The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-12-04

Thanksgiving Service.

The union Thanksgiving services ut
the Free Baptist church, owing to the
storm, and to the fact that the place of
meeting is quite distance from the
center of the village, were only mod
erately attended. Those present, how
ever, seemed to heartily enjoy the oc-
cassion, and the discourse delivered by
the Rev III. A. Pallister was listened To
with marked attention. As the closing
portion thereof refers more or less TO
matters of local interest, we take pleas
ure in laying the same before our many
readers, assuring them that it will re-
pay careful perusal:
BY well defined progression we are
coming nearer home in our search for
reasons that should move us To thankful
ness. I'm sections of our land malig-
nant diptheria and scarlet fever have
been reaping their harvests of death.
In portions of the west and southwest
drouth has obtained, entailing much
suffering on man and beast In the
proud keystone state JohnstOwn was
desolated with memorable Hood, some
three thousand lives or more being
sacrificed, sending through the world
thrill of horror. Seattle was consumed
by flames. On Tuesday last, at Lynn,
Mass, ten millions of dollars went up
i'm smoke. Cyclones and waterSpouts
have made their dread visitations here
and there.
But none of these things have over
taken us.
We dwell in a goodly town where the
heat of summer annoys not, nor ener-
Yates The GOd-given naples that
line our streets projecting their CRATE
full shade, being of themselves enough
to fill with praise and alteration, the
most calouS and the most indifferent.
No epidemic has been active in our
community. Compared with other
localities, the death-rate of Paw Paw Is
exceedingly low The season Just ended
has been greatly encouraging To the
farmers. Blight has not rested on our
fields, nor despoied our harvests. The
fall has been all that could be desired,
the warm muggy weather being exactly
what the growing wheat required, and
now the snow has come to suckle and
10 nouTiSh it.
Two years ago the demon of fire got
in his work, demoishing some of our
most slightly buildings, the tabled goats
belonging to the Masons and the Odd
fellows perishing in the conilagration
But this catastrophe proved really Il
blessing in disguise. The resurrected
hardware, the new clothing store and
the Longwell block being structures of
which our people may well be proud, it
being hard to find, even in large cities,
more elegant quarters than the savings
bank occupies The Masonic fraternity
also has done itself great credit in put
ting up such neat and modest edifice.
The brotherhood of Oddfelows perform
their mystic rites in lodge room of
their own, richly furnished and APP
pointed.
The grange and the farmers progress
i've club flourish, nobly fulfilling their
respective missions, while the boys i'm
blue who fought beneath the stars and
stripes keep up "A well-disciplined and
successful post. The womans temper
ance union still purSues the even tenor
of its way, furthering, as best it can,
the great and holy cause to which it
stands committed. The efficiency of
our public schools, presided over by
Professor Higgins, deserves honorable
mention in this connection All the
teachers appear to he well qualified for
the positions they hold, an air of
universal satisfaction characteriZing
both pupils and patrons, the musical
department. under the able direction
of Miss Dunning, molding with truest
art those who avail themselves of its
advantages.
Painting is akin 10 poetry, being
.ennobling, uplifting, purifying. 1t eX-
pands the finer faculties of the soul, its
genuine study reaching into even wider
fields of knowledge. The painting class,
under the skillful tutelagc of Miss Bar
rows. being one of the commendable
efforts recently inaugurated in our
midst. The ladies' reading circle, which
meets every Monday night, drinking at
the fountain of purest literature, is i'm a
healthy and vigorous condition.
Chautauqua. which no words of mine
can adequately praise, assemblies on
Tuesday evenings, being instinct with
enthusiasm. Turning from mental To
physical culture, the ladies pedestrian
club must not he overlooked, its walk
i'm the open air, when the sun shines
and the birds sing, furnishing better
tonicS than any of our physicians can
supply.
The good feeling subsistng between
the several churches and the several
ministers is "A cheering omen, theil
union services having not only won the
commeudation of friendly outsiders
but even the admiration of the ungodly
L ne weekly papers Oh our village merit
IA kindly word in our rapid thanksgiv
ing retrospect. They are clean, whole
some, ncwsy; being remarkably free
from that rasping personality in which
county papers are SO apt To indulge
Soon the grunge Visitor will be printed
here, carrying to thousands of home,
the family reading and farm instruction
50 helpful in happifying and rendering
more efficient those in whose special be
half it is published.
The new roller process Touring mil
presents, likewise, theme for con
graduation. II brings much trade t.
our town, commenting the enterpris,
of its owners by manufacturing "a fin,
grade of flour The foundry of tn,
Snow Brothers is also an industry tina
ought TO be fostered, their improved
heating furnace, meeting with an evei
widening appreciation. Lastly, tn,
citizens of this community may well re
ioice this morning. Neither village
township or county owe single dollar
of old.time Indebtedness, the railroad
bonds are all cancelled and the schoo
house paid for, the burden of taxation
Al. 4 L = IL