The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-11-26

u Dr- 1aImage Is a national congratula-
ton owe the achievements of brain and
hand during the past twelve months. The
texts are: L Corinthians tx, 10, "He that
ploweth should pillow in hope;' Isaiah xii,
z, IL that smootheth with the ham,
mer;' Judges V, IA, 'They that handle
the pen Of the writer"
There IS a table being spread across the
top or the W great ranges of mountains
which ridge this continent, a table which
reaches from the Atlantic to the Pacific
sea. 1t 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 it. On it are smoking the
products 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
peachfelds of Maryland, the apple or
chards Of western New York, the orange
groves Of Florida, the vineyards of Ohio
and the nuts thrashed from New England
woods. The bread is white from the
wheatields of Illinois and Michigan, the
banqueters are adorned with California
gold, and the table is a-gleam with Neva-
da silver, and the feast is warmed with
the fire CRATES heaped up with Pennsyl-
vania coal. The hall is spread with car
pets from Lowell mills, and at night the
lights will flash from bronzed brackets of
Philadelphia manufacture. The fingers
Of Massachusetts girls have hung the en-
broidery, the music is the drumming of
ten thousand mills, accompanied by the
shout of children let loose for play, and
the gladness of the harvesters driving
ha r0 pyn tho lands Of Shaounc on1 Tho
thanksgivings of the nation which crowd
the celestial gates with doxologies until
b 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 the
ology, we all like New England Thanks
giving day. What means the steady rush
to the depots n the long rail trains dart
ing their lanterns along the tracks of the
Boston and Lowell, the Georgia Central,
the Chicago Great Western, the st. Paul
and Duluth and the Southern railway?
Ask the happy group in the New Eng
land farmhouse. Ask the villagers whose
song of praise in the morning will come
over the Berkshire hills. Ask all the
plantations of the south which nave
adopted the New England custom Of set
ting apart a day of thanksgiving. Oh, it
is a great day of national festivity! Clap
your hands, We people, and shout aloud
for joyi Through the organ pipes let
there come down the thunder of a ma
TONS rejoicing! Blow the cornet! Wave
the palm branches! "Oh that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness and for
his wonderful works to the children Of
menu
The Victories of Peace.
For two years and a half this nation
has been celebrating the triumph of
sword and gun Inc battery. We have
sung martial airs and cheered returning
heroes and sounded the requiem for the
slain in battle. Methinks it will be a
healthful change if on this years Thanks
giving in church n homestead we cele-
brate the victories of the pillow, the ham,
mer and the pen; for nothing was done at
Santiago or Manila that was of more i'm
portance than that which in the last year
has been done in farmers field and me-
chanic's shop and authors study by those
who never wore an epaulet or shot a
Spaniard or went q hundred miles from
their own doorsill. Come up, N
and mechanics and literary men, and get
your dues as far as can pay them.
Things have marvelously changed.
Time was when the stern edict Of govern
ment forbade religious assembiages.
Those who dared to be so unloyal to their
king as to acknowledge loyalty to the
Head of the Universe were punished.
Churches awfully silent in worship sud-
denly heard their doors swung open and
down upon the church aisle q score OF
muskets thumped as the leaders babe
them Ground arms" This custom of
having 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 neces-
sary that the father or brother should sit
at the end of the church pew fully armed
TO defend the helpless portion of the fam
ily. But now, how changed, Severe PEN
alties are threatened against any one who
shall interrupt religious services. and an
nually. at the command of the highest
official in the United States, we gather
together for thanksgiving and holy wor-
ship. Today l would stir your souls to
joyful thanksgiving while / speak of the
mercies of God and in unconventional
way recount the conquests Of the pioW,
the hammer and the pen.
Most of the implements Of husbaEdry
have been superseded by modern inven-
lions, but the ploW mas never iosi its
reign. It 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 Germany, the
rice stalks of China, the rich grasses OF
Italy. 1t has turned up the mammoth OF
Siberia, the m~astodon of Egypt and the
pine groves of Thessaly. Its iron foot
hath marched where Moses wrote and
Homer sang and Aristotle taught and
Alexander mounted his war charger. Ii
hath wrung its Golfer on Norwegian wilds
and ripped out the stumps of the Amer
lean forest, pushing its way through the
s~avannas OF the Carolinas and trembling
in the grasp of the New Hampshire yeo-
many. American civilization hath kept
step with the rattle of its ~elevises. and on
it's beam hath ridden thrift and national
plenty.
I do not wonder that b japanese and
the Chinese and the Phenicians so par
ticularly extolled husbandry or that I'm
.~cinnatus went from the consulship to the
plow or that Noah was q farmer be1ore