New-England Boy's Song About Thanksgiving Day

One of the earliest American poems written for children, this joyful verse captures the excitement of a 19th-century New England Thanksgiving. The narrator treks "over the river and through the wood" to grandmother's house, where the feast awaits: roast turkey, pumpkin pies, and the warm chaos of extended family. Lydia Maria Child wrote this in 1824, embedding phrases into American cultural memory that still echo nearly two centuries later. It's less a sophisticated poem than a time capsule of childhood delight, of cold November air and the promise of abundance. Read it with your own children on Thanksgiving morning, and you're participating in a tradition that stretches back to when the republic was young.