THE FIRST THANKSGIVING DAY.
"The story brings forward other people, other relations, other times andplaces, other and even quite different forms; notwithstanding this fact,the auditor seeks his image there."--FROEBEL.
Nearly three hundred years ago, a great many of the people in Englandwere very unhappy because their king would not let them pray to God asthey liked. The king said they must use the same prayers that he did;and if they would not do this, they were often thrown into prison, orperhaps driven away from home.
"Let us go away from this country," said the unhappy Englishmen toeach other; and so they left their homes, and went far off to acountry called Holland. It was about this time that they began to callthemselves "Pilgrims." Pilgrims, you know, are people who are alwaystraveling to find something they love, or to find a land where they canbe happier; and these English men and women were journeying, they said,"from place to place, toward heaven, their dearest country."
In Holland, the Pilgrims were quiet and happy for a while, but they werevery poor; and when the children began to grow up, they were not likeEnglish children, but talked Dutch, like the little ones of Holland, andsome grew naughty and did not want to go to church any more.
"This will never do," said the Pilgrim fathers and mothers; so aftermuch talking and thinking and writing they made up their minds to comehere to America. They hired two vessels, called the Mayflower and theSpeedwell, to take them across the sea; but the Speedwell was not astrong ship, and the captain had to take her home again before she hadgone very far.
The Mayflower went back, too. Part of the Speedwell's passengers weregiven to her, and then she started alone across the great ocean.
There were one hundred people on board,--mothers and fathers, brothersand sisters and little children. They were very crowded; it was cold anduncomfortable; the sea was rough, and pitched the Mayflower about, andthey were two months sailing over the water.
The children cried many times on the journey, and wished they had nevercome on the tiresome ship that rocked them so hard, and would not letthem keep still a minute.
But they had one pretty plaything to amuse them, for in the middle ofthe great ocean a Pilgrim baby was born, and they called him "Oceanus,"for his birthplace. When the children grew so tired that they were crossand fretful, Oceanus' mother let them come and play with him, and thatalways brought smiles and happy faces back again.
At last the Mayflower came in sight of land; but if the children hadbeen thinking of grass and flowers and birds, they must have beenvery much disappointed, for the month was cold November, and there wasnothing to be seen but rocks and sand and hard bare ground.
Some of the Pilgrim fathers, with brave Captain Myles Standish attheir head, went on shore to see if they could find any houses or whitepeople. But they only saw some wild Indians, who ran away from them, andfound some Indian huts and some corn buried in holes in the ground. Theywent to and fro from the ship three times, till by and by they founda pretty place to live, where there were "fields and little runningbrooks."
Then at last all the tired Pilgrims landed from the ship on a spot nowcalled Plymouth Rock, and the first house was begun on Christmas Day.But when I tell you how sick they were and how much they suffered thatfirst winter, you will be very sad and sorry for them. The weather wascold, the snow fell fast and thick, the wind was icy, and the Pilgrimfathers had no one to help them cut down the trees and build theirchurch and their houses.
The Pilgrim mothers helped all they could; but they were tired with thelong journey, and cold, and hungry too, for no one had the right kind offood to eat, nor even enough of it.
So first one was taken sick, and then another, till half of them were inbed at the same time, Brave Myles Standish and the other soldiers nursedthem as well as they knew how; but before spring came half of the peopledied and had gone at last to "heaven, their dearest country."
But by and by the sun shone more brightly, the snow melted, the leavesbegan to grow, and sweet spring had come again.
Some friendly Indians had visited the Pilgrims during the winter, andCaptain Myles Standish, with several of his men, had returned the visit.
One of the kind Indians was called Squanto, and he came to stay with thePilgrims, and showed them how to plant their corn, and their pease andwheat and barley.
When the summer came and the days were long and bright, the Pilgrimchildren were very happy, and they thought Plymouth a lovely placeindeed. All kinds of beautiful wild flowers grew at their doors, therewere hundreds of birds and butterflies, and the great pine woods werealways cool and shady when the sun was too bright.
When it was autumn the fathers gathered the barley and wheat and cornthat they had planted, and found that it had grown so well that theywould have quite enough for the long winter that was coming.
"Let us thank God for it all," they said. "It is He who has made the sunshine and the rain fall and the corn grow." So they thanked God in theirhomes and in their little church; the fathers and the mothers and thechildren thanked Him.
"Then," said the Pilgrim mothers, "let us have a great Thanksgivingparty, and invite the friendly Indians, and all rejoice together."
So they had the first Thanksgiving party, and a grand one it was! Fourmen went out shooting one whole day, and brought back so many wild ducksand geese and great wild turkeys that there was enough for almost aweek. There was deer meat also, of course, for there were plenty of finedeer in the forest. Then the Pilgrim mothers made the corn and wheatinto bread and cakes, and they had fish and clams from the sea besides.
The friendly Indians all came with their chief Massasoit. Every one camethat was invited, and more, I dare say, for there were ninety of themaltogether.
They brought five deer with them, that they gave to the Pilgrims; andthey must have liked the party very much, for they stayed three days.
Kind as the Indians were, you would have been very much frightened ifyou had seen them; and the baby Oceanus, who was a year old then, beganto cry at first whenever they came near him.
They were dressed in deerskins, and some of them had the furry coat ofa wild cat hanging on their arms. Their long black hair fell loose ontheir shoulders, and was trimmed with feathers or fox-tails. Theyhad their faces painted in all kinds of strange ways, some with blackstripes as broad as your finger all up and down them. But whateverthey wore, it was their very best, and they had put it on for theThanksgiving party.
Each meal, before they ate anything, the Pilgrims and the Indiansthanked God together for all his goodness. The Indians sang and dancedin the evenings, and every day they ran races and played all kinds ofgames with the children.
Then sometimes the Pilgrims with their guns, and the Indians with theirbows and arrows, would see who could shoot farthest and best. So theywere glad and merry and thankful for three whole days.
The Pilgrim mothers and fathers had been sick and sad many times sincethey landed from the Mayflower; they had worked very hard, often had nothad enough to eat, and were mournful indeed when their friends died andleft them. But now they tried to forget all this, and think only of howgood God had been to them; and so they all were happy together at thefirst Thanksgiving party.
All this happened nearly three hundred years ago, and ever since thattime Thanksgiving has been kept in our country.
Every year our fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers have"rejoiced together" like the Pilgrims, and have had something to bethankful for each time.
Every year some father has told the story of the brave Pilgrims to hislittle sons and daughters, and has taught them to be very glad and proudthat the Mayflower came sailing to our country so many years ago.