Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1906-11-29
NEW VOL. 41.--NO. 81
"A Thanksgiving Sermon.

The day really celebrates a deliver
ance from danger. The summer OF
1923 was unfriendly and the harvest
failed. The Indian hunters retreated
into the forest, food and game were
scarce, and with terror the Pilgrim
fathers looked forward to the winter
and possible starvation and death. In
their hour of ex remity the minister
announced that on the last Thursday
of November there would be day OF
fasting and prayer on which they
would commend themselves and their
enterprise unto God. But scarcely
had they reached the cabin where the
service was to be held than the sentl-
mel shouted the announcement that a
ship with weather beaten sails and
blackened sides was entering the har-
Dor. The good ship brought food
against the winter, seed against the
spring, friends against the enemy.
Delirious with JOY, the Pilgrims came
together a second time for thanksglv-
ing, and so this day was born-thls
day celebrating the festival of the
family. Ours is the only nation In
the world that by happy holiday
glorifes the home as the first OF Amer
ica's institutions.
If other years have furnished
grounds for gratitude, this year gives
them by way of pre.eminence.
Let US be thankful
For four bins stretching across the
continent from ocean to ocean filled
with wheat, corn, oats. barley, rye,
timothy, clover, alfalfa, cottonsheaves
ripened for the hunger of herd and
flock, and above all, food for man.
For one bin stretching three thou
sand miles long filled with barrels Of
apples, Jonathan and Spitzenberg
and golden pippin; with pear and
plum and peach, with grapes and
nuts, with all the preserved richness
of raspberry and strawberry, and the
ruddy vegetables-potato and beet.
carrot, celery and turnip; the pump.
kin and the squash.
For abundant rains, that have fill
ed the rivers, fed the water springs
and reservoirs, and rejoiced the cattle
upon thousand hills.
For the comforts and conveniences
for the home and Preside that have
brought universal happiness to cottage
and hamlet and mansion.
For stoves and coal, instead of the
house blackened with SCOT. and a
meal cooked with freshly cut chips
from the tree.
For these steel tricks, that have
brought US fruits from the sunny
South, furs from the frozen North,
with rice and sugar and coal, and
made the people of the snow and the
winter to enjoy the fruits Of the trop-
les.
For the reaper, instead Of the SICK
lie, furnishing bread to the world.
For the looms, that enable one
man in one year to clothe a thousand
men against the rains Of summer and
the SHOWS Of winter.
For the trip hammer, that has null
tiplied the stroke of man q arm and
the locomotive. that has heightened
the stride Of his foot and the tools,
that have fastened the movement Of
his fingers.
For the spectroscope. that has made
us at home in foreign planets.
For the telephone, that has halved
mans labor and brought distant ac-
quaintances near.
For the X-ray, that has made the
body transparent to surgeons and
physicians.
For anaesthetics, that have lessened
pain, robbed surgery Of its terrors and
relieved sufferers OF their agony.
For photography, that preserves
for US the faces Of our departed dead.
For the enormous gifts this year
poured out for college, library and
church aud social reform.
For the strengthening Of the home
and Of the family ties, and the in
creasing movement against easy di'
vorce.
For the press, sowing the whole
land with the good seed Of wisdom
and knowledge; for books and maya
zines, that have exalted the magma.
tioa while they have inspired the in
tellect.
For the return Of the tides Of faith
in the church and the decline Of inf