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Activity: Pioneer Thanksgiving Study

Activity: Pioneer Thanksgiving Study

Grandfather tells a favorite Thanksgiving story emphasizing thankfulness.

Updated:

5–7 minutes
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Activity: Pioneer Thanksgiving Study

Read the following Pioneer Thanksgiving story:

WHEN Thanksgiving comes round, the Lowden family always comes together in the old homestead, where Grandmother and Grandfather Lowden still live. It is a large family, with many sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters; and they are widely scattered. Some of the members live in the city, some in the country; but wherever they are, when the great day comes, they go back to the old farm, and when they have eaten the big dinner, all except the nuts and raisins, some one of the children is sure to say, ” Now, grandfather, the story!” And grandfather laughs, and says, “Pooh! You have all heard that story till you know it by heart.”

But they protest. They have forgotten just how it happened, or they do not remember what it was that the Indian did; and so at last grandfather says, “Well, if you must have it, here it is,” and he tells this story:

Grandpa’s Story

“I was a boy then, twelve years old, and my sister Ellen was only fourteen. Father had come into the wilderness and started to clear this farm when I was three years old. He had built a log house and a log stable, and had cleared enough land to raise good crops of wheat, corn, potatoes, and other vegetables. Neighbors had taken up land below us, and there was one family above, but the nearest house was a mile away. The log cabin that we lived in stood right where this house stands. Father put it here because of the fine spring of water.

“We had had a good summer that year, and the little hole under the house that we called a cellar was full of vegetables and the stable loft filled with grain. From the beams of the kitchen hung hams and bacon from our own hogs, and strings of apples were drying. By Thanksgiving time everything was ready for the winter, even to the great banking of dry leaves around the house, to keep it warm.

The Fire

“The day before Thanksgiving mother had been making soap in the great iron kettle hung over a fire outdoors. In the middle of the night we were all awakened by the barking of old Ben, our dog, and when I sat up in bed, I saw that the room was as light as day. For a moment I couldn’t tell what the matter was, but it didn’t take long to see that the house was on fire. One end was already burning fiercely, and the blaze was leaping higher every minute. It had started outside. Probably the embers of the soap-making fire had come to life in the night wind, and blown into the banking of leaves.

“Father had just time to snatch blankets from the beds and wrap them around my mother and my sister and me, and hurry us out into the cold night. It was useless to try to save the house. The only water was that in the spring, and there were only two or three pails to carry it in. We did what we could, but the fire soon drove us back, and in a little while the house was only a pile of glowing coals.

“We had been so busy watching and fighting the fire that we had given no thought to the stable, which was behind the house, but by and by I heard a crackling, and looked and saw the roof all ablaze. Father and I got out the two horses and the cow, but the building we could not save; and so, on Thanksgiving morning, we stood, wrapped in blankets, with neither a roof over our heads nor any food. My mother and sister were crying, but my father spoke only once, and said, ‘The Lord will provide.’

The Traveler

“It was just getting light enough in the morning to see, when out of the woods behind the spot where the house had stood a figure came. I could not see who it was, except that he was a man and that he had something on his back. He walked straight to where we stood, and threw down in front of my poor father the load he was carrying.

“Then we saw that it was old Sebattus, an Indian, whom father had found lying with a broken leg beside the trail a year or two before. Father had brought him home, set the leg, and kept him till he was able to travel back again. The load that he had thrown down was a hind quarter of venison and six partridges, and about a peck of parched corn in a little sack. While we all stared at him, the old man straightened up, and said, ‘How! Sebattus see fire and now, so he come. By and by come again.’ Then he turned and when back into the woods.

Thanksgiving

“That was the finest Thanksgiving that I ever remember, and the best dinner. We cut slices from the venison and broiled them over a fire built against the big rock out here in the yard. The partridges father rolled in soft clay, until the clay covered them all over, and then baked them in the ashes. When he raked them out and cracked open the balls of clay, each one contained a bird that was cooked as tender and juicy as any that your grandmother can cook in the oven of the range. The parched corn we ate for dessert.

“All those things I remember, but best of all I remember what father had said when we sat down to eat. He told us what the day meant, and how thankful we ought to be. And then he made a prayer of thanksgiving that was the most beautiful that I have ever heard.

“The Lord did provide, as father said He would. Neighbors came from far and near, — some of them fifteen miles, — and before the snow flew they had helped us put up another log cabin, and had filled it with provisions, and next year father built this house.”

The Lincoln Readers

Suggestions

Have your student do one or more of the following:

Additional Resources
Activity: The First Thanksgiving

Activity: The First Thanksgiving
Explore the first Thanksgiving, highlighting the Pilgrims’ harvest feast and the friendly Indians who joined them.

Activity: Our Pilgrim Fathers
In this activity, students will read a retelling of the Pilgrims’ story and explore the Pilgrims’ journey.

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