The Iola register., 1901-11-29
A SONG OF THANKS.
National Congratulations for the
d. Achievements of Past Year.
ThnskrgivinE sermon of Dr. TaI-
wage In which lie speaks of
Many Marvellous Changes
Victories of Peace.
copyright 1901, by Louis Klopsch, ~ "
Washingtor Nov "a


national congratulation over the
achievements of brain and hand dur
ing the past IL months. The texts are:
]. Corinthians $40, He that ploweth
should plow ia hope;' Isaiah 41:7, "He
that smootheth with the hammer"
Judges 5:14, They that handle the
pen of the writer"
There is table being spread across
the top of the two great ranges OF
mountains which ridge this continent,
n table which reaches from the At
9antic 80 the Pacific sea. II is the
Thanksgiving table of the nation.
They will come from the east and the
west and the north and the south and
sit at il. On il are smoking the prod
nets 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 plucked from the
peachfields of Maryland, the apple or
ehards of western New York. the or
ange groves Of Florida, the vineyards
OF Ohio and the nuts threshed from
New England woods. The bread is white
from the wheat fields of Illinois and
Michigan. the banqueters are adorned
with California gold, and the table is
a-gleam with Nevada silver. and the
feast is warmed with the fire CRATES
beaped up with Pennsylvania coal.
The hall IS spread with carpets from
Lowell mills, and at night the lights
will fash from hronZrd brackets OF
Philadelphia manufacture. The fin
gers of Massachusetts girls have hung
the embroidery, the music is the drum
ming Of ten thousand mills, accom-
panied by the shout ~ children let
loose for play, and the gladness of the
harvesters driving bapnward the loads
of shedves, and the thanksgiViugs 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 dayl What
ever we may think of New England
theology, We all alike 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 d. Lowell, the
Georgia Central, the Chicago Great
Western, the st. Paul & Duluth and the
Southern railway? ASH 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-
sions of the south which have adopted
-,
apart day of Thanksgiving. Oh, il
is a great day of national testivity.
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! "Oh.
that men would praise the Lord for His
Goodness and for His wonderful works
10 the children of men
For two years and 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
for the slain in battle. Methinks ii will
he n healthful change il on this years
Thanksgiving in church and home
stead we celebrate the victories of The
piow, the hammer and the pen: for
Nothing was done at Santiago or Ma
Rila that was of more importance than
that which in the last year has been
SOne in farmers field and mechanics
shop and authors study by those who
never wore an epaulet or shot 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 | can pay them.
Things have marvelously changed.
7 me was when the stern edict of gov
ernment forbade religious as
semblages. Those who dared 10 he so
nnloyal to their king as to acknowl-
edge loyalty TO the Head of he Uni
verse were punished. Churches awful
~ silent in worship suddenly heard
their doors swung open and down up
on the church aisle a score of muskets
thumped as the leaders bade them
Ground arms!" This custom Of hav-
ing the fathers, he husbands, the sons
and brothers at the entrance of the
pew is a custom which came down from
Olden time, when il was absolutely
necessary that the father or brother
should sit at the end Of the church pew
fully armed to defend the helpless por-
tion 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 he highest official
IN the United States, we gather togeth-
er for thanksgiving and holy worship.
To-day | would stir your souls to joy
fnl Thanksgiving while I speak of the
mcrcies of God and in unconventional
way recount the conqucsts of the plow,
the hammer and the pen.
Most of the implements of hus-
bandry have heen superseded by mod
ern inventions, but he plow has never
lost its reign 1t has furrowed its way
through all the ages. Its victories have
Been waved by the barley of Palestine,
the wheat of Persia, the fax of Ger
many, the rice stalks of China the rich
grasses of Italy. 1t has turned up
the mammoth of Siberia, the mastodon