Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1906-11-28
THANKSGIVING REFLECTIONS.

generous rays OF summers sun, and
have ripened for the garner, when
the cornstalks have become aged and
sere in the ripening of the golden ear,
when the cribs are bursting with
fairness and the gamers replete with
the winters store, and when gener-
Gus surplus has been made ready for
the marts of the world to eventually
augment the income of the farmer, it
is then that the spirit of thanksgiving
imbues his very being and he is made
to attune himself to the spirit of the
day, says the Iowa Register and Far
mer We sincerely hope that every
reader will in some way express his
thanksgiving and that he may come
in possession of thankful heart. his
spirit is one that fructifies all other
blessings, and without it all others
seem as barren waste.
| The spirit of thanksgiving is the
greatest of all, for if we have 1t not,
we have none of the joy-giving sense
in any other blessings. Benefits and
heaven-sent bounties, material or
moral, are only SO when they are re-
allied to be so, and if we have no
thapkfulness in our hearts, it can only
be because we do not feel that we
have anything for which we are
truly thankful.
We may have wives and husbands
in whom there is no fault or weak
ness we may have sweethearts who
are true; we may have happy homes
with kind and indulgent parents; we
NAV have friends that are real and
true; we may be surrounded by COM
fort and luxury-in short, our lot
NAV be an enviable one, and yet if
we do not realize our blessings, they
do not exist for us, they bring us no
gladness and we find no Joy in them.
President Roosevelt, in his Thanks
giving proclamation, reminds US of
some of the reasons for which, as a
nation, we should be grateful. and
give thanks on that day.
As nation there is every reason
to believe that we are prosperous and
have many things to be thankful
for. We are at peace with all the
world, at peace within our borders.
We have enough knowledge of the
hardship, blight, load and pressure
of other nations, so that by the COM
parison we should be doubly thank
full for our own prosperity. We
should consider the prosperity which
our nation now enjoys as something
to be thankful for, and we should take
pleasure in it. Some may take q
more pessimistic view of the situation
and feel that prosperity is only our
due, and grumble because our pros
perity is not greater. We should be
thankful that there is employment for
all who will work, or possibly there
may be those who will grun. BILE be-
cause the demand for labor is so great
that hands cannot be hired to husk out
the bOunteOus crop OF corn.
1t was custom with the Puritan
brethren to set apart a day for
thanksgiving and prayer at the close
of the year when the crops had been
garnered, and in 1862 when our
lamented Lincoln announced the first
Thanksgiving proclamation, it gave
evidence that as nation we had a
right to be thankful for the bounties
of all. Since that time it has become
a national holiday to be observed by
all people.
The farmer this year has many
things for which he should be thank
full. Not only have bountiful crops
crowned his labors, but he has been
the recipient of increased comforts,
increased facilities for higher, better
and broader living, all of which form
an incentive to higher ideals.
That the world is growing better
we verify believe, but there are those
among us whose lot seems to be cast in
Seldom, and should a spirit of thanks
giving come to them it will be from
a secular standpoint. Even these have
a reason for being thankful that they
have had strength to compete with
those of more righteous spirit, and
that they have enjoyed their CLEAN of
sunshine, too. Some have been with
out sorrows, but we all know that
if there were no valleys there would
be no hills, without clouds it will..be
impossible to appreciate the sunshine.
1t is with feeling of regret that
the day has drifted into a holiday de.
voted to sport rather than day set
apart for divine services, when each
individual can express his gratitude
in way for the bounties of the field.
Sports of all kind seem to increase
with each succeeding Thanksgiving
day. Farmers who are anticipating
the coming storms ale making every
day count in the harvest of the corn
crop, and they usually lose sight of
the real object of the day with it's de-
mands.
For blessings that have been ours
let us lay our offerings of gratitude
upon the altar of Him who gave
them; who in the year of 1905 did not
withhold the early and later rains,
who was generous in his sunshine, in
such a manner as shall to each seem
most reverent; let us hold our family
reunions and renew the ties that make
life dear, and let us do it all in the
spirit and thankfulness that will
Tighten our sorrows as much as it will
multiply our joys.
WR T. Annual losnerf;or