Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1866-12-08
SATURDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 8, 1866.

notice some OF the reasons which call for
national thanksgiving and praise. Taking
summary in the Governors message as our
guide, the first blessing for which we are
called upon to .hank God is "the abundant
gathered fruits Of the Earth" Everywhere
| throughout the entire land have the labors
of tue husbandman been richly rewarded
am not furnished with statistics to which
| to refer, but believe it is safe to assert that
while the yield of the most of the produc.
tiops Of the country has been quite equal to
that of former years, the corn and wheat
crops, the great staples of the land. have ex-
ceeded those of any former year. Our barns
are filed with plenty. We have been fed
with the finest of the wheat. There Is no
scarcity at leas. in this highly favored COM
mon wealth, of any of the necessaries oe life.
Famine has not been permitted to waste US,
nor have failures been allowed to stint us.
Here ard there through the country, may
he found a region the people of which i'm
poverished by war have had to endure pri-
vations-here and there may be found indi-
vidual cases of sufferings, but, in general,
plenty has reigned; and it may be SAID that
the people of the United States are the best
fed IN the world.
The commonest aborer here enjoys luxu-
ries unknown to the peasantry of any other
country. Henry w, of France, who, more
than any other King of that country, studied
the interests of his subjects, expressed hope
that the time would soon come when "every
peasant in France should have fowl in his
pot" With U.S. not only has every aboring
man "fowl in his pot" but larder well
stocked with the good things of this life.
Contrast the prosperity and plenty of this
land with the poverty and scarcity of some
eh.,r - q ..l. Al.
mine that has been raging for some time
past, in India, and that has carried off, at
the lowest estimate, two millions of her
people. While we have been reveling in
profusion, hardly knowing what it is even
to be hungry, the wretched inhabitants of
that sunny land, owing to the failure of the
rice crop, Ohe chief article of food,) have
been dying of starvation, the most awful
of deaths. BY the roadside, in the .jungles,
under the trees, to the shade of which they
bad crawled 10 die, their emaciated bodies
have been found, the prey Of dogs and un.
clean birds. The horrors of this famine
cannot be described, and yet it has hardly
caused ripple Ofcxctement in the Christian
world. Had it been some part of Europe
or America that had been visited by this
awful scourgc, what excitement would it
have aroused-what sympathy would it
have elected what contributions would it
have called forth! But the sufTerings of the
miserable inhabitants of India have scarcely
excited the attention of even philauthropic
England. England, that manifested such
pous indignation Mt the barbarities of our
civil war, has left the people of her empire
to starre by thousands Brethren, what
gratitude do we owe to the Giver of every
good and perfect gift, for the abundance
with which He hath blessed US, and for the
veriicaton of His promise to us that while
earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest shall
not cease" But again. we find special rea-
SON for offering unto God thanksgiving in
the general health that has prevailed
throughout the land. God has blessed US
in our bodies as well as in our stores.-
While some of the cities of the old world
have been almost depopuated by pestilence
we have enjoyed comparative immunity
from the fell destroyer.
1t is true that God has permitted the
pestilence that walketh in darkness, and
the destruction that wasteth as noon -day,
to come nigh us, but He has merciiully re.
strained its dread ravages. He has smitten
US but lightly, that we might recognize his
hand and adore His power and then he
has 5enignly removed the plague from us,
Oh what fervent gratitude do we owe to
Him for His goodness. Our iniquities have
provoked his displeasure, our sins as peo-
pie have justly exposed us to his wrath, and
yet He has stayed his hand and averted the
merited punishment of our crimes.
He has also spared our cattle. While hun
dreds of thousands of cattle have perished
in England and on the continent by the
plague, the cattle upon our beautiful hills
have been preserved and our supply of
wholesome beef has not been limited. "Oh!
that men would praise the Lord for his
goodness, and for his wonderful works to
the children of men," ....
Another matter for which we are called
upon by the Chief Executive of the Com
mOnweath to offer unto God thanksgiving
is ''the thus. far continued aetigity of indus
try" Our great manufacturing and mining
interests have been greatly prospered du-
ring the past year. No branch OF industry
within the State so far as am aware, has
been suspended. There have been no alarm
ing casualties to interfere with the develop
ment of our resources; no long continued
strikes to stop our mills or factories; no
panics to PROSTATE the trade and commerce of
the State. Our advancement in wealth and
in public impro, ements has been, despite
the consequences OF the war, unparalleled.
The immense mineral resources OF the State
have been still farther opened up, and new
sources of wealth discovered. Villages and
towns have sprung up as if by magic; cities
have increased in population and in com.
merce railroads have been laid canals been
dug telegraph lines erected, and forests
have been changed to farms. And what is
true of the Stale is true in a measure of the
whole country. The rafting of our mills,
the noise of our manufactures, the horn of
our boatmen, the spashing of the oars of
our raftsmen, the rumbling of our wagons,
the putting of our steamboats,, the tickings
of our telegraphs, and the snorting of our
iron horses, are sounds that never cease.
The Pacific Railroad, that great highway
which is to connect the East with the West,
to rivet together the extremes of our country,
has progressed to within 275 miles Of Den
yer city, Colorado, aud bids fair to be speed
lily completely while New York and San
Francisco are brought by the telegraph with
in speaking distance of each other. Our
commerce, too, interrupted to some extent
by the civil war. has resumed its customary
activity in .oreign seas, aud our steamers
and merchantmen are found in every harbor
in the world. Every land constitute Of its
products to promote our comfort, and every
vessel that comes to our shores brings its