Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-11-27
THANKSGIVING.

Were there no other joyful memory to
carry us back over the retrospect of two
centuries and a half, to the rock of
Plymouth, and cause us TO rejoice in
our heritage of civil and religious liberty,
bequeathed to us by the sturdy and vir-
tuous emigrants of the Mayfower, this
annual recurrence Of Thanksgiving day
would be sufficient to preserve for all
time the proud history Of that faithful
band who, fleeing from religious perse-
cution and intolerance, founded on the
rock bound coast of New England a
Christian empire, whose intelligence,
purity and faith, were to outshine the
nations of the earth. We may well be
proud of the achievements of our Puri-
tan ancestors; grander than the victories
of Alexander or Napoleon; more lasting
than the grandeur of Greece and Rome.
No thought can be fashioned in the mind
nobler than that which always rises at
the sound of the word puritan" and no
ancestry can confer richer or more
heroic blood than courses through the
veins of the descendants of the Pilgrim
Fathers. The Thanksgiving festival and
service comes to us as a delight for its
history, its recollectlons and its memoir
les, as well as its privileges and duties.
The President of the United States,
and the Governor of this State, have, by
public proclamation, set apart this day
for services of thanksgiving and praise
TO God for his merciful kindness to the
people of the country. They have re-
counted some of the unnumbered causes
of gratitude that should swell our hearts
and raise our thoughts in homage and
thankfulness to the Great Giver of every
good and perfect gift. In accordance
with a time-honored custom, dating back
10 the year 1920, the people will lay
aside all unnecessary labor, and meet in
the places of worship dedicated to AL
mighty God, and their relieve the swell
ing gratitude of loving and devoted
hearts, in prayer, praise and thanksgiv-
ing. The songs of praise will ring out
upon the air, and the happy thoughts
of the people should be turned there
by to fuller appreciation of the
duties of men to their Creator and to
each other, as well as to a consideration,
by each, of his individual responsibility
for the poverty and helplessness of his
fellows and himself We are recon-
mended in the midst of our rejoicing to
remember the poor, who are always
with US, and it is proper time to not
only make good resolutions, but also to
carry them out, by bringing in the SCOT
fer to see the joy and glory of the Chris
tian's hope in the season of his rejoicing,
as well as to minister to the temporal
wants of the sick, the poor and the dis
tressed.
But thanksgiving day in this age is
something more than day of religious
observance, and for the bestowal of de-
served charity. Important as are the
exercises in the church and the acts of
benevolence that will cause the oppressed
and needy to rejoice and call down bless
iDgs on their heads, Thanksgiving day
brings with it other joys and blessings.
1t Is the time of reunion to the dismem-
bered and scattered family circle. The
old homestead is made to resound with
the merry laughter of long ago, and the
hearts of the aged are made glad by the
presence of the children who once were
the light and joy of the home, but have
passed out from it to assume the active.
duties of life, and build up homes of
their own TO honor the precepts and
presence that shielded them from danger,
in the years OF infancy and helplessness.
What can be more happy than for the
mother to again press TO her bosom the
manly head of the darling son, who has
returned across The continent, to unite.
with her in thanksgiving at the old
homestead, or TO watch the sparkling
Joy of the young mother as she rushes
up the steps of her girlhood home and
places her first born in the open arms of
Its grandpa, for the blessing she hopes
will ever guide its footsteps in the path
of righteousness and virtue.
Then let rs heed the beautiful old
customs of our Puritan ancestry, and
after we have poured out in prayer and
song, the thanksgivings of our hearts to.
Almighty God for his goodness and
mercy through the year, and sought a.
forgiveness of our sins by works of
benevolence and charity meet for re-
pentence, let US gather around the old !.
family hearth, and call up the pleasant
memories of long ago as we eat the fat
tened turkey, with its accompanying
feast of good things. There is no time i
for repining to-day, for although there,
have been evils in our pathway, and
sorrows have settled upon our heads |
they have been the dispensation of a
wise Providence and the Christening of
loving hand, and we should drive away
our sorrow In this great feast of graft 1
tude and joy, with the reflection that
God is ever and only good, and that
things are not near as bad as they might
be, remembering always that the causes
of our thankfulress are immensely more
numerous than were those of the little ]
band who organized tho services Of this |
day amid the forbidding scenes of the
wilderness and the bleak storms of their
first winter In the New World.