Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-23

BE ye thankfu Col 3:15.
"A thankful heart is not only the greatest
virtues. Cicero.
We render heartfelt and solemn thanks
TO the Giver of Good; and we seek to
ieeds-by the way in which we do our duty
70 ourselves and to our fellow men,
President Roosevelt.
@RATITUDE ought to bear direct
proportion to the bounty received.
- BY this rule we should be more
N thankful than our fathers, for in
- comparison we are in almost
every respect wonderfully favored. We
are living in a brighter world, a
world grown more hospitable to man; life
has acquired an interest and a security il
had not in previous centuries, and there
comes with it a large liberty which makes
it sweet and dear. Ameliorations have
taken place under the eyes of those now
living, of great Importance, which it would
take long to enumerate. But especially
when the present is Contrasted with a
somewhat earlier time than we can per-
sonally recall does our advantage stand
out prominently. At the time of its dis
covery this continent was called a New
World; since that time other discoveries
and a great intellectual and moral advance
have made ii a new world that greets our
eyes whatever continent We stand on.
What unsightliness has been put away!
What fell diseases have been overcome!
What expressions have been abolished!
The forces of nature have been harnessed
to do the service of man. to make what
he requires, to run on his errands, to bear
him over the earth, to bring him the
products of remotest lands and news from
all parts, even from the skies. At the
beginning of this brief period the child
born into the world might well in most
cases be commiserated. He was almost
sure to find it an uncomfortable place. He
ran the gauntlet of a thousand destroyers,
elemental, bestial and human. that left
him small chance of getting so far as
maturity; and, if by rare good luck he
did arrive at that stage, ruthless and
v%engeful forces often kept nagging at his
heels. The current doctrine was that this
is an accursed world, and that doctrine was
brought home to a great many people in
a manner calculated to leave no doubt of
its truth in their minds. Not content with
teaching that unbelievers and heretics
would be burnt up in the next world, the
rhurch anticipated the doom and had the
burning begun in this world. So the
demons reached up from below and made
the blooming earth a sort of annex to the
Internal regions. The ordinary life of man
even so recently as the fifteenth or the
sixteenth century was so poor in privilege
and enjoyment as to make il a doubtful
boon and excuse almost any lack of graft
tude for existence. Even the fortunate
class who had something to enjoy, and who
escaped suspicion of unbelief or heresy.
were yet so harassed with apprehensions
about their lot in the world to come as to
cast a fearful shadow on the world that
now is.
For us now all is changed. The inward
and the outward world have both been revO-
lutionized. On the material side we see the
most astonishing accumulation of wealth.
which, however unequally distributed, is the
worlds property, and goes inevitably, for
the most part, to augment the general good.
The people, who have come to rule. make
large provision for themselves. Schools.
libraries, parks, museums holding the
choicest treasures of art, are free as the
air, and many a precious privilege for which
we pay a trile so outvalues the payment as
to be practically gratuitous. Except for
criminals, who still prowl, and occasional
wars, we are not living in terror of one
another; there is no more torture, no more
persecution for opinions sake. Thought is
out OF its shackles; speech knows no other
restrictions than the natural laws of pro-