The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-24
THANKSGIVING.

Those in authority, the president and
the various governors of the states have
designated next Thursday as a day of
thanksgiving to be observed by the Amer
lean people. Coming as it does, this Gus
tom, from our pilgrim fathers it bears
with it a certain faint of superstition a
breath of witchcraft, memory of intol-
erance. But it also brings to mind their
heroic deeds, their scorn of sham, their
trust in Almighty God and their strong
right arms. 1t is possible that modern
thought has done much to eliminate from
our belief the element of divine guidance
of human affairs, as it has eliminated the
idea of witchcraft and the desire to per-
secute for conscience sake. We are not
the same people that originated and set
apart one day in the year for purposes
of rendering thanks. Evolution has done
its work. The world has changed and
with it the philosophy of the world.
Abundant crops come to us, not as an in
terposition of divine Providence, but as
the result of human labor combined with
favorable climatic conditions. CONNER
cial prosperity obtains, not because heav-
en- wills it, but because conditions of
trade, supply and demand, foreign COM
plications, internal law, and a thousand
and one other factors combine to produce
the result. Health reigns, and death hides
his black cowl not because of a special
dispensation of Providence, but because
the sanitary conditions of the country are
good and the skill of the physician is.
called into requisition to remedy the
evils brought on by the willful or the ac-
cidental violation of natures laws. We
are successful in war because we have
on our side the most powerful engines OF
destruction and also possess the skill to
use them to the greatest advantage to
ourselves. In war, the Lord is with the
strongest battalions on land, and with
the best manned and heaviest armored
ships at sea-
Notwithstanding, however this change
of sentiment. the observance of a day OF
thanksgiving to which the people cling,
is q benefit. 1t is comforting to the great
mass of humanity to feel that in soma
way the vast machinery of the universe
Is under the guidance of an omnipotent
power and that even the trivial affairs
of the human maggots which craw, on
this glimpse of the moon" are guided
by an intelligence superior to their own
!, 1t is comforting to feel that in the tur-
MOL OF war-amd the roll of drums, the
clapg of arms, and the boom of cannon
the eternal right is with the nation. It
is comforting to feel in the depths of a
nations sorrow, when crime walks abroad
unmasked, that somehow and somewhere
eternany triumphant
However gloomy the prospects and
however disheartening the present, it
might be worse. When driven from the
council of 500 discouraged and panic
stricken-when all seemed lost-Napoleon
cast his minds eye over the past, ex-
claiming, This is not half as bad as
Aroola," and. returning to his purpose,
cleared the assembly, seized the govern
ment, and placed himself at the head of
the nation.
AT the close. of each returning year the
American people have much to be thank
full for-affairs might have been so much
worse. Famine seldom shows her gaunt