The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-11-27

domestic ties by making 1T the occasion Ior
n union of the scattered members of each
family around cheerful board. The topics
presented in the official proclamation and
chiefly dwelt on in sermons when the peo-
pie assemble TO offer thanks in their places
of worship, though of larger importance
have something of the GOODNESS OF pupno
questions, while the domestic incidents
| of the wear come home to the hearts VI
each separate gathering. II a new
bride has come into the family
new children or grandchildren have
been born to bless and brighten the DO
nestle circle. if son has been graduated
with honors or daughter been received
in society with admiration, II "the basket
and store" have been increased, II the lives
of the little circle have been spared and the
sweet ties of affection have been strength
ened. the family gathering, enlivened
| by the conversation of the elder members
and the prattle OF the younger, makes the
day pleasant one whether the year has
gone well or gone i'll with the general pub
lie 1t is the chief beauty of this festival
that it brightens the links of domestic at
lection and consecrates them anew with
cheerful piety in those families which
recognize the Hand from which all blessings
flow.
But we are citizens as we'll as members OF
gratitude for the benefits we share with the
community as we'll as for those which
come more Immediately home to the
small circle in which our most pre-
cious affections are garnered. we owe
so much of our private happiness to
public causes and are SO dependent on the
| general prosperity for the welfare OF those
whom we hold most dear that it would I'M
| ply great narrowness of view and an illib-
eral tone of sentiment TO overlook universal
blessings on day set apart and consecrated
| by public authority.
| On this Thanksgiving Day we have more
and greater causes for devout gratitude
than we have ever had on any preceding
festival of the kind. In its origin this an
nual festival was intended to express the
united thanks Of the people to the Divine
Benefactor for the harvest Of the year. 1t
was founded by the pious settlers of New
England, who, with their inclement sky and
barren soil, felt at the beginning OF every
season that they were in danger of famine,
and observed q solemn fast day in the
spring before planting their seed as regu-
larly as a thanksgiving day in the autumn
after gathering their crops. They had no
shipping to bring food from Europe if their
| harvests should fail, and were too poor to
pay for it if it could be brought. If their
crops should be blighted they were
! in danger of absolute starvation, and
when tho harvest of the year was gathered
in they experienced sense of relief which
| found expression in grateful acts of wor-
ship. II thanksgiving for bountiful crops
is the peculiar feature of this festival
there has never been time since the first
settlement of the country when our people
had SO much to acknowledge as at the
close of this year. when our agriculture
has been so signally blest. It may
| not be out of place to remember as an
| added ground for thankfulness the security
we enjoy against famine by easy and cheap
| communication with all parts Of the
country and all parts of the world, which
| relieves us from the fears and anxieties Of
those who established the thanksgiving
festival. and has rendered their stnted fast
day in the spring obsolete.
| Besides the unprecedented harvest of the
| year we have an unusual cause of thankful
| ness in the success which has attended the
| financial measures of the government.
,ari, of inn ia
payments after long suspension of seven
| teen years is an event which will be
| always memorable. Resumption has taken
| place without the least shock or disturb
ance to business, and has been followed
| by sanguine hopefulness which slim ulates
| enterprise, sets numerous industries in
motion, advances wages and brings abund-
ance and comfort to many pinched and
desolate homes. Verify He has crowned
| the year with goodness. 1t will be long
before another year will present so great n
special cause for thankfulness. Let us
pray that our rulers may be endowed with
wisdom to make this gift enduring.
We have another great topic for gratitude
in the magnificent vista of future grandeur
aud prosperity which opens upon our coun-
try, and which this seems an appropriate
time to consider. when we are just emerg-
ing from long period Of depression and
encouragement 1t so happens that this
majestic future can be strikingly repre-
sented to the eye by the aid of simple
diagrams. We ask our readers to turn
to the page which we devote to this mode
of exhibition-a page which will be
studied with interest by citizens who
feel pride in their country and look
with hope on its expanding great
ness. We have single States which
have greater area of fertile land than the
most renowned and flourishing countries