St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-12-12
Things Good and Thankworthy.

Abstract of Discourse delivered in the South
Church, st. Johnsbury, Thanksgiving Day,
Nov. 9th, 1879.
BY REV. EDWARD t. FAIRBANKS, PASTOR.
There are different ways of looking
at things. How you see them depends
on where you stand and which side you
look at. 1t BELTS the day of Thanks
giving that we look at the brighter side
of events. shall speak to-day of things
good and thankwOrthy.
Ihe Public Prosperity. Our excellent
President calls emphatic attention to
this, in his Proclamation, as being more
than ever before Conspicuous, mani
fold, universal" Strong language, but
from one who is extremely judiciOus in
his utterance. The present year will
be long remembered. Not till 1879 did
the entire country get its senses in the
matter of economy. In 1879 supply
every where went down below demand.
The year 1879 celebrated her birth day
with resumption of specie, and has dis
tinguished $50 days since in very COM
Portable use of the same. During 1879
the balance of foreign trade turned
$4O0, 900, 900 in our favor. The harvests
of 1879 are as the tales of Munchausen.
Here's a little story of wheat. Never
before under best farming has the aver
age of wheat per acre exceeded 123
bushels to the acre this year very
common average in some quarters has
been 40-45 bushels. Even westerners
can't believe their eyes: Illinois As mill
ion bushels, Minnesota Sc million, Iowa
40 million, Indiana SIS million, etc.
Here and there l find record of other
things: 100000 lbs. of wool: Herds of
American live cattle fatted for English
mems insatiate appetites: Butter and
cheese to the amount of 152 million lbs.
shipped in IL months time for foreign
larders-wherefOre butter at 35 cents a
pound for st. Johnsbury Thanksgiving
tables: Two million yards cotton cloth
just out of Boston to clOthe Madagascar !;
400, 900 more bales of cotton ready fOI
market in 1879 than any year since
1870; $1,000 more hogsheads of sugar !;
sweeter days coming; petroleum to
light up the world coal really going
over to the Newcastle countries rail-
roads earning money, $3.50, 900, 900 of it,
S17 200, 900 more than last year; mourn
ful bondholders take hope. Not so many
tramps; 10000 laborers working at
fair wages in Philadelphia who one year
ago sought work in vain. Not so many
failures tottering firms getting on their
legs again factories steaming up; call
for American fabrics abroad in Europe,
Asia, Africa inventors bending under
the weight of decorations imperial or
barbaric, Austrian, Tunisian or even
far-off Siamesian. All such tidings are
good and thankworthy. President
Hayes is right. The material prosper
ity is conspicuous, manifold, universal.
Public Intelligence. Our people ought
to know something, or our children
ought to, for we've got $146, 100000 in
public school property. Moreover we
keep 100000 teachers at work on the
young ideas, and rather more than nine
millions of these ideas are shooting up
in every direction. To keep them all
straight under teachers and governors
costs us S87 100000 year. There is
curious development in our own state.
By the recent report of the U. S. Com
missioner, Preaching back to 1871 it
seems we are falling off in children but
filling up as to schools 152 fewer boys
and girls of school age, but 695 more of
LII
of children should continue to dwindle,
what multitude of them there would
be in school by and by. You have no.
ticed that Massachusetts has given her
women the right of voting for school
committees, and that many of her ex-
cellent women have availed themselves
of that most sensible right. Note.
also decides that her wo
men are competent to testify to their
own age probably true, for Massachu-
setts with a population about the same
as Georgia, spends twelve times as
much money on her public schools.
The University of Michigan has Just
established chair of Pedagogics, sig
nifying that among the sciences taught
in great university, that of teaching
common schools is counted worthy of
two years special course: Stand
ard for entering colleges steadily rising,
the army of students increasing never
theless 1922 in Harvard, a freshman
class of 184 at Yale, like returns
from other colleges. Vassar, Wellesley,
Smith and Harvard Annex not big
enough to take in all the young women
who want to ego to college," Acade-
mics, colleges, universities, are getting
to be the peoples pride, their darlings
endowed or equipped with princely for
tunes; centres of public interest. See
the columns of our daily or weekly pa
pers during the season of commence
ments, examinations, anniversaries.
Editors do not fill their pages with such
things until the public has taste whet-
ted in that direction.
Current Literature. On the whole
never better than now: making all
allowance for what is trashy or vile, the
most widely circulated books, maga-
zines and journals send out streams of