490 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



ished to a melancholy few, until at length the ven- 

 erable heads of the family sat down alone to their 

 feast of thanksgiving. The few children that re- 

 mained among the living had themselves become 

 heads of families, and the centres of new gather- 

 ings and new rejoicings. 



May these sacred customs never be abolished, 

 and may the observance of them never degenerate 

 from its original simplicity. Feasting by no means 

 implies excess, and temperance may preside at the 

 most sumptuous board. But it was the religious 

 exercises of this day which we always regarded 

 with the most pleasing anticipation. However dull 

 the exercises of the Sabbath might be on ordinary 

 occasions, those of Thanksgiving day were always 

 affecting and delightful. Instead of the usual dull 

 psalmody, the performances of that day were en- 

 livened by anthems and the occasional pieces, more 

 than usually pleasing. The singing meetings that 

 preceded the festival can never be forgotten. Here 

 we cannot help remarking, that those who have 

 been accustomed only to the ordinary music of an 

 ordinary choir, know nothing of the charming in- 

 fluence of the best sacred music ; and not many 

 persons are probably aware that the best music 

 that has ever been composed is of this denomina- 

 tion. Sacred music admits of the interweaving of 

 every delightful emotion and sublime sentiment ; 

 while profane music is confined almost entirely to 

 illustrate the passions of the human heart, and to 

 the exhibition of skill in execution. It is not true, 

 as John Wesley once remarked, that "the Devil 

 has appropriated all the best music." English writ- 

 ers complain that the old time-honored festivals 

 of Great Britain are growing into disuse. ''Alas," 

 exclaimed the author of "Rural Records," "alas ! 

 for the rare old times — alas, for the festivities and 

 the revelries, the sports and customs, the convivial 

 hospitalities, the mirthful tide-times and the oft-re- 

 curring festivals, which gave to our sea-girt isle 

 its peculiar title of merry England. One by one 

 have these observances disappeared from the face 

 of society. Gradually and almost insensibly have 

 they receded before the flood-tide of fashion and 

 refinement, whose strong current hath swept over 

 them with obliterating might. Many have been 

 totally submerged, their memory existing only in 

 the page of romance or traditionary songs. Of 

 others there yet remain some traces, few and faint, 

 and barely sufiicient to interest the antiquary, and 

 form the groundwork of his conjectures. A few 

 Btill linger on, shorn of their ancient state, but still 

 reverent by reason of their venerable origin, and 

 treasurable on account of their rarity and purity. 



"There is one brief season of festivity, however, 

 which still continues to maintain its ground, and to 

 display some portion of that genuine and right 

 hearty spirit of hospitality and good feeling, by 

 which our ancestors were actuated ;— one period of 



the year, when the rich spoils of the golden au- 

 tumn having been gathered ifi, the farmer opens 

 his hands and his heart, and welcomes to his tnble 

 those sons of the soil by whose labors the in-gath- 

 ering of the harvest has been perfected." 



The last paragraph of the above quotation al- 

 luded to the celebrated English festival of "Har- 

 vest Home," which still continues to be observed 

 in the rural districts of Great Britain. The epithet 

 "merry" could never be properly applied to New 

 England. Our ancestors met with too much per- 

 secution, encountered too many dangers, and suf- 

 fered altogether too many hardships of every de- 

 scription to be a merry people. They were the 

 most religious of a religious nation ; the most grave 

 of a nation given to serious humors, in spite of their 

 numerous festivities. They brought with them a 

 contempt of the established religion which had 

 caused them to leave their native land, and they 

 refused to adopt any of the English national holi- 

 days, the most of which were more or less connect- 

 ed with the ceremonies of the established church. 

 They also abhorred all merry-makings which were 

 of a purely worldly or profane character. 



Hence our Thanksgiving became the New Eng- 

 land "Harvest Home," and the only festivity that 

 could be said to resemble the English Christmas. 

 This was appointed by the governors of the several 

 colonies ; and this, and the annual Fast, seem to 

 have been the only periodical festivities, which were 

 introduced into general usage. Fast day is rather 

 too melancholy an occasion to be satisfactory to 

 the cheerful temperament of the present genera- 

 tion ; but its observances might be modified to suit 

 the genius of our own day, without destroying its 

 character. We would suggest the propriety of 

 establishing a certain day of the year by legislative 

 action, for each of these two annual holidays. — 

 Let Thanksgiving be established permanently on 

 the last Thursday in November, and Fast day on the 

 first or second Thursday in April. As the first is our 

 autumnal Festival, so let the last be our vernal 

 Festival ; the one to thank Heaven for the boun- 

 ties of the harvest; the other to praise Him for 

 the recurrence of the seed time of the year ; and 

 in each case let the religious exercises of the morn- 

 ing be followed by such amusements as are the 

 most truly seasonable in their character. 



Christian nations associate the word Fast, as ap- 

 plied to a holiday, with abstinence from food and 

 penance. But the original meaning of the word 

 was very different from this. The Latin word 

 Fasti signifies festivals, and they were commonly 

 feast days; indeed, /easi and fast seem to have 

 had one common origin. The religion of the Ro- 

 mans was highly poetical and their festivities par- 

 took of their poetical character. Our own festivals 

 are somewhat too prosaic, and certain observances 

 of a practical nature might be gradually engrafted 



