Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-11-24
The DAY OF THANKS.
An Eloquent Tribute to Our National
Holiday,

An Eloquent Tribute to our Nat1OuuA
Holiday.
Today we may not roll out of sight and
sound into the dark of forgotten things
every cause for sadness-thc tendrils of
sorrow may entwine themselves too close
" around the heart for that-but none the
less may we wheel into the foreground
softened by the warming sunshine of these
closing autumn days every cause for re-
joicing and gratitude Thanksgiving is
prominently the family day. On this day
of all others there will gather around the
table dear faces that make starlight and
sunlight in the heart, faces, 1t may be the
round and dimpled ones of little children,
faces serried with patience, sweeter yet for
the impress which Gods own sorrow has
laid upon them, faces blooming with
youthful loneliness, faces looking SO kind
ly out from their frames of silver hair-and
we need them all. Happy indeed that
family where the three generations can
gather-the merry children, the happy
parents, the dearly loved, kindly GRANDPA
Their and grandmother. Rut there Is q
touch of strange incowpleteness every
where Few the home circles that are
perfect, from whose sacred Enclosure no
one of tender or venerable years has been re-
moved, from whence no light has gone out.
But we may not dwell upon our sense
Of loss as we think of the loved one or low
ed ones who have gone. 1t Is our right,
our duty, our solemn joy--and all great
joys are serious--to think of them. And
II but sweet faith come to us with her
ministrations we shall think of the lost
ones not as lost, but only as gone before
us for littlc. How little, how short, it
will all seem to look back upon when sur
cease comes to all our sorrow, as 1t has
come to theirs! So let us take heed on
this Thanksgiving day, and If chair
around the Thanksgiving table is vacant
that was filled last year, II you yearn for
The touch of II vanished hand i.
And the sound Of u voice that is still,
surely you can bring to mind not only
realizing sense of the mercies that remain,
but of the joyful meeting that awaits you
where partings are all unknown.
There Is that about Thanksgiving day
which separates it from every other day in
the year, for not only is it the tribute of
individual hearts to God, but it is more.
In our home relations and in those Of the
state and nation us well we go up as Of old
went the tribes to pay our vows and rem
brought us SO far on our way. Wo seldom
and more tho pity-sit down and count
the lovo tokens we got from tho skies.
For tho beauty of grove and field, for the
blushng fruitage of tho orchards, for the
wealth of tho golden grains, for the burst
ing fullness of our gamers, for the peace
regnant over discords, for the strength, the
courage and resource that financial reverse
hearts in tho Thanksgiving joy. For the
manhood of tho country that assumes and
bears burdens without complaints, for its
puro and gracious womanhood, for the
light of love and the assurance of faith in
countless thousands Of happy homes, we
lift up the voice in praise, while for the
churches whose spires climb ono above an
other to lay their gilded fingers against
tho stainless blue, from whose belfries
Ginning bells send forth notes of sweet
ness in the crowded city and over hillside
and valley marked hero and there by the
belated dandelion or tho solitary golden
rod-for these, for all our morcies, we lift
up tho "To Dcum Laudamus," on this
day chant tho "Gloria In Excelsis."
Thanksgiving and the Thanksgiving joy
let them now and ever remain insepara-
bic. On this day of all days, whether sit
ting in shadow or yet in tho sunlight, we
surely may say with tho man of God: cal
though tho fig tree shall not blossom, nei-
thor shall fruit DO in tho vines, the labor
of the olive shall fail, and the folds shall
yield no meat. Tho flock shall be cut off
from tho fold, and there shall be no herd
in the stalls. Yet l will rejoice in the
Lord, will JOY in tho God of my saliva
ton" All bail, CHEEKY, beautiful, thrice
welcome festival, that gathers to itself
sheavos Of charming memories and fifty
puts it's own cap sheaf on the harvested
riches of tho year. Thrice welcome,
Thanksgiving day Christian at Work.