Tomorrow is Thanksgiving day! This is a holiday when mines are closed, when the noise of hammers and machines ceases and all offices are emptied, when every worker of the pen, hammer, or sickle rests in the circle of his family relatives, or friends and eats the traditional turkey with them (naturally only those who can afford this specialty), thanking Heaven for the blessings received during the year and for the health which they are enjoying or for the fact that they are still among the living.

This is a beautiful and inspiring custom. Just as we in the homeland share unleavened bread on the eve of Christ's Nativity, or a blessed egg on Easter, wishing each other happiness and prosperity; so the Americans on Thanksgiving Day come together at the table to eat the traditional turkey and other specialties, and, also, to wish each other prosperity.

The Poles call this day the "holiday of the gul," because in the peasant dialect 2in some of the districts of Poland a turkey is called a "gul." Since the Americans kill millions of these birds on this day, in order to prepare a good dinner, among our peasant brothers this day has gradually become known as the "gul" holiday, the day when the "gul" is the main course of the dinner. But this is not the real explanation. Eating in itself cannot constitute a holiday; there must be some other basis, some other reason for setting aside a particular day on which all work ceases and which is observed ceremoniously.

Among us Poles, especially in Poland, the day of thanksgiving for all blessings is August 15, that is, the Day of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary, or as the peasants in the country call it the Day of the "Mother of God, for fertility." On this day the people go to church carrying wreathes of flowers and all sorts of produce, such as wheat, grain, vegetables, and fruit. They thank God for the blessings of nature and their successful harvest and have these gifts blessed, which they will store at home until the next year.

Here in America such a holiday is observed by the entire nation, although in a different manner, and is called Thanksgiving Day. Everything has already been 3harvested from the fields, and everyone counts the provisions which he has gathered to insure himself against hunger during the winter.

On the other hand, conditions here are entirely different, and not everyone feels happy on this holiday. There are people here for whom every day could be a day of thanksgiving, since they are making money every hour, regardless of the days and seasons of the year. There are rich people who can always afford elaborate dinners and entertainments, but there are also the very poor, who do not have a crust of bread for themselves and their families. For these, Thanksgiving Day is not a happy one, since they not only cannot afford elaborate dishes, but cannot afford even potatoes with salt. They must look on while others enjoy themselves to the point of overindulgence, while they, poor fellows, are slowly dying of hunger, looking toward an uncertain future.

Social conditions are terrible, and Thanksgiving Day is not a holiday or a happy day for everyone. Would that humanity could at last reach the stage where not only this day but every day everybody would be amply fed and happy, 4where every one would have enough food, shelter, and clothing, to feel sincerely thankful throughout the entire year.