The farmer and mechanic., 1906-11-27


and measure progress. What have W.
10 he thankful for" is for the most
part d que,y which upon examination
is apt to shame us for complaint Of
fered. H. retrospect the earnest sou.
finds always the realization OF hopes
that have frulted into blessings In
this. which makes for the courage Of
experience. which justifies hope for
the future. q formal period Of Thanks
giving is fine incentive for right think
ing and high doing. The present
catches from the reflective past
an afterglow Of golden unts- In the
confession Of a good yesterday. We
cannot regard today as bad or look
into tomorrow with doubtful spirit
In the words Of one Of those anony-
NOUS bits Of sub-acid wisdom, we dis
solve our worries for the time in the
determination to Cheer up. it may
not be true" Thanksgiving is prac-
ticaIlv Of value as furnishing justifica-
ton for an optimistic outlook. And
optimism creates the thing it looks
for. clears the vision, sweeps the MIND
of mistrust, purifies and renders
wholesome the soul. we celebrate
Thanksgiving in recognition Of having
found out the truth about ourselves
and as an earnest of better things to
come.
Considered as a state and people
North Carolina has this year 50 many
blessings 70 celebrate that it is for the
moment difficult to decide which Is
the more deserving Of emphasis The
old State is undeniably prosperous,
busy and progressive. The cOmme1-
ciaI statistician finds it a fertile field
for exploitation. The farmers, still the
financial backbone Of the common
wealth. as we'll as the bone and sineW
of its character, find themselves able
to sell their products at a profit and to
realize the happiness of independence.
The great water powers are beng mar
messed to humming wheels, smoke
stacks multiply. cities are growing
rich. railroads are building, capital
and energy and business enthusiasm
are working daily in the making OF
changes that. having waited on time,
are Towering all at once into q golden
age. Best Of all, this wider Occupa-
ton, this new endeavour, this CONNER
cial advancement, come without the
price of principle or the sacrifice Of
honour. There is no taint in the new
era of North Carolina prosperity. Il
is not new State, but an old one
aroused and retaining its ancient SIM
plicity and its old faiths, while dis
carding it's Old lassitude its old lack
of Initiative. This is still a religious
people. still a people that is not, afraid
of being poor. The dollars it ac-
quires it takes by capture and not as
the price of capitulation. It's indus
trial awakening marks lesson learn
ed in results without the vice of meth
DDS.
With good government, good
schools. universal opportunity, these
things raise a sense of popular bless
ing which tend to confuse a proper
discrimination, for they do not con-
stitute the North Carolina blessing
which is the pre-eminent and funda-
mental one of this day and generation.
The highest blessing in the case of
lies in the promotion of an idea. In
more ways than one the things we have
cited, which all see and recognize, are
the material results of the thing which
all feel and which many forget.
Behind it all is the fundamental
idea; and the idea is human instinct
applied to popular government, and
Ii, Mt a
of the Child
The thing for which this State can
most devOutly pause on Thursday to
give thanks is the fact that it's people
have learned to build from the bottom
and thus build higher in the end: that
education has begun to SOW its seeds
in the soil of the common people; that
the leaven of the true democracy of
the equal chance has begun to work.
that the State has grown deep-seeing
men who refused to pc dazzled, who
looked the problems of the uneven
results of civilization in the face and,
having a vision, followed it regardless
of difficulty and contemptuous of
ridicule; that any ambition is reason
furnishes to hands of native strength
and brains of native power the tools
for fine work and the means for high
endeaVOur. It should be thankful that
the time has come when ignorance is
no longer cOmplacent; when education
is d birthright which poverty Will pur-
chase for its children with blood ana
bone; that the right to know and the
privilege TO do has become as sacrcu
as the right to live.
lii expressions printed i'll this paper
from prominent and thoughtful men
upon the Thanksgiving occasion, this
fact is significant. one says &c
thankful for Aycock;" another, BE
thankful for the example Of McIvcrs
life" That is equivalent to saying
BE thankful for education.' Both Ay-
cock and McIVcr are in way like the
the factories, like the new comm ercial
| Impulse, like the very school houses
| they bulldcd. They were and are in
! the ever widening circle Of their in
tlucncC. results of a deeper emotion =