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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S saith, it saith to them who are under the law ; th a t every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty be fore God” (Korn. 3:19), The law, in other words, never says: “ T ry to do b etter next tim e.” O f th is the antinom ian legal ist seems entirely unaware. m - TH E F IR ST THANKSGIVING H HANKSGIVING, as most people know, is a purely American fes tiv al, having its origin in the earliest colonial days, and in the very h e a rt of rigid, stead fast New E ng land. In 1620 th e P ilgrim ^Fathers and th eir devoted little elan landed on the rocky coast of Massachusetts, and in -1820 ’ the town of Plymouth celebrated th e b i centennial of th a t historic fact. A grand sta te dinner was given upon th e occasion, and, as each guest took his place he was surprised to find beside his plate five grains of parched corn, no more, no less. This was an appropriate •and touching rem inder of those heroic men and women who dared fam ine and slaughter for th e ir principles, who first won plenty from the uncultivated soil, and y e t who were often in sore need of a morsel of bread. The trad itio n al story runs thus: During the summer following the arrival of the colonists, all the supply of food brought from over th e sea was exhausted; th e first harvest planted in the New World was still fa r from ripe, and the leader one day awoke to th e grim fa c t th a t there remained bu t one p in t of corn in all the settlement. A sorry outlook was this and well m ight they exclaim, like th e disciples of old, ‘‘W hat is th a t among so m any ?” L ittle enough, truly, since the days of miracles were supposed to be pastl However, from the seven little log huts nestled near the shore the people were summoned together, and th e slender stock of provision im par tially divided among them, five kernels being the share of each man and woman and child; while w ith w hat sad h earts they must, have eaten th is frugal meal, knowing not where a b it was to come from on the
morrow. Nor did it,c om e ; and three or fou r months passed aw ay before they again tasted either corn or bread, being forced to live on shell-fish, berries, ground nuts, acorns, and other edibles the wilds afforded. Can you not imagine, then, how anxious ly they w atched th e ripening of th e crops? And a t length, in due season, they were gathered in, an ancient report-telling th a t ‘‘th e corn yielded well and th e barley was indifferently good, b u t the peas were a failure, owing to drought and late sow in g .” Barely satisfied, however, was the little colony and Governor B radford sent out four skilled sportsmen in quest of fowls th a t they m ight ‘‘afte r a special m ann er” rejoice together. Venison, wild birds, w ild turkeys, and other game wer« brought back b y these hunters, and there in th e w ilderness th e first Thanksgiving turkey was roasted and eaten, while for three whole days the hardy Puritans feasted and made merry, entertaining as th eir guests K ing Massasoit and ninety Ind ian warriors. This was th e first H arvest Home festival held on th e ‘‘bleak New England shore,” and well may loyal Americans remember th e little gathering of ‘‘red m en” and ‘‘pale faces” a t Plymouth, when they cluster about th e Thanksgiving board and keep the N ational November feast. “GO TO TH E ANT” Tamerlane used to Telate to his friends, an anecdote of his early life. ‘‘I once,” he said, ‘‘was forced to tak e shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone many hours. Desiring to divert my mind from my hopeless condition, I fixed my eyes on an ant, th a t was carry ing a grain of corn larger th an itself up a high wall. I numbered the efforts it made to accomplish th is objeet. The grain fell sixty-nine times to the ground; bu t the insect persevered, and the seventieth time it reached th e top. This sight gave me courage a t the moment, and I never forgot th e lesson.”
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