In fields but lately seared by summer’s drought,
Where famine seemed to lay its withering hand,
A miracle has come to still our doubt
And spread a glad Thanksgiving through the land.
•• ••• . ;^v - ,• w* . ■ , . .
'» *■* ■* ••"*.■ <«_«. • •*■ -U;*.*~.i.1 ■«■»
Unseen beneath the drab brown coat she wore,
The soil grew rich to nurture other seeds.
Then autumn rains released the hidden store
In verdant growths, to fill our winter needs.
So, God of Wisdom, may we learn to build
In quiet faith, through even darkest days;
Assured our destiny will be fulfilled
.. Through Thy inscrutable and wondrous ways.
Dwight Pennington, in Kansas City Times
Why we have.
Thanksgiving
_ Turkey i
<*" r'HREE times a year, at:
I Thanksgiving. Christmas and
New Year’s, the people of the
United States advance upon a cer
tain huge golden bronze fowl, cut
its throat, strip it of its plumage
and convert it into a savory dish
which fairly makes the old table
groan under the extra burden. Since
we have raised this bird into a
national significance which parallels
to an almost equal degree that of
the eagle, symbol of the govern
ment itself, it has a special interest
to all Americans. Although many
folks may still be “as poor as Job’s ,
turkey," says a writer in Pathfinder j
Magazine, they somehow manage
and contrive to have turkey for
Thanksgiving, whether they can or
cannot afford it
In years gone by those families :
who could not afford turkey turned
to chicken, duck, beef, rabbit, or
even pork and were glad to get it.
But now let’s get back to the ques
tion of why we have or try to have
or would like to have or imagine we
would like to have turkey
for Thanksgiving dinner. The an
swer of course is that he turkey
is strictly an American bird and
serving it at feasts of thanksgiving
is an old and ancient American
custom. Some authorities will tell
you that we eat turkey on Thanks
giving day because after the first
harvest in the fall of 1621 the Pil
grim Fathers at Plymouth set aside
a period for feasting and offering
The Turkey Is Regarded as
an American Bird.
thanks. To provide food for this
feast hunters were sent out by Gov
ernor Bradford and they returned
with a large supply of game. Hos
pitality was extended to the Indians,
91 of whom attended the festival
which lasted for three days. Con
spicuous among the game on the
tables were numerous wild turkeys,
then common in the woods of Mas
sachusetts. From this circum
stance, they say, arose the popular
association of these birds with
thanksgiving days.
This of course is the true origin
of the custom so far as white man
has been concerned with it. But the
origin of turkey feasts goes back
rr uch farther. The millions of fam
ilies who plan on enjoying hearty
Thanksgiving turkey dinners this
year will in reality be observing
a custom that prevailed ages before
the Pilgrims first gathered around
their festive board in New Eng
land. Smithsonian institution rec
ords now bridge the years that veil
the aboriginal civilizations and show
that the Indians of the Southwest
domesticated turkeys and fattened
them for their ceremonial feasts.
While the Pilgrim Fathers, grate
ful for good harvests and a year
of prosperity in the New World
decided on a day of thanksgiving
to be celebrated at a banquet of
roast turkey, really gave posterity
the spirit of thanksgiving, the
practice of such feasts had been
established long before by the cliir
dwellers who actually got their
birds from a pen as we do today
and not from u thicket as the Pil
grims did.
According to Smithsonian records
the turkey of the aboriginal Indians
more near ly approximated the
When the Festive Bird Goes Into the
Oven.
Thanksgiving turkey of today than
the scrawny wild fowl felled by the
blunderbuss of the Pilgrim hunts
man. Most of our domesticated va
rieties of turkeys today are really
descended from the Mexican wild
turkey that ranged over Arizona,
western New Mexico and southern
Colorado — virtually the dooryard
of earliest American civilization.
The Pilgrim turkey was merely the
wild variety of the same bird which
roamed the eastern part of the
United States.
Just as the turkey was exclusively
an American bird in the time of
the aboriginal Indians. :o it is to
day. No fowl from any foreign
country approximates it. In fact,
wherever turkeys are raised today,
and they have been introduced to
many foreign countries, the ances
tral stock came from America. And
so far as is known turkeys are
never imported to this country.
Contrary to popular opinion the
turkey did not get its name from
Turkey (the country of that name).
The first turkeys taken from the
New World (America) and sold in
Spain were handled largely by
Hebrew merchants. Since t h e
turkey was frequently confused with
the peacock it was quite natural
that the Hebrew trades should ap
ply to it their name for the pea
cock, or "tukki." More or less
common use of this name followed,
which easily became in English our
present name “turkey.”
THE JUDGE SAYS:
u'-pHANK.SGIVING is a p
proaching — it's time we
told ourselves over and over
again the things about which we
should be thankful. There are
plenty of those things. But. most
important of all, I think, is the
chance given to make ourselves
happy again.”—Judge Harry B.
Keidan.
NO DOUBT the same old ques
tion will be asked that we
have so often heard — what
have we to be thankful for? The
question is foolish, almost as foolish
as the attempts to answer it.
Thanksgiving means gratitude, and
there is probably no man alive who
does not hold ingratitude to be one
of the blackest sins. Of course, there
can be no gratitude except us it is
shown not only for something but to
some one. Therefore, observes a
writer in the Indianapolis News, it
is that the thought of Thanksgiving
necessarily implies the existence of
a Divine Giver end Benefactor. So
we are bidden to return thanks to
Almighty God as "the Giver of
I every good and perfect gift.” When
there seems to be a scarcity of gifts
one is tempted to ask the question,
why be thankful? And that is a
question which every one must an
swer for himself, and it will be
answered as it always has been, in
diiferent ways. It is futile to cata
logue what we know to be blessings
and what we believe to be anything
but blessings, and set oil one list
against the other, and be thankful
in proportion as the good exceeds
the evil.
Carlyle long ago showed us the
folly of the bookkeeping method as
applied to things spiritual. Probably
most people get out of life about
what they deserve and in proportion
to what they put into it. It seems
to be true that the most thankful
people are those who have the least.
On the other hand, those who are
surfeited with good things take them
as matters of course, as their due,
and so calling for no gratitude. The
*y
question seems to be whether one
has a thankful spirit, which surely
is something to be greatly desired.
Without it, man is less than man.
Even beasts are grateful. Practical
ly, the question suggested by the
day touches character There is
nothing mechanical or formal about
it. One can not pump up thankful
ness, and the setting apart of a day
does not suggest that there should
be such an attempt. The day is
rather a recognition, less of a duty
than of an opportunity which it
would be or might be fatal to neg
lect. "Be ye thankful" is an apos
tolic command. It ought to be easy
to obey. Those men are nearest the
truth who feel that in this life noth
ing is due them, and that whatever
they get is in a very true sense a
gift, and one which may be far
beyond their deserts. So we are
called to keep another Thanksgiving
day, which should bring an outpour
ing of not only thankful but kindly
hearts. Appropriate to the day is
Pope’s well-known verse:
Teach me to feel another's woe,
To hide the fault I see;
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.
What We Live On
I live on hope, and that I think do
all who come into this world.
Ancient
Maya? Kept^
ThattegiyjtigPay
_ ^ a
WHEN football fans turn out
for the Thanksgiving games
they will perhaps realize that
they are conforming with an old
American custom, but do they know
how old that custom is? asks a
writer in the St. Louis Post-Dis
patch.
Thanksgiving football games
were instituted in America about
2000 B. C. The custom began
among the ancient Mayas, who, al
though they did not eat mince pie
or sit in concrete stadiums, did
dine on turkey and did set aside
a day on which they offered up
the first fruits of the harvest sea
son, feasted and played, or watched
a ball game in a stone-walled en
closure.
The department of middle Amer
ican research at Tulane university
has discovered that the Mayan
games were like ours in many re
spects. Just as fans today travel
for miles to see the Thanksgiving
games, so did our predecessors on
this continent journey across the
land, on foot or horseback, to
Chichen-Itza, holy city of the
Mayas, to view the holiday spec
tacle.
In his description of the Mayan
game, Maurice Reis, on the staff
of the department of middle Amer
ican research at Tulane, says:
"As it began when Rome ruled
the waves and Frenchmen wore
bear skins as their Sunday best,
football wasn't just football. That
is, the ball wasn't kicked with the
foot and the scores were produced
by persuading the ball to pass
through a perpendicular ring high
on a stone wall.”
When the thousands of pilgrims
who came every year arrived at
Chichen - Itza, they offered sacri- '
The Ball Wasn't Kicked With the
Foot in That Game.
fices to the earth gods in an im- 1
pressive thanksgiving ceremony led
by the ruler.
“The earth gods,” says Alredo
Barrera Vasquez, of the stalls of
the Mexican National Museum and
; the National University of Mexico, 1
who is of Maya descent, "are called
j the Four Bacabs and are repre
sented as supporting the four cor
ners of the earth. Each god has
I an appropriate color: red for the
east where the sun rises, black for
the west where it sinks into dark
ness, yellow for the warm south
and white for the cold north. Yum
K’ax, Lord of the Forest, resides
at the center of the universe and
is characterized by the colors blue
and green."
The Thanksgiving ceremonies still
take place in some parts of Mexico
today, although most of the old cus
toms are dominated by the Catholic
J influence.
The name of the principal god
of the harvest is lost. However,
we have many representations of
him on ancient monuments. He
is always depicted as being young
and handsome, symbolic of life and
i growth. From his head grows maize
instead of tiair.
Pumpkin an cJ M ince
Pies Are Favorites
[Shanghai
■VistoE
Curbstone Barbers in Shanghai's Native Quarter.
Life in Shanghai Before Japanese
Shells Began Their Destructive Work
Prepared by National Geo^r |->hlc Society,
Washington. D. C.-WNL Service.
ON THE Whangpoo ap
proaching Shanghai
there is little to indi
cate that one is enter
ing China except for fleets of
native fishing junks moving
about in the river. The river
banks are lined on both sides
with oil supply depots, smok
ing factory chimneys, ware
houses, silk filatures, repair
docks, and strange things of
foreign import.
Shanghai’s water front skyline is
decidedly occidental in appearance
and most strikingly impressive. Un
til the present century, low. commo
dious Chinese buildings or two- and
three-story structures served a ma
jority of the business concerns; but
the introduction of excellently
equipped modern oflices initiated a
period of extensive building.
The tendency of Shanghai’s build
ing program has been distinctly
skyward in the last few years be
cause of the congestion in the busi
ness areas occasioned by its me
teoric expansion in trade.
Construction of tall buildings,
however, even those of eight and
ten stories, presents considerable
difficulty to the architects because
of the nature of the footing upon
which the foundations must be laid.
The soil is entirely alluvial deposit;
but, in spite of the obvious handi
caps, architects are exploring new
heights for Shanghai with 10-and 15
story structures.
The Chinese, quick to appreciate
this upward direction of city-build
ing. have begun erecting tall de
partment stores, tea houses, guild
halls, and other structures which
bring them financial advantage and
modernize the appearance of Shang
hai.
Radical indeed are the changes
that have taken place in architec
tural expansion in the last decade,
including vast alterations in the sky
line of the metropolis.
In the Old Native City.
In a few minutes' walk from the
most up-to-the-moment districts of
Shanghai, however, one can be in
surroundings that are little altered
since the day when the first foreign
firm marked out its business site in
the muddy concession.
Within the Mantao district, at the
southern side of the city, lies the
old Chinese settlement, or Native
City. Modernization has been slow
to move in this locality, and native
life takes much the same course
that it followed before steamship
screws began stirring up the muddy
Whangpoo around the fishing junks
and sampans.
H.VCI1 lUMU, uuwfVL'i, mac imvc
been changes. Since the Republic
has come into existence, the old
wall that surrounded the city has
been demolished. Narrow cobble
streets with open sewers running
down their centers gradually have
given way to more cleanly concrete
passages. Loathsome beggars have
somehow been reduced in numbers,
although there are still more than
enough of the pitiable wretches.
North of the International Settle
ment lies the thickly populated Chi
nese district of Chapei. Chapei bor
ders upon the Soochow creek
boundary and is just back of the
foreign district of Ilongkew. This
district, before the Sino-Japanese
battles sevgral years ago, wat
somewhat more modern and pro
gressive than the Native City re
gion. Here, in Chapei, were located
large Chinese business concerns de
voted to exporting and importing.
Here had sprung up offices, fac
tories, and printing establishments,
among the last named the Commer
cial Press, largest publishing con
cern in China, valued at one and
a quarter million dollars. In this
locality, too, is the Shanghai rail
way station.
Foreign Settlements of Shanghai.
But the focus of all Shanghai is
the foreign settlements, for in them
have been the remarkable incen
tive and expanding force that have
built this modern seaport. First al
lotted a portion of land on the south
side of Soochow creek, following the
treaty of Nanking, in 1842, when
Shanghai was indicated as one of
the five treaty ports. British busi
ness established itself and expand
ed, digging drains and filling canals
Six years later France was con
ceded the territory between the
British concession and the Native
City, and only a few years after
ward Americans leased land in the
Hongkew district, which extends
along the Whangpoo woter front
north of Soochow creek, where the
river makes a sharp curve to the
right.
This so-called American Settle
ment was never organized as such,
but was incorporated with the Brit
ish district in 1863. Thus came into
being the International Settlement,
premier nucleus of modern Shang
hai. Other portions of land have
been added on the west, where old
timers used to bag snipe in oil days
from their ofTices.
The French chose to remain apart
and today continue to administer
their own concession as a separate
unit.
The years have seen a fast-mov
ing panorama since the early days
when the International territorial fu
sion came into being, received
nourishment, and became what has
often been termed ‘ The Model Set
tlement.” The administration of the
International Settlement has been in
many ways a unique experiment,
perhaps without parallel in any oth
er place; and results make it evi
| dent that the Shanghai municipal
council has served the Settlement
| well.
oovernca uy r.icciea «. uiincii.
The council is composed of a
group of members elected by the
taxpayers of British. American.
Japanese, and, more recently. Chi
nese nationality. The number has
been increased from time to time
until 15 members are now included
in the group that directs the affairs
of the Settlement of 1,008.000 people.
Paving, policing, planning*— a
multitude of tasks face the paternal
body which, gratis, guards the in
terests of International Shanghai. A
similar, but smaller, task confronts
17 other men who handle the affairs
of the French territory with its near
ly 435,000 inhabitants.
Because Shanghai has not always
had a peaceful career, troops of the
four chief foreign nationalities have
been maintained to give necessary
protection to Ihe residents of the
city. Shanghai has also had a vol
unteer corps with a personnel of
more than 2.000, which was organ
ized at the time of the stress of
necessity during strikes and when
the pot of Chinese political affairs
has been boiling over.
Big, bustling Shanghai, this titan
of commerce in Far Asia, lives be
yond the boundaries of any one set
tlement or nationality; it commands
all of them together for its life and
trade. Well beyond three million
people are numbered in the districts
that form the whole of greater
Shanghai.
Cosmopolitan, too. as only one of
the world’s largest seaports can be.
it records in its census 50 foreign
nationalities. The commercial capi
tal can also call from its midst
representatives speaking practically
all the numerous dialects in China,
if one should ask for further con
fusion in the linguistic babel.
Picturesque Scenes on the Bund.
The facets of life and activity of
the metropolis are as multiple as
the peoples that compose it.
Stand any day along the Bund
and watch the variety of traffic that
passes under the signals of a tall,
bearded Sikh traffic policeman.
Electric tramcars, loaded buses,
and trackless trams, filled to all
available standing room; motor
cars and trucks of every kind and
size, although American makes ar >
in majority; wheelbarrows that
trundle along with tremendous
loads; coolies, turned beasts of bur
den, bearing bales and baskets of
incredible weight; great two
wheeled trucking carts, with as
many as six or eight perspiring
coolies straining at the pull ropes;
rickshas, well past the period of
their best usefulness in these days
of increasing taxi service, trying
by their very importunity to gain
a stinted living; bicycles, carriages,
pedestrians—the whole contrasting
procession passes.
On another street a Chinese wed
ding palanquin or a long funeral
cortege moves along with all the
red and tinsel glitter that China as
sert bles around these two events.
At the corner the procession waits
for a traffic jam to clear before