THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
The Proclamation was lengthy and
gave
praise to "our Heavenly Father...[who has] largely augmented our free
population by emancipation and by immigration, while he has opened to
us new
sources of wealth, and has crowned the labor of our workingmen in every
department of industry with abundant rewards...and to afford to us
reasonable
hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and
afflictions."
For the list of reasons the
president gave
for thanksgiving, he did "thereby appoint and set apart the last
Thursday
in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my
fellow-citizens, wherever they may be then, as a day of praise and
thanksgiving
to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe."
He asked that citizens pray for
"peace, harmony and unity throughout the land."
Many observed the day declared
as
Thanksgiving by President Lincoln. It was not the first Thanksgiving.
We all
recall reading about the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock in
1621 with
90 friendly Indians gathered with them to render thanks for protection
during
the rugged winter. The Continental Congress meeting in
Settling on a particular
Thursday and
sticking with it has been a practice in the
And, we would hope, giving
thanks is still
a vital part of Thanksgiving. When I was still the hostess for our
family
Thanksgiving gathering a few years ago, we had the long-standing
practice of
recalling and telling the gathered family one particular thing that had
happened in the past year for which we were especially grateful. We
gave some
prior thought to what we would report, and going around the large
circle of
family members as they held hands and thanked God for blessings was a
spiritual
highlight of our year. I am grateful that my children, now the
hostesses, continue
this practice.
And so it has been with
Thanksgiving among
families on this significantly American holiday.
A story my father told me has
remained with
me for a long time. When he was a boy, his father and others in the
When I was a child, my father
decided he
would raise turkeys for market. It was far beyond the time of the
turkey drives
to market over the Logan Turnpike. We got the turkey poults in the
springtime.
Amazingly, trays of them were delivered by the rural mail carrier. We
had a
"turkey house" where we fed and nourished the little turkey poults
and watched them grow. But as they grew, they were turned out "on the
range" to gather their food from the hayfield.
But then came the day when the
truck would
come for the turkeys to take them over Neal Gap (Highway 129) to
market. We had
to arise early to catch the turkeys and put them in large coops for
transport
to market. Those turkeys became the repast for city-dwellers'
Thanksgiving
meals. We always kept a few, one of which would make its way to our
oven and
our table for the Dyer Thanksgiving meal.
This Thanksgiving, may you
remember and be
grateful for blessings you enjoy.
We should never take them for
granted. As
Abraham Lincoln stated in his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation: "No human
counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great
things.
They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing
with us in
anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy."
Our 16th president's words ring
true for
Thanksgiving 2006. Have a wonderful day!
c2006 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published Nov. 23, 2006 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville,
GA.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Updated August 12,
2009
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