St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-12-26

tional holiday, and was regularly des-
ignated each year as such, to subordi-
nate the true spirit and purpose of the
day to the sports and festivities which
have crowded into it's observance. 1t
is the day of the great football con-
tests, it is the day Of feasting. and par
ties and merry making and pleasure
seeking. but it is no longer the day which
fills the churches with their devout con-
gregations whose hearts rise to God
in thankful recognition of His goodness
and mercies. In old New England, where
the day as observed in this country had
its origin, Harriet Beecher Stowe tells
us that, great as the preparations we're
for the dinner and the festivities of the
day, everything was SO contrived that
not soul in the house should be kept
from the morning service of Thanksgiv-
ing in the church" But to-day it is not
SO. Church attendance is the excep-
ton rather than the rule. In most places
the union service of half dozen differ
ent churches has hard work mastering a
respectable audience. Instead of every
church being filled with its thank-offer-
ing, praise-giving people. the large ma
jority of them stand mute and empty,
while the families which should be
there are busy with the pleasures and
festivities of the day. This is dishonor-
ing to God. a violation of the purpose Of
the day, and disrespectful Indifference
to the request of the president, that the
people of the land shall gather in their
respective houses of worship and there
render unto God thanksgiving for the
blessings which He has bestowed during
the past year.
7 was genuine thanksgiving which
in 1889 drew the English people to-
gether in public worship after the de-
struction of the famous Spanish Ar
NADIA by the Insignificant British fleet.
knight in his history tells us that ION
that day there were given in every
church in the land public and general
thanks unto God with all devotion and
inward affection of heart and humble
ness for His gracious favor extended
towards us in our deliverance and de-
Tense in the wonderful overthrow and
destruction shown by His mighty hand
on our malicious enemies, the Span
iards, who had thought to evade and
make conquest of the realm" 1t was
a real thanksgiving which the Puritans
observed in public worship after the
perils Of famine and sickness had been
passed and deliverance had come.
Those were real thanksgiving days
which were held all through the revolu-
tionary war as the people of this land
united in thanking God for preserving
them and maintaining their cause.
When peace came in 1884 and a thanks
giving day was proclaimed, it brought
all the people together in public recog-
milton OF Gods goodness and blessing.
Again in 1875, after the constitution
of the United States had been adopted.
when President Washington pro-
claimed Thanksgiving day, it was
genuinely such in spirit and character
Thus from time to time as special cir
cumstances suggested thanksgiving has
been generally and devoutly observed.
But with the establishing OF the day
as an annual holiday without reference
to any special national blessing or
Providence have come, as we have al
ready said. careless disregard OF the
claims OF the day, and failure TO oo-
serve in public or in private that
thankful. dcvOut spirit which comes
from real recognition of God as G1ver
and man as a dependent ard needy
creature.
II HUS is lost to the individual and,
| through the individual, to the ma
ton the real power and blessing OF
Thanksgiving day. Our text reminds us
that God is the giver of all good. The
tremendous crops of grains and fruits
and vegetables of which this nation
boasts and Of which abundance thou-
sands Of tons of food stuffs are sent to
feed other nations, all come from Goo.
The coal and iron and gold which man
takes out of the bowels of the eartE
and by which he is warmed and his IN
dpstries created and run were hrst
hidden in the ground by God. The nsa
If tho rivers and lakes and seas. the
fowls of the air, the cattle and sheep
and horses on the thousand hills anu
the plains are the gift OF God Tor the
blessing Of man. The very life which
thrnbs in mans veins and makes him
different from the rocks which lie cold
and motionless at his feet comes IRON
Cod. The sunshine and the ram are
sent by God. All, all comes from Goo,
for .every good and perfect gift IS
from above and cometh down from the
gather of Lights" And because this
= .rpe we call our Heavenly Father the
Rountifui God, and at Thanksgiving
time His bountifulness should receive
snecial recognition. Devout ana num-
51a, THANKSGIVING should rise from
ovarv heart to God Who gives all GOOD
.nd perfect gifts. Our THANKSGIVING
message is Of the Bountiful Ged, and
we vant to take away the indefinite
snd. meaningless thought OF God and
engraft in its place a deep conscious
ress of the personal relations OF God
Ina Creator and Giver to man the crea-
.,,re and the recipient The farmer
moods to lift his gaze above the tassei-
tng corn tops and the crowded Darns
onI pranaries; the man In commercial
yfe must look above the gold wnicn
a., g,ea over his counter as he buys ana
.a1ls. the clerk At his desk or benind