Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Volume XXIX, Number 47, 22 November 1890 — Our English Column. [ARTICLE]

Our English Column.

u /n Youlh t\(farc for ManJuwdJ" UNCLK PHIL\S DESIC B'.»ys and G.rls, just crowd around the Dc»k this morning, for Uneie Phil is to preach yoo a short iermoo on iwo d ffcrent texis. And o»y f>rst te*ts is "The Last Thursday of Noreniber, or DAV. Several hundrcd years ago there livrd some (<rsons in Engl- nd who were not allo*ed 10 wonhip (rod as thcy tho«|[ht they ought to. America had becn d scuvered many years bef/re, and the!ie persons thooght that in that: new < i)i;n?ry thev could find a spot io «huh thi> c>u!(l w»»rshiD as tfcey )>lc4ved. I hey went over to America, an<l thev f >und ihe ulaee Ihepers'.ir.s wcre <a'Ud "riJgri»»:s" and the p!a<;c they peopietl n> now c.lled *'New l-.ngland," but thcy l*ndtd »t MPiymoulh

Now the«»e folks hid got to a j.la«-c thi > had bten luoku.K f r, a j.l«e iti whs< h tothink as thf y pleasedi hut u w.is 2 des /ute plaee, and they ha<J t.j *ork very hard to ktep from surving < r fre«/rT)g. One year the < >rn <lid not grow wcl* f and < ther fruits <>( thc cirth grew pov,r!y. and winter wa*. < ofning on, and thc p »or folks had nothing ready f>r >t Phe ship they wcrc Imkmg fur, tilled «with g-H>d thin«;s from thc mother country did n)t arrive, though it had been on the wjy f>r 4 long time. The»r s(ore of ( jj(l lcss and less, and still no vc>scl eame. At last, as thcy were io thcir grcatcst trouble, the long lookedf >r ship (ame in sight, and their great want was supjilicd. These good folks wcrc so glad, thai they set apart a day for Tha«ksgiving for thefr deliverance Inun dcath; and that djy has been rtinea)hcre<l from that day to this, and those fcw, halfstarvcd jjeoplc, have heeome thc greatest and most prosperous nation on thc carth.

Evtry year, ab )iit this timē, the l'rc'si(lent cf Ihe Unitcd States of Ameri(a pul>lishes a proclamation throughout the land, whieh is obeyed from Maioe to Tt.xis, and from the A»lantu to the l'acific by 65,000,000 ot people, calling upc>n them to enter their pla( ts of worship, on a certain ilay, nearly always the last Thunday in Novcmber, and ihcse give thanks to tor his goodncss to ihem as a n.aion, and as families, and as individuals. Now, the Turkty is the npeeial bird tor a thanksgiving dinner. Ido not stop to tol 1 you how it heeame so; but ymi siy "turkcy" to an American at this time of the year, and it will make hiin think of "thanksgiving day", and il lu* has not g«»t one a-fattenmg in his « hu'ken e K)p, he will scrat( h around aiul grt one. If you could step into any American (itv, Krcat or small, and look into their nurkctH, you wou d see turkics in front 01 sou, turkies to the right of >011, and ttirßies all around, unlil you would t>egin to wo&der where all thc peopie livc who are to eal ali these thousands oi turkies. I wili tcll you where some oi them iive; they iive in the prisons, for the kindness 0f the human heart gets insidc t l those gloomy places, and give the prisoners, a reminder in the shapc of turkies, that they have somethir.g to be thankful for: Mcv lti< in tht\ ht>uu s <!';>/ tht hv<tpitiih, tht\ 11 t'u s/r t rfs t ii*ii in hhh ih<lttr<jpiam th*\ /iW, for the great kind human heart coilects trgethcr the srrect gimins, thc b >ot blacks, the news boys, and givcs eaeh a good, S(]uare, old fishioned thanks*giving dinncr with a gocd turkey bone lo nil>We on. And jx»ur intlced, or sick indeed, must be ihe man, woman or child in any of l'nele Sam's citics who cannot say, 'i havc had my rhanksgivir.g rurkty."

A# soon «s tbe President's pn>claroation comcs out, tclling the pctiple what d y is to be Ihanksgivinv thcn cvery body bcgins to ihink about the ••0!d Hcuse at Howe," and the ,4 01d Fv>lks at Home," and make pltnf lo g«thcr undcr the old roof onee more. So that whole Umiliea of Gfi»dfathers and Grandmothers» and fithers motherj, brothen and iister% uncles tnd aunts and e )usm», all g«t together at thc old < ilomestead w and eat Thanks giving dmnef tdgether, and pUy games and tcll stcries and have a fin< lime. i hen tbcy go back to their own homes for another year, all looking foward to the nett time «hen they roay meet at the (>ld Housc at Hooe.

And the family wanderers in Ur off lands read ihe !'re*ident*s prv>clamatioo,! aod memonea of hqme like soit b)ow. | ing land breties, eoene w«fting ofer the«r minds t umil tbcy are compeilcd v foc wani of a bett«r piaee, t> take their thanksgiving turkey drum stick ioa oot o*tf eiean chinese restiuraat How my young Hawaiian friend«, the President of the Uniud $utet of Amerka ts the ooiy iaicreigti oi aoy ot the christian Mttoos of the earth,

«ho prodaiills a i( thaok3gmog daj f * to be kept b/ tbe natkn f

King Kaoikeaouli, Kamehameha 111, |osed to proc?airo 4 Thaoksgmng lHj." Unele Phil retneaibcn these jM"wcJa«atioos welL But the M geoeratiM of Hawaiians who thought kmdW of theff misi»otuv7 fatbers, were only christianiied r so that a thanksgiving day nught do thim some good; to make. Ihena think of ihe goc4 things thty had, and wish for more ' But the Hawatiaas of th*si days are not only they are cīvtlīzed and en!tghtened and have all the go.d thtng< they want! \Vhy should they gīve thanks ? Do not our young Mks smoke cigarettes T and talk »n half white ? Canno( they take of themseWesi» N'o, Unele Phil thinks they eannoL U oor King woti!d proc!aim a yearly •' thinksgiving day' f«r our people, and show tl.em how to keep it as it ought to kej*, Unele Phil thinks it would r very'quickly, make a differeute in the prosperity of the land. And here ia my second text; Thk iBth or Novkmbck;

and you boys and girls all wonder why the 28th of November is a legal holi day; and why it is not possible for you to be punished for coming late to school that day, seeing there will be no school.

Well, Unele Phil thinks the holiday was made of pretty poor stuff. In early days, the days when Kauikeaouli reigned, it was no holiday at all. The great Hawaiian holiday thtn was the 3ist day of July; and so ii ought to be to day.

Sometime in the year 1842 some bad foreigners fobbed this weak Kingdom of its flag, and so set up over it a foreign flag. Pui in the year 1843 the "dear <ld y «as found*and returned, and then the king and chiefs, and commonj>eople were so gl«d to have their liberty given back to them, that they made the 31 st day of July t the day on whieh they received their flag again, a holiday, and right well they kept it, untill the Mother of the one who stole the fljg began to feel sore abōut having such a reminder of her son's evil doings, that she promised not to take the fl.»g again, and got one of her neighbori to promise w,th her; and thjn the heads of government wanted to keep peaee in the family of nations; so, to forget that the flag had -vcr been stolen, they changed the hq)idav from the great 3 1 st of July to the almost unknown 2Sth of November.