Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-11-17
GIVING THANKS.


So far as Thanksgiving means an oc-
casional reunion of the members of the
family-circle it is one of the most de.
lightful and significant of seasons. The
scattered Tor year are the happy
brought together for day. The old
rather is magically young again during
those twenty-four hours. and the good
mother, who can never seem old to the
eyes OF fond affection, looks on her
children. perhaps on the children of
her children, and possibly on the chill
dren OF her children's children, with
conscious pride in her Jewels.
1t may seem little remarkable t. q
looker-on in Vienna that special day
should be set apart for the purpose of
showing people who are always in a
hurry, to say: 1--WE thank Thee" to
the Lord. 1 do not imagine that the
custom implies that we are naturally an
ungrateful Nation and must needs have
our memoir s logged by a proclama-
ton from the hief Magistrate and by
the unusual ringing of church-bells.
There is no constitutional decree which
actually forbids us to be contented and
happy at other times or to make use of
other occasions, at infrequent intervals.
In order to say so. 1t is a simple re-
minder to a people fond of the things
which pertain to this world-a people
who thoroughly enjoy the excitements
and rivalries and contentious of every-
day life-that, hidden away somewhere,
under dusty AID old-fashioned theolog-
ical dogmas, is a statement that even
the ordinary American citizen, though
clothed upon with important political
prerogatives, surrounded by enticing
opportunities, and filled with enthusiasm
for "barbaric pearl and gold" is, after
all, somewhat dependent on a higher
power. This statement may gall our
pride and seem inconsistent with the
opinion we have formed of ourselves:
but, If 1T gives birth to a germ of humil-
lty, 1T will not have been made in vain.
The appointment of this season, then. is
touch on the Nations shoulder by a
! spectral officer from the realm of spirit:
it is voice sounding through the air
and saying: I've are bought with a
price," it is an order from Headquarters
which brings the whole advancing col
umn to sudden halt, that it may stem
to strain of music. the echo of that
which was once heard above Judean
hills, whose celestial refrain is: "Peace
on earth, goodwill toward men,
1t is easy for the man who looks at
life only once to ask: What shall |
be grateful for?' And it is EASY for
the man who dares to look a second
time to find an answer to the query
We should be very grateful for the con-
tinued existence among our fellows
which has been vouchsafed to us and for
10 81 4
look through our tears and see the
shadowy forms of those whose bodily
absence from our festivity is sadly en-
phasized by the vacant chair. To be
alive and to be able to 60 on with the
work which we have begun is a great
blessing. To have large reserve of
vitality, on which we can safely depend
and from which we can largely draw,
when we engage in any of the struggles
with which this lower world is filed; to
be gloriously conscious that we are
physically able to cope with inevitable
difficulty, and to be entirely uncon-
scious of the ceaseless activity of our
vital organs. because they are in such a
healthy condition that they need not in
trude themselves upon our notice-all
this affords sufficient reason WHY we
should go to sleep in contentment and
rise up with thanksgiving. The world
knows well enough how to ask God for
what it lacks; but it has yet to learn
how to thank Him for what it possesses.
To most of us it seems mysterious
providence when we are deprived of
health, but mere matter of course
when we are in full possession of it.
| We are to be grateful, again, because,
If we are i'll, or entangled in the meshes
of misfortune, or called upon to bear
heavy burden of sorrow, we need not
necessarily become as the pagans. 1t is
by no means my intention to decree
that we do not act like pagans. / only
humbly suggest that we are not forced
to do so. Fault-fnding is, to be sure,
one of the prerogatives of our race, for
the free and untrammeled exercise of
which it is willing to make any sacri-
flee. In the Magma Charta of human
rights the liberty to find fault is clearly
stated in the article which comes next
to the preamble. Life would be worth
little to any man who should be de-
prived of the right to say that life is all
wrong. Half our enjoyment consists in
declaring that we should enjoy still
more if the Lord would consent to take
our a0Vlce. W. DO not agree Win Mr..
Carlyle, who said that man should put
himself at zero, and then reckon every
degree ascending from that point as an
occasion for thanks; but, on the other
hand, we put ourselves at summer-heat.
and grumble at every descending de-
gree toward frost. know myself the
Happiness which results from grumbling,
and sometimes wonder what / shall do
in Heaven, where there will certainly
be nothing to grumble at ] am some
what consoled, however, by the thought
that, if L ever get there. my surprise
viii be so great that may possibly for
get to indulge in my propensity.
If we are not pagans, but far-of fol-
towers of Him whose loving words have
rung through the ages like a stirring
strain of martial music, we shall be
thankful beyond all power of adequate
| expression that the empty chair at our