?Tp cgb obtain from the dearest-sighted and farthest-sighted social prophets of our time the demands of the new age. Be sure that the nation that means to play its full part in the new civilization must with stern self-discipline thoroughly reinvigorate the whole range of its life, physical, political, economic, social, intellectual, moral and religious. The time for slovenliness of national life in any realm is gone. . • ■ Finally, we must keep our vision of the organic view of truth and of human society, and so preserve a lively sense of the value of the contribution of every man and class and nation and civilization in that newdawning world of co-operating, mutually respecting nations. As Americans, are we to be satisfied that our nation should enormously profit financially by this war and count our further duty done by military preparedness of the European sort? Is this titanic conflict a single incident of which two years ago would have sent a thrill of horror through the whole world—to mean no more than this for the life of America? Are we contented that it should be so?

Laws Needed to Put End to Needless Waste of Life on American Railroads

In twenty years ended in 1912 there were 86,733 trespassers killed and 94,646 injured on the railways of the United States. Careful investigation has shown that the majority of persons thus killed and injured are citizens living in the vicinity of the accident, and that many are women and children. From 1901 to 1910 there were approximately 13,000 children under fourteen years of age killed and injured while trespassing on railroads in the United States, enough to make a milepost for every mile half way around the world. There were 20,000 between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one years killed during that same period, making 33,000 minors who were victims of this evil. During ten years ended in 1910 there were 103,452 trespassers killed and injured in the United States, while for the same period in Great Britain and Ireland there were but 5,754 trespassers killed and injured. Of course the mileage of American railroads is much greater, but it is nevertheless true that the British railways traverse a more densely populated and congested territory than most of our American railways. In European countries laws forbid trespassing cn railways. j - r * 8 To the uninformed it will probably be surprising information to know that more than half the persons killed on American railroads are trespassers and that ordinarily there are on our railroads three times as many trespassers killed each year as there are railroad employees i This annual needless killing of more than five thousand American citizens and the injuring seriously of an equal number, mostly wage earners, can only be prevented by the co-operation of the public and public officials. Laws have been made, intended to deal with almost every real or imaginary cayse of accident, and yet it has been almost impossible to get passed or enforced laws which will effectively prohibit railroad trespassing and the great economic loss the nation involved in the killing and maiming of these persons, as well as the suffering to humanity caused thereby.

Changing Conditions of Times Bring New Problems for School Authorities

Anistant Headmaster, Newark Academy, Newark, N. J.

Nearly everyone knows that the times have changed, no one better than the city schoolmaster. The only persons unconvinced are certain ultra-conservatives who still believe that Latin and algebra will help the children of the poor to solve problems dependent upon the high cost of living. The rise of cities has deprived thousands of children of their, inheritance in the way of contact with nature, of sense training, and of normal living. The growth of tenement and apartment life has almost entirely removed children’s opportunities to interest themselves in educative horiie tasks. The factory system has eliminated general industrial training through the establishment of the stultifying one-task-per-man organization. Thus the schools have had thrust upon them the duty of supplying all the stimuli to development which country life, home activity and a demand for general skill formerly provided. In addition to these changes there is a marked difference in the sort of children who come to the schools. One does not say that they are inferior; time will tell. But they are different, and this difference is an element in the situation which makes experiments imperative. The influx of foreigners, with their divergent personal ideals and antagonistic racial traits, imposes upon the schools an infinitely difficult problem. The task is further complicated by the hampering effect of our intellectual traditions and prejudices. These have long been and still are, to a large degree, literary and academic rather than scientific and practical. We have believed that every boy should aim to be at least a senator. Our schools have led youngsters away from honest artisanship. Book studies and artificial methods are the inherited tools with which we are expected to secure new results; abstract processes for concrete products. The experiments now being tried’* are mostly in the direction of applying the realistic sciences and natural methods to the development of productive abilities and intellectual power.

By HENRY CHURCHILL KING

Prewlent of Oberlin College

By MARCUS A DOW

By MORTON SNYDER

of New York’