The record-union., 1898-11-24
PRESENT DAY THOUGHTS.
BY G. Grosvenor Dave.

A Thanksgiving Exhortation: The
giving of thanks is not an excuse for
poasting. One Pharisee did thank God
that he was not as other men, but We
are justified in thinking less of him
than Of the publican upon whom he
looked down. Thus must it ever be, II
tie Is just; for the human creature is
80 plcayune in comparison with the
great universe that blatant, boastlng
ways are foolishness and quiet duty
uolng efforts in the place where we
are, the highest wisdom.
That is the word that strains on most
or us, Duty Dutyi" From our child
hood days we have associated the Word
always with the thing that we felt
teast inclined to do. Even in our ma
Iur1ty We cannot find it easy to do the
thing that lies straight before US, put
we needs must long after some greater
sphere in which to give full sway 10
our remarkable powers. Thus we eye
some one eIse's path enviously, lose
sight of our own, and end up with be-
Ing unworthy of that which we hith-
erto had done well and properly
1t is blindness to live in such way
We cannot hasten the motion OF the
world by wishing it to move raster
Our only hope of ever getting recognl-
ton at all is, not by hosting a signal
to announce that here is great man,
plodding at a silly unworthy task, put
by doing. the task so well that it shall
lead to inquiries for the great mind
that could be so careful over little de-
tails.
Mark it well, then: The only way to
10 &c hU
our might the thing that Sught to be
done. The way to broader compre-
hension of life and its later duties is
by doing the one that comes first, and
doing it well The face that is bent
to it's own task like the head that Is
bent low to look beneath the rank
growth of a tropical forest, is the one
that sees wider and deeper than does
that of the upright idler. If you have
a genuine desire to give thanks, let II
be more because you feel awake than
because you dream of greatness; more
because you have patience to do what
you ought than because of vague as
pirations for extraordinary glory IN
the future. Hights are not yet jumped
up by human beings; there is still the
stupid method of climbing TO go
through But, by the way, nights are
sometimes jumped down by blind fools
who lift their eyes away from the safe
path.
But enough of personal exhortation
TO that rarest sense-good sense.
Thanksgiving is a national affair
with us, and above all little rejoicings
over gain or comfort or pleasure that
have come to us individually must rise
a united feeling of thanks that sWai-
lows up the lesser, even as day devours
the dawn.
What now do we see over which to
rejoice? A duty seen and duty done;
a bowing of the face to a task, and
then a lifting of the heated brow to
the air of broader outlook. Nations
are only men aggregates. The nation
that does as it should is bound to be
lead forward, just as man is. Thus
with u.s. and this years Thanksgiving
!. season is one that will have fuller
glory given to it nationally than with
many that have gone before. We heard
a, cry of distress; we felt that it ought
To- cease. Beneath the very skirt OF
our outspread land were deeds of vio-
lence done. We turned neither to the
right hand nor to the left; we did not
stop to weigh the value of coins IN
our hand. We smote because or the
memory of our iberty-loving sires; we
>srnote because commercialism had not
dried I'D human kindness; we Smote
because our sons chose actual dangers
rather than idle dalliance; we smote
because it is better to die for the right
than to live permitting wrong. Let
our thanks be that valiant past IS
echoed by a valiant present
When we ceased and lifted our eyes
1T was as though transformation hao
taken place The narrowing thought
of safe isolation from the rest OF the
world had vanished, even as the haoli-
iments of childhood are suddenly
changed into those of manhood. The
transition was so rapid tnat we were
hardly aware either when or how we
were pushed out into the great, broad,
restless world, for good or for bad. Yet
Il was the doing of the thing that had
70 be done which brought the broader
cbanpe IT is worse than idle for US
to look back to- where we have hitherto
stood That step cannot be retraced-
let our thanks be that we saw our
way clearly, and that a broader
thought of international life will be
ours forevermore.
A national bestirment of heart op-
literates all lines. Else is it not ma
tional A common danger or com
mon enemy YIELDS all factions. So, TO
us at this season. one of the deyotest
sources of thanksgiving is that though
political parties in internal affairs stlll
remain and must, yet, internal rancof
has died out. and the memory OF our
+;+anic struggle has been allowed TO
1anse in order that both North and
South might unite in an errand of
mercy. Most grandly has it been done;