The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1901-11-30


counted for? Think about this thin,
1.-The queerness, the remarkabieness q
] 1t! We are not nation of atheists
most OF us believe In God; most of Il,
could respond without hesitation to the
. words OF the psalm, 10 give thank,
unto the Lord, for he is gracious, be.
cause his mercy endureth forever, ("
Imost OF us have grown up with the pro.
fessed conviction that all the best
good OF our lives has declared to us the
goodness Of God, and that to Him, the.
oretically at any rate, is due the deem
est gratitude of our souls, most of us. II
the question we're still 10 be settled as
to whether or not the Jhief Executive
Of the nation should d naine one day in
the year for thanksgiving to God,
would, undoubtedly. deem ii most
right and PROPER that such dat
should be named by him. Yet; as Of:
ten as the day conee around, named by
1.-THE President as one on which we
should meet together in otir several
places OF worship and give thanks to
| God, most or us utterly decline to de-
vote one-half hour OF it to the giving of
such thanks: some Of us have planned,
weeks ahead, to spend it beyond the
hearing Of any church bell, or the
sight of any church; some of us must
be at our grocery stores every minute
of the day to help dispose of Our tur-
keys, celery, and oysters; some behind
the dry goods counter to wait on the
people who select for shopping the
hour of Divine praise at church or
synagogue; some must put In the en-
tire day loafing around the club-rooms,
or engaged there in some occupation
worse than 'loafngi some must stay at
home-at any rate from breakfast un-
til dinner--in order to oversee the
cooks while they prepare the usual
meals! If the character of day is
given to it by the thoughts and emo
tions OF most of the people on that day,
then, whatever may be true of other
communities, of this community it may
bo said that 1t has no Thanksgiving
Day at al1i that the day it celebrates
, as Thanksgiving Day is anything but
day of thanksgiving to God!
If this isn't queer, what is queer? II
, this isn't remarkable, what is remark
;; able? On the one hand the conviction
of most of us, that we ought to have a
day set apart for Thanksgiving to Coo;
ON the other hand the practical refusal
OF most Of us to spend the day set
apart for this purpose, or one hour or
half hour of it, in such manner as to
justify the Presidents proclamation!
What is the matter with us? Are
we nation of shammerst if not athe-
lists? Have we pretended to ourselves
that our way Of celebrating Phanksgiv+
ing is the religious way, the BiVine
way, the way that does honor to- our
God? | do not think SO. We have
not, believe, pretended, or undertake.
en- to pretend, to ourselves that our
way of celebrating Thanksgiving Day
is the proper religious way--better I
than to 90 to the houseFof worship and
confess our gratitude on the knees OF {
prayer and the feet of praise.
The trouble with us, l believe, Is
that as a people we are too much In
love with OURSELVES to strive very {
heartily for the realization or any re-
ligious ideal that demands denial'
setting aside Of ourselves.
Thanksgiving Day, y,ihowever we may
profess to think Of it, has come 10
mean to us really, practically, day
not of Divine praise, but of selt-con-
graduation; day on which the Amer
ican people should throw bouquets at
because they are THE peo-
ole: because THEIR manufactures are 4
very wonderful. the productiveness OF Z
rHEIR soil marvellous, THEIR trade I'M L
nense; because no other people nave
1een powerful enough to whip THEM \
while THEY have been able to whip or
orral any other people they had
mind to. The spirit of self-congratula-
ion has taken such absolute possession r.
# MS. that, as often as Thanksgiving r.
Day comes around, we celebrate IL F
.ather as if God should be thankful 10 a
he American people that he is Priv ii
eyed to shower blessings upon them, d
han as if the American people shoulu zi
rive thanks to God because they are ii
,rivilered to be the recipients OF HIS B
,lassinosl Possessed by this spirit, we b
ave simply turned the meaning OF tne g
ay upside down, and having done TINS e
is natural that the celebration OF IL o.
hould be what it is. We have accom- Il
lished so much during the twelve il
,ontbs lust behind US, we think, that g
70 ought to reward ourselves with N
etter dinner on Thanksgiving Day Il
re- are so proud of our performances a.
D rightly proud of them, that !. Is OuO u
tt;nu for us to manifest our pride, 70
alebrate ourselves, in any way tnaV IN
meals to our fancy. We stay away b'
,om Church not because we purpose tt
, ignore Cod on Thanksgiving Day, W
ut simply because, as have saio' Sne CO
Gaming of the day has been lost Tor Al Al
!: because we have laid SO much EN- n