The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1904-11-23
Thanksgiving.

The President Of the United States
nas in compliance with an honored
custom appointed Thursday, which is
mcst beau tifully and appropriately call
ed Thanksgiving day. An occasion
when the citizens all over this Chris
tian land shall publicly own before
our Great God and Father our thank
tulness for is bounteous goodness to-
ward u.s. A time when With deep
sense of gratitude We kiss, as it were,
that Divine and Kingly and which
has scattered around US so much
of blessing. We of the South are Pc
culiarly indebted to The Great Lord
of the harvest for the abundant fruit
age of all that was sown. Our great
staple crops have gladdened with their
generous yield our hearts and given
an assurace of comfort and support
Cold and frozen must be that heart that
can contemplate unmoved this benign
exercise of tender care SO abundantly
apparent all around as. When with
humble hope we committed within the
furrow the seed upon whose success
all our earthly succor depended who,
caused that helpless seed to burst
it's seed coat and come forth? Who
sent the early and later rains
wherewith to freshen this now plant
of living green?Who brought back daily
the warm sunshine which made for Us
our bread in this mysterious growth?
what Divine Hand fashioned that boil
aud made it shed that texture, anwer-
ing the olden question where withal
shall we be clothed? That Divine eye,
as it surveyed al that had been thus
done as on. primeval creation saw
that it was good. Is there no respon
sive throb of gratefulness in our
hearts? In the face of all these varied
mercies does simple prayer of thanks
to the Great Source from whence they
all flowed suffice? Is there not almost
tinge of meanness in letting that be
all? Shall We like the miser, selfshly
count over our gains and hug them
to ourselves? It strikes US our Thanks
giving, to be true and sincere, to reach
mp to it's highest meaning, should
let our gratitude find expression in
some tangible form of benevolence.
Indeed, it seems to US, the crucial test,
whether we be true men and women
in this matter of thankfulness, lies
just here That fire which warns the
heart with conscious sense of graft
tude is not from above, iisit refuses to
allow Us to share the loaf with less
favored brother From all these or
phanages around US comes the earnest
cry for help-those from whom mys-l
terious Providence has removed father
aud mother and for whom no heart
can refuse a feeling of sympathy.
That same mysterious Providence,
which bereft these little ones of their
earthly support suggests to your hearts
this Thanksgiving day TO pinch from
your bounteous loaf something for
them. We cannot imagine nobler
or holier observance of the day than
a generous remittance to these or
phanages. It seems to US such charity
would kindle within our souls spirit
like unto that which filled the breast
OF Him by whom these blessed homes
for the orphans were erected and ever
kept up. Do not allow the mere
mechanial trouble of such an act blast
the high and generous impulse. The
same benign influence which wrought
for Us the earthly increase kindled
within your soul such resolve. Let us
then, as We contemplate the abundance