Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1880-11-26
TH1NKFULNESS

THANKFULNESS.
That heart must be cold and that mind
obtuse which fails to recognize that God has
crowned our national industries and arts
with almost unexampled prosperity.
From the granite-ribbed hills of the North
to the borders of the "Golden- Haired Daugh-
ter" where the crested waves of the Pacific
break and sparkle in the sunlight, agricul-
tural prosperity has blessed the efforts of an
industrious and hardy yeomanry.
Fertile valleys TEEN with abundant har-
vests, luxuriant plains and rolling grounds
are dotted over with innumerable herds of
cattle.
Through the rich lands of the Mississippi,
along the slopes of the Atlantic, over almost
endless prairies and down the sides of the
Pacific slope, the tiller of the soil has sowed
in abundance; genial sunshine smiled upon
and mellowed the newly turned earth, in
vigorating showers caused the grain to veg
etate; corn, wheat and other staple cereals
have tossed their bearded tops in the fitful
breeze, and the barns of the nation to-day
are filled with food for man and beast
The mineral treasures Of our mountains
have attracted hither foreign capital, giving
employment TO the countless multitudes and
supplying the world with precious metals.
A new life has been infused into our man
ufactories and workshops millions of spin
dies are kept IL cUgz,unt motion and the in
cessant ring OF the anvil is music to the ear.
The sailor reefs his canvas midst the music
of the storm, as the white-winged messen-
gers of American commerce whiten every
sea and visit every port of the civilized
world.
Telegraphs and railroads-potent coloniz-
ers, missionaries and peace makers-have
traversed vast expanse of territory, bind
ing together in perpetual amity and COM
munity of interest widely separated States.
Inventive genius has reaped magnificent
haryests for its merits, and education has
been diffused through the masses as univer-
sally as light and air.
Music and painting, sculpture and archi-
lecture have been encouraged by refined and
generous patronage, whilst native talent has
given purer class of literature, and our
poets, orators and historians have found APP
probation wherever the English tongue is
spoken.
The maddened pillows of party strife,
which have been rolling mountain high,
threatening at every moment to burst asun-
der the cords that bind us together, have
fallen into profound quiet, and men of every
political faith are looking anxiously and
hopefully to our national future. Patriots
and statesmen, the pilots of the nation, are
daily disappearing, but new ones step for
ward to take their places, ever reminding
us
THAT princes and lords may perish or may
fade;
A breath hath made them, as breath can
make"
"As every spark reflects the lustre of the
fire fountain, so every object of creation is
badged with exhibitions of the goodness of
God" In the broad beauty of creation, in
the innumerable conveniences providentially
lavished on us, and in the mighty scheme of
human redemption, we may everywhere
catch the burden of the song of the angels:
"Good will towards man."
We caro- not whether the observance of
our Autumn thanksgiving had It's origin
with the descendants of those who landed
on Plymouth Rock, or those of Jamestown.
ON James river. With the former we believe
it is an observance that is eminently fit and
proper, as it is the public exhibition of those
cardinal truths of Christianity which we
profess to acknowledge and live by.
Looking back upon the past year, the pro-
cession of the seasons, winter, spring, sum-
mer and autumn, and reflectingupon the mer-
cies of God, which he has so profusely law
ished upon us, our heart swels with graft
tude as we adopt those lines of Hannah
Moore, and thus address the Great jehovah :
Fountain of Goodness! whose pervading
eye
Can look within and read what passes by,
Accept my thoughts for thanks have no
words.
My soul certified with gratitude rejects
The aid of language"