THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
NOV 3o 
otherwise beautifully called “ feast of in¬ 
gathering at the end of the year,”—being 
held in the autumn after the whole of the 
chief fruits of the ground—the grain, the 
wine and the oil—were gathered in. we 
doubtless owe the suggestion of observing a 
set time for thanksgiving. 
Long before the Pilgrim Fathers had 
come to this country, there was an occa¬ 
sional observance of such a day in various 
parts of Europe formally recommended by 
the civil authorities, usually for some sig¬ 
nal victory or remarkable deliverance from 
danger. But it was left to our own sturdy, 
conscientious forefathers to inaugurate 
its observance out of gratitude for the 
common mercies of life, and to make it one 
of our most beautiful and permanent holi¬ 
days. Surely it is a most fitting and typi¬ 
cal outgrowth of their conscientious grati¬ 
tude under hard and trying conditions. 
In the winter of 1620 a little band of 102 
immigrants were landed on the bleak and 
forbidding coast of Cape Cod Bay. They 
were not people who had all their lives 
been inured to physical hardships, for 
many of them were gentle, delicately-rear¬ 
ed men and women. No wonder therefore 
that the privation and hardships necessa¬ 
rily incident to life in a new country with a 
severe and rigorous climate, sadly decima¬ 
ted their ranks until ere the first year had 
passed a startling number of new-made 
graves made doubly precious and sacred 
their new home. Yet, in spite of all the 
suffering and hardships they had endured, 
the next winter found them with so much 
for which to be grateful that they had to 
appoint “ an especial day on which to give 
especial thanks for their mercies.” 
It is impossible for us in our modern 
comfortable homes to conceive of the dis¬ 
comforts and suffering they must have en¬ 
dured, and when their whole harvest was 
gathered, I suppose it was no more than 
that of the average thrifty farmer of the 
present day. “ Governor Bradford sent 
four men out fowling that they might 
obtain luxuries for a feast of rejoicing to¬ 
gether.” About this time a friendly Indian 
Chief, Massasoit, with some !)0 men, came 
among them, and they went out and killed 
five deer, and contributed to the entertain¬ 
ment, which they shared for three days. 
Thus with a feast of venison and fowl was 
the first Thanksgiving Day in New Eng¬ 
land celebrated; tor with their scanty, rude 
appliances for cooking and the small store 
of provisions in their larder, you may be 
sure there were few of the dainties which 
we think essential to a modern feast. This 
occurred in the year 1621. 
Afterwards special seasons of prosperity 
were often made the occasion of public 
thanksgiving, and on several occasions a 
day of fasting and prayer was changed into 
one of thanksgiving by what seemed an 
immediate answer to their prayers. Such 
an instance occurred in July 1623. There 
was a very severe drought which threat¬ 
ened the destruction of their entire crops. 
The Governor appointed a day of fasting 
and prayer: but, lo ! while they were pray¬ 
ing cooious rains fell, and it was made a 
day of most hearty and sincere thanks¬ 
giving. kept with religious observances as 
was always the custom. History tells us of 
various other thanksgiving days; but it 
was not until half a century and over had 
passed that we find any indications of its 
having become an annual custom. 
During the revolution, Thanksgiving 
Day was a national institution, annually 
recommended by Congress. But after 1784, 
when there was held a general thanksgiv¬ 
ing for peace, we had no other national ap¬ 
pointment until five years later, in 178‘J, when 
President Washington by the request of 
Congress, recommended ‘‘a day of thanks¬ 
giving for the adoption of the Constitu¬ 
tion.” Though at various times there 
were proclamations of thanksgiving for 
especial deliverances and mercies, yet it 
was mainly in the New England States 
that an annual proclamation was issued by 
the Governors of the various States, and it 
is to them that we owe the perpetuation of 
the day, for they made it their principal 
social and home festival usually kept with 
appropriate religious ceremonies. 
During our civil war President Lincoln 
issued proclamations appointing special 
thanksgiving for victory both in 1862 and 
1863, and he issued a national proclamation 
of annual thanksgiving in 1863 and 1864, 
since which time such a proclamation has 
been issued annually by the President as 
well as by the Governors of the States and 
mayors of the principal cities. 
lu many respects this has been a most 
disastrous year; many terrible calamities 
have visited us; death has reaped an un¬ 
usual harvest. The destruction of property 
jjas l>mi ipiiuen^ f'lff «<»{<!« Kjmjs 0? 
iness too—noticeably for that of farming, 
which affects wider interests and more peo¬ 
ple than any other one industry—this has 
been an unfortunate year. In some sec¬ 
tions of our vast country husbandmen have 
contended with a severe and destructive 
drought; while in others they have suf¬ 
fered from long-continued rains and even 
floods. The result of all this will be to 
cause many people to doubt whether they 
have any cause of gratitude—any reason 
for giving thanks. But I doubt if there be 
one reader of this paper who has not many. 
He may have to look below the surface of 
things material—at the real values of life— 
to find them ; but he will be a better man 
if he looks and gives thanks. Let each show 
that he has inherited a little of that sense 
of justice and appreciation which the Pil¬ 
grim Fathers had. 
For some strange and occult reason a ma¬ 
jority of people seem inclined to look on the 
dark, rather than on the bright and hope¬ 
ful side of life. They deliberately choose 
to hug the trials and sorrows of life to 
their hearts rather than to ‘‘count their 
mercies” and give thanks. We are not 
apt scholars, any of us, at learning what a 
valuable ‘‘elixir of life” a glad, hopeful 
heart is. We should pity or congratulate 
people rather for their temperament than 
for the conditions of life in which they are 
placed. To be sure, we did not choose our 
temperaments ; but it is obligatory on us all 
to cultivate a habit of cheerfulness and 
hopefulness until we have made it a part 
of our very selves. 
Financial embarrassments are hard to en¬ 
dure; sometimes there are circumstances 
which make them distressingly so; but, at 
the worst, they are usually soon lived 
through, and if honestly, bravely, and phi¬ 
losophically borne, rarely leave a sting be¬ 
hind them. Some day you may even look 
back and see that they were a link in God’s 
helpful mercies. It is not wealth or even 
an abundance that makes unselfish, grate¬ 
ful hearts, for oftener it is found to be the 
very reverse of this, and some of the keen¬ 
est reproofs I have ever felt in life came 
from seeing how contented, happy, and 
peaceful were the lives of people whom in 
my ignorance I had pitied. 
On the busy, over-worked housewife falls 
the duty or the pleasure of taking the in¬ 
itiatory steps towards celebrating this or 
any other domestic anniversary. Many 
circumstances may deter her from making 
an old-fashioned New England banquet 
which seems a culmination of all the lux¬ 
uries of the year, and to which all the 
uncles, aunts, and cousins are invited. 
This is, indeed, beautiful; but if you can 
only compass a simple little feast for your 
OAvn immediate family, by all means do 
that little with enthusiastic, glad and 
thankful hearts. If your children are old 
enough to be of the least assistance arouse 
their sympathies, and convince them that 
you greatly need their co-operation. Many 
a mother who hungers for appreciation 
and praise in her round of prosaic, grind¬ 
ing duties, forgets to brighten her child’s 
life by making it feel itself indispensable to 
her happiness. If more of the spirit of 
Thanksgiving Day permeated all the days 
of the year, we should hear fur less of un¬ 
happy homes and thankless children. If 
we emphasized more the sweetness, the 
gladness and happiness w’hich our children 
bring into our lives, we would enlarge 
their hearts, expand their sympathies and 
make them to become truer, braver, more 
unselfish men and women. There is no 
trouble in keeping children at home on 
Thanksgiving Day, because home is such 
an attractive place to them, they feel no 
temptation to leave it. Thus should it be 
every day of the 365. 
If you live in the country and have gath¬ 
ered as many beautiful souvenirs of the 
fields, lanes, and woods as there are abun¬ 
dant opportunities for doing, you have 
ample material with which to decorate 
your table and home tastefully and beauti¬ 
fully. Relegate this part of the work to 
the children ; let them exercise their own 
taste and judgment unless they ask for ad¬ 
vice, and see what bowers of beauty they 
will transform your room into, and—what 
is better yet—see how long the spirit of 
helpfulness will abide with them. I have 
often thought that the injunction “Be vir¬ 
tuous and you’ll be happy should be re¬ 
versed, making it read : “ Be happy and 
you’ll be virtuous.” There is no safeguard 
in life for either men, women or children 
comparable to the chords of sympathy and 
love which bind one to a cheerful, happy, 
Christian home. Such a home all gp from 
with reluctance and return to with joy. 
There all days, even fast days, are-thanks¬ 
giving days, and fitly typify the beautiful 
JlQme immoral, ifi 
* * T I 7HAT an agreeable man Mr. Hen- 
VV dersonis” said my wife, turn¬ 
ing to me; “most companionable; and 
yet—and yet, my dear, I’m glad he is not 
my husband. You suit me very well.” 
There was an air of conviction about this 
remark, as if it were the result of deep re¬ 
flection and comparison, and it was em¬ 
phasized by the little possessory act of re¬ 
adjusting my necktie—one of the most sub¬ 
tle of female flatteries. 
“ But who wanted him to be your hus¬ 
band ?” I asked. “Married women have 
the oddest habit of going about the world 
picking out men they would not like to 
have married. Do they need continually to 
justify themselves ?” 
“ No; they congratulate themselves. 
You never can understand.” 
“I confess I cannot. My first thought 
about an attractive woman whose acquain¬ 
tance I make is not that I am glad I did 
not marry her.” 
“ I dare say not. Y r ou are all inconsist¬ 
ent, you men.” 
From “A Little Journey in the World” 
by Charles Dudley Warner in Harper’s. 
LITTLE GIFTS. 
M ANY who want to give largely at 
Christmas time are compelled to be 
content to give only trifles and they are 
more perplexing to select than any other 
class of gifts, for they must be good of 
their kind and acceptable to the receiver. 
One who has time and even a little money 
can do wonders we all know, but there are 
many who haven’t the time for more than 
a few stitches here and there and then the 
$5 seem very paltry that must be divided 
among the 20 relatives and friends, who 
positively must be remembered if the good¬ 
will felt toward them is to have any ex¬ 
pression at all. Well, that means only 
25 cents to spend for each one and the 
thought makes life look miserable fora lit¬ 
tle while; then the determination to make 
every quarter do its very best lifts a little 
of the cloud and the planning begins. The 
child-friends it seems possible can be pleas¬ 
ed by spending 25 cents for each of them, 
but what can be bought for the older ones ? 
A list is made out with the following re¬ 
sult and gifts for all are settled on at last. 
Standard works in the Seaside Library 
in paper binding are each 20 cents. Cover¬ 
ing them with the most artistic sateen or 
other cloth covers makes them worth more 
than their cost. Three-quarters of a yard 
26 inches wide, will be ample to cover four 
books, so that the outlay for the covers 
need not add more than five cents to the 
cost of each book, and the binding will add 
very greatly to its strength and durability. 
Handkerchiefs at one, two or three for a 
quarter, according to the needs of the one 
to receive them, or five of the gayly bor¬ 
dered five-cent ones for the little sister or 
brother who is delighted with quantity and 
supremely indifferent to quality, will give 
satisfaction. A collar and pair of cuffs, or 
two nice collars can be bought for the sum 
we are spending, or a yard of soft ruching. 
There are photographs of noted people and 
places that can be bought for 25 cents apiece 
either mounted or unmounted. A collec¬ 
tion of black pins, needles for sewing and 
for darning, a five-cent tape measure and a 
button bag can go to make one gift. 
A plant or two from the greenhouse will 
be an acceptable offering for one friend’s 
window garden. Five packages of flower 
seeds, the old favorites that sell at five 
cents a paper and give a wealth of pleasure, 
or one or two packages of rarer seeds, 
especially such as should be started very 
early in the spring,, as pansy and verbena ; 
a collection of verbena seeds, scarlet, separ¬ 
ate and fine mixed in another package are 
a good choice. There are numberless use¬ 
ful things for the kitchen that may be ac¬ 
ceptable gifts—a wire potato masher, a 
toaster, a stiff cleaning brush that costs 
eight or ten cents, a little strainer to be at¬ 
tached to the spout of the coffee-pot, a tin 
Hour scoop, a whisk broom to be used about 
the stove and other articles the buyer will 
find when he starts out to select them to 
the value of our coin. 
If these homely trifles happen to appear 
on Christmas morning in costumes of vivid 
calicoes or even silks with ipiprovised 
heads and arms, it will be a mystery, of 
course, and should each one bring a speech 
in its hands setting forth its own special 
uses, and promising (of course, not extrav¬ 
agantly) many things for the future, that 
will be a mystery too. 
A Jew 8UCI4 funny tilings in Christ¬ 
mas pile are just as necessary in some 
homes, and just as natural expressions of 
the jollity felt there as the laughter that 
goes with the dinner and lasts after the 
supper. Grinning potato dollsfor the most 
serious members of the family, ginger¬ 
bread men for the oldest; a stick of candy 
for the one who hasn’t a sweet tooth ; an 
elaborate tissue paper bonnet for one of the 
boys or a pair of leather spectacles for an¬ 
other. 
Christmas would not be itself in many 
homes with all the friendly jokes left out, 
and how these are remembered by the 
children when they have grown up and left 
home. If there is only a little to spend for 
the holiday gifts, let us spend it with a 
hearty good-will, and by forethought find 
some trifle that will gratify a wish or fill a 
need, and then give with it a rhyme, a rid¬ 
dle, a joke or a legend or a timely greeting, 
and be content, even though others spend 
dollars where we can spend only cents. 
ALICE EWALDA BROWN. 
GLEANED FROM HERE AND THERE. 
A S oysters are in season now, anything 
about them is also in season. In 
looking over an old Popular Science 
Monthly, I find the following, which shows 
that, despite the old saw “ As dumb as an 
oyster,” oysters are not so dumb after all— 
that they can be taught to keep their 
mouths shut—a degree of “teachableness” 
not possessed by many people who would 
be indignant should it be only hinted that 
they were dumb. 
“ The oyster is not such a fool but that 
it can learn by experience, for Dicquemase 
asserts that if it is taken from a depth 
never uncovered by the sea it opens its 
shell, loses the water within and perishes. 
But oysters taken from the same depth, 
if kept in reservoirs where they are occa¬ 
sionally left uncovered for a short time, 
learn to keep their shells closed, and then 
live for a much longer time when taken 
out of the water. This fact is also stated 
by Bingley. and is now turned to practical 
account in the so-called ‘oyster schools’ in 
France. The distance from the coast to 
Paris being too great for the newly dredged 
oysters to travel without opening their 
mouths or shells, they are first taught in 
the schools to bear a longer and longer ex¬ 
posure to the air without gaping, and when 
their education in this respect is completed, 
they are sent on their journey to the metrop¬ 
olis where they arrive with closed shells 
and in a healthy condition.” 
I do not know whether or not any of my 
readers have noticed how differently the 
word dumb is used. Webster says that 
dumb means destitute of the power of 
speech—not willing to speak ; silent—but 
in some parts of the country it is used with 
an entirely different meaning. It takes 
the place of or is synonymous with stupid. 
We often hear people say: “She’s an awfully 
dumb child,” when they mean a stupid 
child. The oyster is dumb when the word 
means silent, but from the above, not so, 
when it means stupid. If there is any au¬ 
thority for dumb being used as meaning 
stupid, I should like to know it. Can 
any one tell me? 
* 
* * 
The origin of Worcestershire Sauce. 
—The following is from the London World 
of some few years ago. “A scrutiny of the 
label will show that it is prepared ‘ from 
the recipe of a nobleman in the country : 7 
The nobleman is Lord Sandys, and Messrs. 
Lea & Perrius’s connection with the sauce 
came about rather curiously. Many years 
ago Mrs. Gray, author of “ The Gambler’s 
Wife ” and other novels, well known iu 
their day, was on a visit at Ombrisley Court, 
when Lady Sandys chanced to remark that 
she wished she could get some very good 
curry-powder, which elicited from Mrs. 
Gray that she had in her desk an excellent 
recipe, which her uncle, Sir Charles, Chief 
Justice of India, had brought thence and 
given her. Lady Sandys said that,there were 
some pretty clever chemists in Worcester 
who, perhaps, might be able to make up 
Pi$ccUuncou;$ ^dvcvti.oing. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castoria, 
When she was a Child, she erled for Castcrla. 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castoria 
W(ien she had Children, she gave ||»en> Custom 
