Squanto
 

In our innocent youth, we all learned the story of Thanksgiving. Many points of view, much spin, endless scholarship.

What nobody seems to mention is that the "noble savage" Squanto, who supposedly taught the Pilgrims how to use fertilizer by burying a fish under each plant, was actually a sophisticated guy who had learned agronomy from the French during his stay there.

Just one of many stories which always grow up around an important event in a nation's development.

Another was the "freedom of worship" angle. The Pilgrims sure wanted to worship their way. You fell in line -- or the highway. Many stories about their harshness and cruelty to those who saw their mutual religion differently. The Pilgrims persecuted dissenters so badly that the famous Roger Williams finally broke away and established a settlement later called Rhode Island that REALLY permitted freedom of worship.

Today, with modern families blended and scattered all over, Thanksgiving and Christmas are hot times at the advice columns. "If she comes, I'm not." "Why can't we have it at my house sometimes. Hers is so dirty." "Grandpa leaves his false teeth on the table." and on and on.

Plus the sheer joy of road and air travel at this season of Thanksgiving.

Best satire on the holiday: "Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America."
The segments on Thanksgiving are [seeks in vain for adequate praise]

HB