The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-11-30


ought to be sufficient to satisfy our minds.
The same proclamation which calls US to-
gether has beautifully stated both the oc-
casion and the propriety of thanksgiving.
We have gone through deep waters, but are
not utterly overwhelmed. In the deepest
bereavement we have yet relied securely
upon the ordinary gifts of His grace, or we
should not have lived to know the bitter
ness of our Woe That there is nothing in
the ordinary celebration of our National
Thanksgiving day which may not harmon
ize with our deepest feelings on year
like this, is in itself proper subject of
thanksgiving. 1t speaks volumes for the
| intrinsic earnestness of our national char
acter and institutions. Not only do we
| give thanks, as nation, for the ordinary
gifts of life, but we give thanks, also for our
nation, as a priceless heritage. More than
any other people we seem to recognize the
providential hand of God in the preserva-
ton of our country. Our founding and our
growth are almost equally miraculous. If
we have sent out our boughs unto the sea
and our branches to the river, we may well
say it is because "Thou preparedst room
before it, and didst cause it to take deep
root"
But notwithstanding our willingness 10
recognize Divine guidance in many points
of our history, there are yet others for
which we do not give thanks. Who for ex-
ample, has thought of our railway system
as an object of providential development? {?
If we think of it at al, it is probably to
condemn it, as an example of monopoly
and extortion. Nevertheless, should it
prove to be something more than that, we
ought to be willing to know it. Our Ameri-
can type of civilization ought to be called
the civilization of the railway. Not only
have railways made possible the present
form of our national existence, but they
constitute the greatest argument for its
perpetuity. Recur, for moment to the
reasonable plans of Aaron Burr and
Blennerhasset The natural trend Of our
mountains and the direction of our great
rivers indicated to them the promise of
several great nations, into which we would
naturally divide, with natural boundaries
and separate interests. According to all
previous human experience there was
good ground for the idea, and, in some
since. But where is that dream to-day:
Who has troubled himself about 1t within
the last ten years? The invention of the
railway has turned trade into an unexpect-
ed direction. Instead of following the
current of the rivers, the burden is now
carried across river and mountain alike.
The great question of our history-What
viii hold this country together when its
Western members become as strong as the
Eastern s-is at once brought to the solution.
The natural barriers are overcome and
broken down; the unity of our people for
ever established The wonderful strides we
are making in these material Improvements
therefore become TO me, a legitimate source
of thanksgiving as laying forever at rest
the question of our national unity. Ten
years ago we had four main trunk lines to
the Atlantic coast; to-day we have a dozen.
Ten years ago we had one great bridge
over the Mississippi, and it the wonder of
the world; today we have fourteen, and no
one wonders. Ten years ago we had one
Pacific railway; to-day seven Pacific roads
have reached the base of the Rocky noun
tains, two have gone successfully through
to the Golden Gate, and two others are
rapidly approaching completion. The end
less ramifcations of these main trunks to
the East and West North and South, have
crossed and interviewer until we are bound
of all, these bonds of iron are but emblems
of the stronger ties, which civilization and
commerce and society will bind, to con-
firm and fix the compact
And what has led this hundred thousand
miles of railway over rivers and mountains
from sea to sea- Has it been capital, enter
prise, skill? None of these-though each
has done its share. 1t has been the bounty
of the American harvest-God's wheat and
corn-for which we thank Him today. The
opportunity and the necessity of carrying
this great wealth has been the handspring
of one development.
Ten years ago we had six principal lines
of European Steamships sailing from New
York and one from Boston; to-day we have
twenty from New York and ten from Bos-
ton. But to carry all our harvest at once
would require fifty thousand such Steam
ships Our inland waterways carry millions
of bushels every year: but to carry all our
harvest would require five hundred thou
sand such canal boats as they supply. As
some one has said, " man pulls lever an
inch and at once twenty-five warehouses.
loaded with grain, roll off across the coun-
try at the rate of fifteen miles an hour.n
That is the railway; but to carry all our
harvest would require freight train thirty
thousand miles long.
In unsealing an Egyptian pyramid q
handful of wheat was found, where it
must have lain for hundreds and thousands
of years. By happy thought, some one
cast part of it into the earth; it sprang forth
and produced its usual increase. What
would become of prosperity if this almost
immortal principle were not continued
in the grain of wheats Do we understand
the meaning of the annual gift of the har-
vest Have we difficulty in understanding
why we ought to give thanks? But am
thankful today for other bonds, stronger
than any of iron. The events of the year
have shown us the real heart of hearts of
our American people, and l am thank
full for the qualities revealed. There
is no denying that we are deeply earnest
and thoughtful people; reverential and
Godloving nation. If it be true, as some
one has said, that no king would have been
missed so much as our late President, it is
equally true that no other people would
have felt an. equal loss so keenly and uni
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