DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SOIENCB3. 



VOL. IX. 



BOSTON, NOVEMBER, 1857. 



NO. 11, 



JOEL NOURSE, Proprietor. 

 Office.. .13 Commercial St. 



SIMON BROWN, EDITOR. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, ) Associate 

 HENRY i\ FRENCH, J Editors. 



NOVEMBER. 



"All ,TOu that to feasting and mirth are inclined, 

 Come, here is good news for to pleasure your minel j 

 Thanksgiving has come, and will keep open house ; 

 He scorns to be guilty of starving a mouse. 

 Then come, boys, and welcome for diet the chief, 

 Plum pudding, goose, turkey, minced pies and roast beef. 

 Although the cold Weather doth hunger provoke, 

 'Tis a comfort to see how the chimneys do smoke ; 

 Then haste to the kitchen for diet the chief, 

 Plum pudding, goose, turkey, minced pies and roast beef." 



Old Ballad. 



OVEMBER is the 

 month when our 

 annual autumnal 

 festival is appoint- 

 ed, and which has 

 '"''•^:j been denominated 

 ~ ■* Thanksgiving Day, 



- because it is par- 

 ticularly designed 

 to draw our atten- 



— tion to our obliga- 

 tions of gratitude to our 

 Heavenly Father, for the 



bounties of the Harvest. The 

 festival of Thanksgiving evi- 

 ^^ dently originated among the 

 _J I Puritans, as a substitute for 

 ~ the annual feast of the Nativi- 



ty, called Christmas, and which our Pu- 

 ritan fathers rejected, because it is an in- 

 stitution of Roman Catholic appointment, 

 and because there exists no certain historical evi- 

 dence that the birth of Jesus happened on that day. 

 Thanksgiving was for many years exclusively a New 

 England holiday ; but the custom of observing such 

 a day has been gradually adopted by the majority 

 of the States of the Union ; and it may now be re- 

 garded as a national festivity, like the Fourth of 

 July. 



Our nation is said to observe a smaller number 

 of festal days than any other ; and it is thought, 

 that by increasing the number of these pleasant 





occasions, our people might be improved in many 

 points of character. We will not argue this que.s- 

 tion,at the present time; but acknowledge that we 

 have some doubts whether the private morals of 

 our people might not be injured by increasing the 

 number of our festivals, without imposing upon 

 them many safeguards, especially of temperance. 

 We would, however, preserve faithfully all those 

 holidays which have come down to us from our an- 

 cestors ; and with the observance of them we would 

 preserve all those customs which are connected 

 with the simplicity of their habits. With aK the 

 faults of our ancestors, there is a groundwork of 

 public and private virtue established by them, which 

 the nation cannot forsake without involving itself 

 in ruin. 



Thanksgiving is one of those venerable institu- 

 tions, which is associated not only with the man- 

 ners of our Puritan ancestors, but also with sonif 

 of the most delightful recollections of our early 

 days. Feasting is a cheerful occupation, not nec- 

 essarily connected with surfeiting or intemperanc* ; 

 and one needs not to be a voluptuary, to look 

 back with pleasure upon those feast days of biti 

 youth, in which, however sumptuous the entertain- 

 ments, it was the social gathering that gave it its 

 principal charms. It has always been customary 

 to assemble together aU the scattered members of 

 each family, on this delightful occasion, and na oth- 

 er season is the witness of so many happy meet- 

 ings over all our favored land. Who does not rec- 

 ollect the joy, both of the anticipation and the greet- 

 ing, of some beloved brother or sister, who has long 

 been absent from the paternal home ; or after one's 

 own separation from home, the joy of his annual 

 return to the beloved family circle ? After a few 

 years had passed, this circle began to be dimin- 

 ished. One member had removed to such a dis- 

 tance, as to render a visit impracticable ; another 

 perhaps was at sea, or in a distant country ; anoth- 

 er still had been removed by death. 



After a still longer period, the circle has dimin- 



