The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-11-23
VOL. so:---No b2.---WHoLE. NO: 1861. lo.D ..-'s.

families, so thatothe whole polity OF. the He.
brews was not central lake Of theocracy
fed by all the streams and headsprings of fam
lilies. but rather a reservoir, and families were
Supplied with influences by drawing from it,
The Government and Church we're made for
1.-The family, and not the family for Government
or Church. When David and the people had
finished the public service Of Thanksgiving
they went to their homes. That was the right
Z place to go 10. Whatever man gets in the
sanctuary be should stere tp in the House.
In the beginning the Thanksgiving Festival
Of New England was festival for Haryests
Ia festival of in-gatherirg. 1t told the his
tory of the year. Its meaning, in the meeting
house, was expressive of joy and gratitude for
O the years fidelity to its laws and the appiica-
p tions of them1to human wants by human skill
and industry - .7ss5 - atas.s go 7i
On such day one might go back to the
frst furrows Of Spring (; to the birds swarming
after the plormai and seedman to the tend
er lifting up of the willing earth by the seeds
first peeping up to see If it was time to wake
up and grow. We look back through long
. files OF Summer days, whose gIittering rays
were brighter with heat and sunlight than all
I the ances of an armed host. Warm raina
patter on the roof of our memUry; We see the
black beIied cloud; we hear the voice of thun.
der which is the only sound that dare repre-
sent the voice of God except tie ocean when
it breaks upon the shore. We look back and
q smell the orchards, and SIZE the yellow harvest
6eld. We hear the creakiDg of the wheels, as
the wains bear home the grain fleece Of the
earth Standing in the month of November,
which is the porch of Winter, we look back
through rdddy bonghs and gold ranks of mul
titudinous harvests, into the open bosom OF
Summer and into the very eyes Of Spring, and
lifting up our hearts We thank God for furro"
= and seed for grass and flowers, for corn and
fruit, for rain and dew. for light and darkness
% and for the whole mystery of that sublime
e year, through whose evolution God brings forth
Z all the treasures of onr outward life
as 81 But though this day is and was day oi
Harvest Thanksgiving, the peculiar Anglo
% Saxon, Hebrew, Puritan spirit has covered il
over with another feeling. The whole abund
e. auce of the year is but Gods offering of love
to the Family. The Household is the graD'
~ center. And fruit and grain. wool and fax
,e loot and seed. all take their value from wha
is they can do for the Family a-5
he The plow doth not serve the field, but tn
lis owner. It is the right hapd of the farmer
It. family. The scythe and the sickle are but th
It. fingers of the household cutting the locks frou
" the head of tie year. And what thing is don
Wn on the farm, in the shop, along the street, bu
a. is done to the Family Only the army and th
to navy do not work for the family. They ar
lse unnatural They are not institutions founde
.te on natural instincts, but organized medicine
,se to be administered TO the diseases of naturs
ch INSTINCT But the merchant runs not throug
ice an itch of gold alone lit is the family benin
he him that works more than mere love of mon
es ey. 2 1t is not the love of work or skill tha
all drives up the shop-it is the love of wife an
IDS children and the holy sanctites of the Roo
DIV b Hence Thanksgiving has its heart in th
it Family. We go first to Church. But thel
'ns like the people and like King David, we G
back to our house. And on that day thel
NJ was not Hebrew who, once within bis ow
not door, did not feel every inch as great as Kin
90 David. He was as great The King of Isra
An was nothing but a father and husband in b
OF own family. King was less than father, al
not the greater swallowed up the lesser in tt
Family. And, among US, every ran th
an hath home hath throne such as King Ds
in vid never sat upon. nor gold and ivory Solo
Or mon either .,,azi,, ,sfasa-r e; 7nlFs99 =
rid 4 When God calls together man and maide
wedding, is ordination; they are priests Of Go
When He trusts them with cradle. then T
,as crowns. But in the Family, the Heart wea
,oa the crown, not the Head. And when wi
~ triple crowns multiplied, the parents at leng
.;v;, present their children to the Lord, safe al
the saved. not Solomon in all bis glory was arra
20, ed like one of these parents And the Que
oot of Sheba whA came leagues and days to be
mes Solomon talk, might double the leagues a
nre. multiply the days Of journey, to hear the {
ons tperior wisdom of mother, venerable a
Old good, lingering on earth that we may knt
Ino. the temper and disposition of the Saints
- Heaven au zii.stto zg5 a.. so 1 z,a s.55s
y The Thanksgiving Day, then, is in heart a
'ion spirit the festival Of the family!
anu Now come home the children. Now
"ea forbiddings cease, and rules relax unwon,
we're places are laid open locks give back til
'a0a bolts; jams and cakes are common as gras
Anu no rooms are TOO fine for treading-no clotl
:, o'r too fine for wearing-no places too select
'..n familiarity. The children may go up q
'n' down through the house-through pantry Q
a0. cupboard Frugality is the only thing loci
= ,re' up to-day. and Parsimony is expelled /; g
ieS erosity comes instead. an open handed abu
q a. VI ance. Itis the grand day Of Family joy
N'nes liberty, 10 which it is sin to be sober
Jews virtue to be merry. ~ r. ssa5.
nder Rot . No ,mnnst for yat aub;Ia +.-r, r,
eA- we viii beguiie our WEAKNESS by that VII
'eia- it is the next thing to home-a discourse
Mort bonao.. ..5.e-,ss ......,'tti.
lailed I. God be thanked for The HOUSE.
who heart canrot carry all it feels, and so it O,
oerse flows every day, and the house is the p
efuge where all its streams do collect. The hea
esta- like plant in the tropics. which all the !
do SO round is bearing flowers and ripening 8
de- and letting them Fly. Itis shaking off mel
Ike ries, and dropping associations. The joy
prot last year are ripe seeds that will come up in
y out, again next year. Thus the heart is plan
ng so seeds in every nook and corner and as a '
ough- which serves to prostrate a nlant 10 on
q l. a