New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-11-26
THANKSGIVING DAY.

ing lives bare of grace, ana seeing III the as
pensaton of events just but severe God made
humble public confession of their sins, tasted
and wept, and so hoped to avert the Divine
wrath. BY and by the blessings came. Awed or
conciliated the Indians were friends; better
farming, perhaps, crowded barn and store
house better clothing deled the climate; pros
perty frightened the gray days; and the grave
Puritans. seeing always the direct hand OF God
in the smallest occurrences, ascrbed praises
and held out hands filed with thank Offerings.
They appointed a day of public Thanksgiving
q pendant to their melancholy Fast and under
the chill November sky gathered in rude meet
inc-honses for worship, and with solemn JOY
Toasted at home. As the years went by, heap
inc mn benefits, and as the colonies multiplied,
THANKSGIVING Day was kept with constant pur-
nose and by ever larger mutitudes When
tbore were States instead of Colonies the Fes-
tiyal was still more honored.
Time. softening the stern faith of the earlier
settlers. taught their descendants to see the
ofts of the Divine love in benefits, but not the
burning of the Divine wrath IN losses ana
misforfunes. Fast Day. therefore, fell into less
esteem. Now, in New-England, 1t Is day
when few elderly and sad-eyed people 80 TO
| church. when the young men are gwen TO uh-
limited baseball matches and when the aver
ace dinner is a little better than the ordinary
The annual proclamation OF the Governor call
ing on the people to abase themselves is
somewhat idle document, tho annual sermon
of the learned doctors is generally Jercmiahs
theology, and the annual attendance OF the
abased and humble penitents is noticeably
less. Before the war this interpolated holy
day, this secular Sabbath, gave ministers
chance for q blast on their somewhat feeble
trumpets at the walls of the slave-holdIng
Jericho, which, however, parted not stone
till the summons of the Northern regiments
sounded ut their base. But now that man
may call Slavery sin on any Sunday, in any
pulpit. without peril to our sacred Union, Fast
| Day offers no longer the Right of Sanctuary to
Radical opinion We need all the holidays we
can get Rather than abrogate this April
rest, we would appoint yet another. But 1t
is never well to call things by false names
To the community to-day Fast Day, as peni-
tential service, is n sham. Let us call it Me-
mortal Day. keep it in honor of the religious
men who instituted it and believed in it; and
observe it year by year with more sincere
Acknowledgement Of their worth, and more trust
full leaning on the arm that upheld them. But
let us utter no false phrase of dcprecation of an
angry Deity who demands Precipitation.
Thanksgiving Day has not parted from Its
uses. except that the Church service has grown
to be less to people, and the home service to
be more. Yet even this difference would not be
found if the Church service were the joyous,
free, and friendly welcome, the fullnc.s of fra
ternal and Of Gal feeling that 1t should be.
! The old notion that church song in itself Is
! acceptable worship. has so little power to draw
the multitude that ii churchgon is good
t'ing, and we believe it is, some other claim 1t
| ]. ; TO respect must be enforced. The swelling
| ? defamation of the Governor, the sweet tur-
alence of the bells. tho cloqlcnco of the
preacher, tho rich music of the choir, the warm
beauty OF the church, avail little. Young men
take whrl in Ilarlom-lanc. or lounge Ia
the street, or a cigar IN some hotel lobby or
billiards and liquors. Youhg women have
hundred occupations, of which dressing for din
ner is perhaps the most serious. Papa reads
his paper at home with feet on the fender;
mamma throws her soul into the turkey the
children romp and roar in the passages in q
state Of mad expectation of delights to come.
Yet papa and mamma, and young people, and
even the children, would checrfully go to
church if the spirit Of the day seemed to
them to linger in the sanctuary, or if they
| knew they were needed there TO impart the
spirit of tho day to others
But Thanksgiving means, if il means any
thing, the largest mutual sympathy and alicc-
ton. 1t is the remembrance by all hearts at
the same moment OF an oyer-arching care and
| love. 1t il the expression Of the tenderness
which, reaching out to God whom we have not
! seen, closely yet Teyercntly holds the brother
whom we have seen. The service which calls
| into consciousness or recognizes this gratitude,
upspringiug and expressive, born only of love,
is the only service that is worthy of the day.
If singing will do it, let Us have singing that
is an outburst of joy for tho simple gifts of
| life and brotherhood. If we need prayer, let
us pray together with the proioundest sense
that we are equal children of the Father. If
preaching is best for us, preaching let us hear,
but preaching that makes us feel how mutual
helpfulness is the lesson Of life, and the sug-
gestion of the time. In short, let the atmos-
phere Of the church be so charged with good
will that every man entering it shall feel as if
every other man held out both hands to him
and said, "Now my dear brother, how arc youi
a don't remember that we ever spoke before,
"but am delighted to see you. What have
eve been thinking of all these years, grinding
"away among the mill-wheels of work, and
"never having had time to find out what capt.
tai people there are in the world, and what
good things constantly happen to us Let us
all be as happy together, and as grateful, as
if the sun had just been sent down, new
| I al l..l