Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-03
Sunday Morning Talk.
One-Legged Bows Thankfulness.

The Sunday school teacher thought II
would be capital idea on the Sunday after
Thanksgiving to ask his class of bright
boys what each had to be thankful for. So
he passed around paper and pencils and in
due time the replies came back. One lad
was thankful that he had made the foot
ball team, another for his good home,
third for his new bicycle, but the answer
that touched the teacher most deeply came
from the one-legged boy in the corner, who
wrote simply, Il am thankful for one good
Leg
One good leg! that represented what he
had saved out of the accident. It was more
precious to him than his two legs had been
prior to the time that he fell under the
train. For with one leg left to him he had
been able by sheer pluck. and with the aid
of a crutch, to get about among his mates
somewhat as before, to go to school again,
to have little share in the sports, to earn
little money. Why, that one leg stood In
his thought for everything worth having.
It symbolized independence, education. the
power of locomotion, the possibility Of at
tanning noble and useful manhood by and
by No wonder that he grasped his pencil
firmly and wrote quickly, 81 am thankful
for one good leg
Who were the happiest people last Thurs
day when the turkey came steaming In?
Not necessarily those who have the most
abundant menus the most Sumptuous
homes. The happiest people are those
who have learned the real worth of
the things which they possess. And some
times we have to be deprived of half of our
blessings in order to appreciate the half
that is left. When satisfactions and de-
lights pour in upon us in a golden and con-
tinuous stream we are liable to accept them
as matter of course. to underrate each
separate mercy, to forget entirely tho
source of all prosperity and happiness. A.
wealthy manufacturer was telling me tho
other day how he had lavished gifts and
advantages upon his two daughters from
their childhood to their present college days,
land vet" he went on to say, mother and
/ sometimes think they don't care half so
much for diamond necklace, even. as she
and / when we We're young and poor cared
for the trinkets given us.
We almost need to lose leg-some OF
us-to get our eyes open to what 1t means
to have a share in the normal, the average
boons granted to the human family And
not every one who Ices a leg, actually or
meta phorically. takes the deprivation as
philosophically and cheerfully as this boy
did AS families gathered all over the
land last Thursday for the annual festival
in many a home there was vacant char
or some other token of loss. But is it the
hour for mourning over what was and Is
no more, or Is 1t a manler thing to look
How rich your life still Is in friends and
kindred. in external comfort and ease. in
inward capacities and hopes. in opportuni-
ties for retrieving the mistakes of the past
and for more tender loving OF the dear
ones whose presence still irradates your
home,
And as respects our life as nation. while
we have lost much during the past year let
us not fail to be grateful for what is left.
We have lost confidence In men once trust
ed and honored by widows and orphans
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, We have
lost faith in institutions once thought to
be the safe depository Of the earnings and
savings of the poor, We have lost In the
eyes of other nations a measure Of our reps
utation for doing business honestly, But
think OF what Is left after all the exposures
Of rottenness, We are richer than we were
a year ago in the discovery OF men like
Hughes. capable and willing to push the
probe into iniquity until 1t strikes and
wounds its very hsart,
Blessings on thee, thou cheerful, thank
full, one-legged boyl We will think, like
you, not of the things which we have lost
or which we lack, but of the many mercies