The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1901-11-30
A SONG OF THANKS.
National Congratulations for the
Achievements of Past Year.
Thanksgiving Sermon of DR.. Tall
mage in Which He Speaks Of
Many Marvellous Changer
Victories of Peace,
copyright. 1901. by Louis Klopsch. N. VI
Washington.

ing the past IL months. The texts are
/. Corinthians 9:1o, He that ploweti
should pillow in hope;" Isaiah 41:7, III,
that smootheth with the hammer
Judges 5;l4, ''rhey that handle tn.
pen of the writer"
There is a table being spread acros.
the top Of the two great ranges O.
mountains which ridge this continent
a table which reaches from the AT.
lantic to the Pacific sea. 1t is the
Thanksgiving table of the nation
They will cone from the east and the
west and the north and the south and
sit at it. On 1t are smoking the prod
ucts of all lands, birds of every aviary,
cattle from every pasture. fish from
every lake, feathered spoils from every
farm. The fruit baskets bend down
under the products p1ucked from the
peachtields of Maryland, the apple or
chards of western New York. the or
snge groves of Florida, the vineyards
OF Ohio n the nuts threshed from
New England woods. The bread white
from the wheat fields of Illirois and
Michigan. the b%anqueters are adorned
with California gold, snd the table is
7EC go NAfdd SsANtt. anu lHt
feast is warmed with the fire CRATES
heaped up with Pennsylvania coal.
The hall is spread with carpets from
Lowell mills, and at night the lights
viii flash from bronzed brackets Of
Philadelphia manufacture. The fin
gers Of Massachusetts, girls have hung
the embroidery, the music is the drum
ming of ten thousand mills. sccom.
panied by the shout of children let
loose for play, and the eladness of the
harvesters driving BARNARD the loads
OF sheaves. and the t~hanksgivings of
the nation which crowd the celestial
gates with ~doXologies until the oldest
harper of Heaven cannot tell where
the terrestrial song ends and the
Celestial song begins.
Welcome, Thanksgiving day, What
ever we may think of New England
theology, We all like New England
Thanksgiving day. What means the
steady rush to the depots and the long
rail trains, darting their lanterns along
the tracks of the Boston & Lowell, the
Georgia Central, the Chicago Great
Western. the St. Paul & Duluth and the
Southern railway? Ask the happy
group in the New England farmhouse.
Ask the villagers whose song of praise
In the morning will come over the
Berkshire hills. Ask all the planta-
lions Of the south which have adopted
the New England custom of setting
apart a day of Thanksgiving. Oh, it
IS a great day Of national festivity!
Clap your hands, We people, and shout
aloud for joy! Through the ORGAN
pipes let there come down the thunder
OF a nations rejoicing! Blow the cor
net! Wave the palm branches! ooh.
that men would praise the Lord for His
Goodness and for His wonderful works
10 the children of men"
For two years and. a half this nation
has been celebrating the triumph of
sword and gun and battery. We have
sung martial airs and cheered return
ing heroes and sounded the requiem
Cor the slain in battle. Methinks it will ,
be a healthful change if on this years
Thanksgiving in church and home
stead we celebrate the victories of the
plow. the hammer and the pen: for
nothing was done at Santiago or Ma
Mia that was Of more importance than
that which in the last year has been
done in farmers field and mechanics
shop and authors study by those who
never wore an epaulet or shot a Span
lard or went a hundred miles from
their own doorsill. Come up, farmers
and mechanics and literary men, and
get your dues as far as l can pay them.
Things have marvelously changed.
Tine was when the stern edict of gov
eminent forbade religious as
semblages. Those who dared to be SO
unloyal to their king as to acknowl-
edge loyalty to the Head of the Uni
verse were punished. Churches awful
ly silent in worship suddenly heard
their doors swung open and down up
on the church aisle a score of muskets
thumped as the leaders babe them
Ground arms!" This custom of hav-
ing the fathers, the husbands, the sons
and brothers at the entrance of the
pew is a custom which came down from
olden time, when it was absolutely
that the father or brother
should sit at the end Of the church pew
fully armed to defend the helpless por-
ton Of the family. But now, how
changed! Severe penalties are threat
ened against any one who shall inter-
rupt religious services, and annually.
at the command Of the highest official
in the United States, We gather togeth-
er for Thanksgiving and holy worship.
To-day ! would stir your souls to Joy
ful Thanksgiving while / speak of the
meTcies Of God and in unconventional
way recount the conquests Of the pillow,
the hammer and the pen.
Most Of the implements of hus-
bandry have been superseded by mod
ern inventions, but the pillow has never
lost its reign. 1t has furrowed it's way
through all the ages. Its victories have
been waved by the barley Of Palestine,
the wheat Of Persia, the fax of Ger
the rice stalks of China, the rich
grasses of Italy. 1t has turned up
the mammoth of Siberia, the mastodon
of Egypt and the pine groves of Thes-
sa1v. Its iron foot hath marched