Smyrna times., 1898-11-30
THANKSGIVING DAY.
Union Services of the Methodist and Pres
byterian Churches-The Mite
Society Festival


byterian Churches-The Mite
Society Festival.
Thursday was not an ideal Thanks
giving Day, because rain in the morn
ing and snow in the afternoon kept the
young people indoors when they would
have preferred the wide fields to roam
over. Possibly the older people, the
heads of families, whose enjoyment is
in gathering again the scattered mem
bers around the family board for the
annual feast, had more enjoyment be-
cause of the weather hinCrance than
they might have had in a bright In
dian Summer day. Outside the family
| dinner, the churches in the morning
and the Festival of the NJ. E. Mite So
ciety in the evening filled up the
measure of the day in this town.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
This church was appropriately
! dressed for the occasion. By the
canons of the church the recognition
of Thanksgiving Day is imperative,
| and Rev. G. W. Dame, the Rector,
held service at 11.00 a. m. to the larg-
est Thanksgiving Day congregation
since his coming to Smyrna. His text
was:
We're there none found that returned
to giUe glory to God, sdUe this strdn-
ger.-St. Luke II, 1S.
| His subject was Thanksgiving. His
idea was that every nation had its day,
Of praise, the Romans their Saturna-
liza, the English their Harvest Home,
the Hebrews their Hqathering, the
Americans their Thanksgiving. These
all have the same objects:
| m To aOaOnraua tba faplIOu Of
gratitude.
(2) To conquer the dread enemy,
Ingratitude.
There were certain influences that
initiated against gratitude:
| CD Human Pride-Men like to feel
that they are sufficient unto themselves
to rule, to guide and provide for them
selves.
(2) Increasing knowledge of second
ary causes tempts US to refer all our
blessings to nature instead of to our
God.
AS against this spirit there is the
teaching of this Day that, "every good
gift and every perfect gift is from
above"-That we are in the hands of
God. The worlds reserve store of food
is for less than three months-one sin
gle universal failure of the worlds
harvest would depopulate the earth.
Thanksgiving was a great duty, i'm
plying:
~ Self-forgetfulness.
(2) Daily recognition of God-"I
need thy presence every passing hour. "
AT THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
A Union Service of the Methodist
and Presbyteian churches was held at
this church. The large turnout of
! people for such a gloomy morning,
nearly filling the audience room, was
the surprise of pastors and people, and
of course a qualification all around,
E showing as the increased audience last
; year did, a greater interest in these
services. The singing was by the
+ united choirs, a specially well rendered
anthem preceding the preaching, the
= ! opening prayer being by Presiding
/ Elder COrkran. The pastor, Rev. J.
> L. Estlin, read the Presidents procla-
, nation ordering the oath of Novem-
ber to be set apart for day of public
. thanksgiving, followed by a sermon
! from the pastor of the NJ. E. church.
& Rev. G. A. Hill took his text from
. Psalms LXV, End verse, "Thor
I crowned the year with thy goodness. d
4 He said in part
: I'm keeping with the proclamation
you have just heard, we have come to-
: gether for a service of praise an(
o thanksgiving to Almighty God. The
p proclamation is altogether so admirable
in its review of the year past, that wheI
E l sat down to prepare my discourse,
g contented myself with simply elabor
. ating its beautifully expressed
thoughts. Giving thanks to Almighty
:, God for all his blessings, is a custom
. ''hallowed by time and rooted in oul
! most sacred traditions" It's Origin
I. must be sought far back in the earlies
annals of our history. The Pilgrims
=. who landed at Plymouth in 1920, de
! termined in 1921 to have a time of rec
reation combined with Thanksgiving
- for their many mercies. Their crop
- had not been abundant, but they ha,
= plenty of wild fowl and venisOn. Mas
y sasoit and ninety of his people acceptet
= their hospitality. In 1923, Gov. Brad
ford, of Massachusetts, appointed
a day of Thanksgiving for rain after
long drought. About the middle c
the 18th century, the Dutch governor
of New Netherlands, and in the 1St
ne century the English governor
of New York, appointed day
a of Thanksgiving. During the time {
Sc | the Revolutionary war, Congress is
,e sued proclamations annually for a da
ID | of Thanksgiving and again in 1884, fo
ID the declaration of peace. Oct. 3rd
10 1889, President Washington, at the n
r quest of Congress, set a apart the PCT
Id day of November as a day of public
a thanksgiving and prayer. In 1856;
8. President Lincoln issued a Thanks
or giving proclamation and since then th
ne practice has been continuous.
4. 'Few years in our history have o
e. fered such cause for thanksgiving 6
this. We have been blessed by abuI
IS dant harvests." Our barns and store
ra houses are filled with the golden graf
e. and ripened grass of the field. on
T. flocks in prosperity Craze on ten thou
T.. and hills, the valleys have poured the
n; fatness into our laps, and stream
,rt life giving grain is now flowing fro
v, these shores of plenty to the less fa
Iel ored regions of the world. Our o
". chards have been rich in their crow
ct of blossoms, fruit has been in the vine
v. the labor of the olive has not faile,
da the fields have yielded meat, the foe
tie has not been cut off from the fold, an
n the herd has been found in the stall
r. therefore should we rejoice in the Lol
". and Joy in the God of our salvation
tie Our trade and commerce have bee
ISIS wonderfully increased For the yet
ey ending June 30, the balance of trade
Ia; our favor was S615, ,259, 024, more tina
"a; twice as great as it has been in al
n. year of our history. The actual vall
Lr. of exports was 81, ,231, 81 1868, and ma
Id ufactured articles constitute 80 p
N, centum of thewhole amount. We ha
il surpassed all other nations in the pr
W. duction of pig-iron and Gotten. v
on produced 1-5 of the worlds wheat su
m ply, more than 1-5 of its gold and mo
er, than 1-3 of its silver. "Our publ
ey, credit has been improved and strengt
n. ened." Early in the summer, wht
m the government authorized loan
es. $500, 200, 900, the people subscribed f
.rd more than 81, 300, 900, 900, and thus tn
bs, expressed their abiding faith and co
Id, fidence in the disposition and ability
the United States to pay every fina
cial obligation 1t may assume.
"All the sections of our comm,
country have been brought togeth
the and knitted into closer bonds of Natio
cil al purpose and unity" When the da
G. ger of an attacking foe seemed
ess threaten the Republic and the Pre-