Thanksgiving on the Daily Miscellany (8)


	Good Therapy Norman Vincent Peale told about a man by the name of William Stidger who was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The man had been a very vital, dynamic person; but he had become an empty shell of his old self. A friend suggested the way for him to avoid further breakdown and to be healed was by the therapy of thanksgiving and by the practice of what is called "the attitude of gratitude." His friend advised Stidger to sit down and to make a list of all the people who had helped him through the years. Then he was to fill his mind with thankfulness for all these and for all they had done for him. His friend asked if he had ever thanked anybody. "No," he said , "I never really made much stress on that." Next, his friend advised him to think of someone who especially had blessed his life and to write that person a letter thanking him or her. He thought of a school teacher, who was now a very old lady. Stidger sat down and wrote the teacher a letter telling her that he remembered the inspiration she had given him, how he had never forgotten her across the years, and how much he loved her. A few days later he received a letter written in a trembling hand. Using his boyhood name, it said, "Dear Willie: When I think back over all the children I have taught in my lifetime, you are the only one who ever wrote to thank me for what I did as a teacher. You have made me so happy. I have read your letter through my tears. I have it by my bedside and I read it every night. I shall cherish your letter until the day I die."

This is part 8 of a number of facts associated with THANKSGIVING. This is an all American holiday. Although the US and Canada celebrate the day on different dates, the purpose is the same.

Part 8

Establishing The Date:

The custom of annually occurring autumnal Thanksgivings was established throughout New England by the mid-17th century. Every area celebrated the event at different times. It appears that Boston established Thursday as the standard day for the event. Connecticut was first to make it an irregular yet annual holiday. Each year the people would wait in anticipation to discover the day Thanksgiving would be celebrated. Once the Connecticut authorities announced the date a few weeks before the event, each family happily began the process of preparation for the event, baking pies and arranging with relations for the dinner which marked the event.

During the American Revolution a yearly day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress. In 1777, the Continental Congress declared the first national American Thanksgiving following the providential victory at Saratoga. National Thanksgivings were proclaimed annually by Congress from 1777 to 1783. These Thanksgivings, except for 1782, were all celebrated in December. In 1789 George Washington decreed that a Thanksgiving celebration would be held on Thursday, Nov. 26. Of course at the time everyone was feeling very strongly about independence, so no one listened to him, and Thanksgiving was still all over the place.

Below is the first Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty GOD, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor: And whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States, a Day of Public Thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty GOD, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

NOW, THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these states, to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be: That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks for his kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favourable interpositions of his providence in the course & conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union and plenty, which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish Constitutions of Government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious Liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general, for all the great and various favours which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

AND ALSO, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my Hand, at the city of New York, the third day of October, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

— G. WASHINGTON