The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-11-22
Thanlsgiving DAYS, Past and Present

Thanksgiving Days. Past and Present.
That Thanksgiving Day is now national
institution, instead of merely festival pc
culiar to New England, as it used to be, is
due to the war rather than to any other
cause, and it is worthy of remembrance that
ii was the beloved Lincoln who first, by Off
cial proclamation, recommended its general
observance. Lincoln, albeit no sticiler for
any particular form of worship, and attached
TO no particular creed, was nevertheless, q
devout believer in the existence Of an over
ruling Providence, and even before his first
inauguration-at the time, in fact, when he
babe farewell to his Springfield friends pre-
paratory to making that memorable journey
to the capital in the first troubled days of
1s61-he declared that, like Washington, he
placed his reliance upon the Divine aid 1t
was in accordance, indeed, with this sense
of dependence upon the favor Of Providence,
when the war burst upon the country in all
its fury aud alternately victory or defeat
befell our armies, that he was Strongly i'm
PEELED TO seek, through the mediation of
public thanksgiving and public fasting and
prayer, the support and protection Of the
Almighty. There never was, perhaps,
Nation 50 deeply imbued with religious
feeling as our own from the outbreak of the
rebellion until its close, and it responded to
the frequent appeals of Dir. Lincoln to seek
the Divine intercession with fervor and
aIaerity that it is not difficult to compre-
bend. Just as the public mind, east down
by the news Of fresh reyerses to our arms,
welcomed as a grateful relief from the>sus-
pense and anxiety Of the hour the Presi-
dents call to fasting and prayer, SO, when
the star Of the Union cause shone in the
ascendant again, and the God of battles
seemed once more to have lifted up His
strong right arm IN our defense, it respond
ed with eageFness and keen enthusiasm to
his proclamation Of a national Thanksgiving
Day. The impression which the recurrence
of this season of festiyity created upon the
Nation has never been eff;aced The New
England custom, suggestive chiefly Of home
comings and fesial reunions of families that
time and circumstance had enticed from the
old homestead, took on a new meaning and
thanksgiving for the safety of the Republic
and the general welfare became the ruling
purpose Of the observance.
Blessed were those Thanksgiving days of
| twenty years ago when from every heart
went mp prayer for the preservation of the
Union, and gratitude to the soldier was the
/ theme alike Of pulpit invocation and house
hold conversation!
The times have changed since then. It is
for bountifui crops thriving industries, and
spreading commerce chiefly that the preacher
now offers thanks, and, assembled about the
bospitable board, the public no longer takes
thought Of the men by whose sacrifices the
peace and prosperity Of the country were
assured. o, ungraseful Nation, pause for a
moment in the midst of your festivities, and
look around you! What has been the fate
of those 10 whom yen pledged eternal graft
tude and remembrance? How many, this
day, neglected and uncared for, are denied q
share in the feasting? How macy, crushed
with poverty and disease, are awaiting with
hungry eyes the fulfilment of the Nations
promises? Yet, oh if there be day in all
the year which, more than any other, should
bring to these veterans surcease of sorrow
and suffering it surely IS this which had it
origin in the extoIlafion of their valor anG
the unselfshness of their services.
The coming Thanksgiving Day VIII b.
but cold and hollow sham if it does no
inspire in the hearts of the celebrants fresl
concern for the welfare Of our veterans AM
deyout desire to lift and Tighten the bur
dens of their declining years.