Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1897-11-27
OUR SATURDAY NIGHT.
THANKSGIVING.

THANKSGIVING.
For the unkind word re did not say
For the Thought Of bitterness checked
For the little deed OF kindness done,
For the loying word and the merry
smile,
o Lord we thank Thee
For the common round Of our daily
task,
For the work that has kept us true,
For the little things OF our everyday
life,
For our bome-tles sweet and fair,
o Lord, we thank Thee
For the friend who has walked by our
side all day,
For the dear ones far from home,
For the love that enclrcles our beauti-
ful world,
And thy mercy that crowns the clos
ing year,
o Lord, we thank Thee
Eva Cleveland In the Springfield
Republican,
-
A ,.riter in New England paper
has this picture OF the past. The
children of the forties are gray-haired
now, and are scattered far and wide,
but they remember we'll their child
hood joys aud sorrows and the famil-
lar figures Of the village street. With
one who was a boy then, we look back
upon these days and see the people
and the events of his boyhood as he
saw them, IL perchance we can.
He was the youngest of large fam
lily, the titman, and to his lot fell the
cast-Otf garments Of the other chill
dren blue jeans and only one gar
ment at the best Of times-and the
cast-off books and the few simple toys.
EARLY the priyatlons of poverty came
10 his life, ana he remembers we'll
picking raspberries at plttance a
pint and then watching with indig
nant eyes, the grlmy hand Of the
storckeeper pressing down his beauti-
ful berries to make them measure less.
lie remembers, too, how he tramped
oyer tile bills many a mile on an er-
rand Tor "a man well of as to his pocket
book, expecting all the while that he
would have quarter at least when he
returned, and then his disgust at re-
ceiYlng only 10 cents Instead, And
then he distributed the weekly
county paper for very slender sum,
and then going to school bare-footed
on frosty November days.
Then there were times that were
stirring In the little town, and his
was the hand that built the fire In
Baptist church when the advocates
of freedom for the slave spoke with
ringing accents 10 the midst OF loud
dissent And how the Hutchlnsons
sang and how Wendell Phillips and
Garrison looked; and how he sat up
one evening with paralytlc Widow
Grey. SO that her daughter might go
and hear the speeches; and how he
sold the Key to Uncle Toms Cabin
through the town. Also that summer
day when the anti slavery people had
picnic and walked down the street
Ia procession through a street of
cloisl d1TS aud windows, for the
conservative element would not sup
port such a scene as this,
A Salem man believes that dlsem-
bodied spirits revisit this earth. He
says II they dOnt. what is the use OF
all The hne sentiments we write on
peoples tonbstones2 IL must be
supreme satisfaction To man TO re
visit this earth, where he got very
little appreciation, and great many
cuffs and kicks, and read the just (Y)
tributes TO his goodness that are at
last engraved in marble over his grave.
Tombstone adulatlon Is a0yerdone,
but It's not true that we get no just
Ice done US here on earth. Some get
more than justice and some get less.
Many a man slips through the world
well thought OF who never does an un-
selfish act, neve- lakes a brave stand
for friend in need, or displays real
courage 10 a great public crisis. One
man does his duty fearlessly aud is
crucided. Another snbordinates all
sense OF duty and devotion TO principle
10 personal Advancement, and the
worlc'erects him a beautifully inscribed
monument. When that spirit reyisits
the earth, II lt has been purged OF all
dross, error and impurities, II viii
stand astonlshed before the false
estimate OF his character extracted
from his deluded fellow man. The man
who puts hls worse side out, who re-
fuses 10 cater, fawnand iiatter, viii
fare much better when he comes 10
inspect the inscription CA his tomb.
stone, even though be lind tia blank.
Fifty years hence the figure employed
70 convey our thought viii 40 longer
BE- possible For then, every body win
be cremaled, and people WIN have
grown sufficiently clYillzed 70 put the
request 10 their Wills that noeulogls
Tie words be- engraved on tbe urns
that contala the handfulof ashes.
*.
The best epitaph man can write for
himseli u a useful MA Y should Be a