The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-12-21


the constituted authorities of our Territory
as a proper season for thanksgiving to Hea-
ven ;and yet we must be permitted to indulge
in few reflections which we deem pertinent
to the occasion. We feel assured that the
patrons of The PIONEER will not regard it
with the less favor, because its conductor is
induced occasionally to omit his labors in
the political field, that he may devote q
short time to subjects connecteaa with Chris
tan morality 49,
1t is fact worthy of comment, that this
great nation divided into thirty-one States
and seven organized Territories inhabiting
a region which extends nearly from the
tropics to the frozen zOne-with vast d.
versity of interests and opinions, political ard
religious-and ready, apparently, in mo-
ments of high sectional excitement, to rend
aSunder the ties that bind them together
yet voluntarily, and moved by the same
spirit, devotes one day in each year as pc
riod of special thanksgiving to God, for His
protecting care of us as individuals, and as
united people. A grandcr moral specta-
Gle has never been exhibited, than that of
twenty-five millions Of men, laying aside all
their differences, and joining in an act of
voluntary homage to the Creator on day
or days recommended by their rulers for
that purpose. 1t demonstrates the strength
and feryor of the religious sentiment in the
minds of men who enjoy the largest share of
liberty, and who are untrammelled in their
political action by those who sacrilegiously
appropriate to themselves the appellation of
the Amounted of Heaven" ........
We do not intend to trace back this Ma
tional Festival to its foundation. Origina-
ting from the more immediate descendants
of the Pilgrim Fathers, it has been intro
duced and adopted wherever, in the Repub-
lie, the sons of New England have sought
and found dwelling place. On the shores
of the Paciic-in our own beautiful, but
sparsely settled Territory-on the farthest
verge of civilization-the songs of Thanks
giving are heard almost mingling their tones
with the howl of the wolf, and the war
whoop of the savage The spire of the
house of God towers conspicuously here and
there amid the primeval forest; and Chris
tan men wend their way towards it to thank
HIM that He has given them home in
land of freedom
During the past year many States of our
Union have been scourged with pestilence
in its different forms, yet judgment has
been tempered with mercy, and the living
have cause for thankfnlness that they have
been spared. The heats Of summer have
parched the earth, and cut off its usual pro-
auctions in some parts of Our country, but
other portions have been more than ordina-
rily prolific, leaving no cause to apprehend
scarcity Of food for man and beast The
Arts continue to exercise their meliorting
influence upon us, and Science to shower its
benefits upon our countrymen. While the
nations of Europe are imbruing their hands
in each others blood, and the wall of the
widow and the orphan already fills the air,
in our own land all is peace; and we can en-
joy whatever of earthly competence has
been vouchsafed to us, with none to modest
or to make us afraid" We are daily aug
menting in all the elements of National
wealth and power, and our example holds
forth hope and encouragement to the OPP
pressed of other lands. With Peace, Plen-
ty, and Happiness, who will say that, as a
nation, We have not abundant reason for
gratitude and thanksgiving.
Especially should we be grateful whose
lot is cast in Minnesota. Here, our fields
have yielded plentiful harvest no plague
has been commissioned to decimate our num-
bers and unlike other Territories, we have
had no outbreaks of savage foe to bring
desolation and mourning upon our families
With a population which has increased in
an unprecedented ratio within the past year,
we have to deplore none of the brutal scenes
of violence and disregard of law, which have
too often characterized the first settlement
of the frontier. Life and property are as
safe here as in any part of the Union,-I
guarded, as they are, by the vigilance of
law-abiding people. In word, our pros