While at a Friends of the Library book sale, I found this treasure which informed me of just how important this Thanksgiving is... the 400th anniversary celebrating the very first.
From the inscription on the back cover of this book (published 1/1/75), "A landmark can be a place, such as a mountain or a building. Or it can be an event which changes people's lives, such as the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The landmarks in this pop-up book are, first of all, places in the United States you may visit. They represent the other meaning of "landmark," too, because they remind us of some of the important events, from the time of the pilgrims to the present, that make the United States a very special country in which to live.
Hallmark Children's Editions are created in consultation with Dr. Edith M. Dowley, Director of the Bing Nursery School, Stanford University. Every title has been tested to make certain of its interest. You can be sure that a Hallmark children's book will be a happy and healthy experience for young people."
The page about the Mayflower begins with this John F. Kennedy quote, "The American past is a record of stirring achievement in the face of stubborn difficulty".
The entire page reads, "In 1620, one hundred and two men, women and children set foot upon the rocky coast of Cape Cod. They had left their homes in Europe because they had not been allowed to worship God as they wished.
The Pilgrims, as they became known, made the two-month voyage aboard a small sailing vessel called the Mayflower. The Mayflower served as home and hospital for the settlers throughout that first hard winter. Before leaving the ship, the Pilgrims decided that the whole group would always do as the majority voted. They signed the Mayflower Compact, the first document assuring government of the people and by the people in America.
The Pilgrims received unexpected help from the Indians, who taught them new ways to plant crops. By October of 1621, they had built a small settlement and brought in such a good harvest that they invited their Indian friends to the first Thanksgiving feast.
Today, the Mayflower II, a full-sized model of the original Mayflower, is berthed on the Eel River near Ply mouth, Massachusetts. It was presented to the United States by England as a memorial to the courage and vision of the Mayflower's famous Pilgrim passengers and the part they played in pioneering the American frontier."
I know I learned all of this in school but reading it, aloud to my grandchildren on the 400th anniversary of that very first Thanksgiving, made this all that more interesting and poignant. We owe much to those brave, dedicated pilgrims.
H.U. Westermayer said it best, "The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless set aside a day of thanksgiving."
Wishing you much to be thankful for!
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