The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-11-26
THANKSGIVING AND ITS DEBT.

Itt-t~N ~ B
Thanksgiving i a recognition that
~involves an obligation. II Is that which
makes the season worth while. that
makes it real. that gives u a signih-
canoe that II something more than the
habit Of gathering together, that dig
nifes the feast.
Thanksgiving. the day and the fact
c~eates a debt. Every man who pays
himself a dinner in recognition OF the
good that he has realized out Oh the
life Of the year. owes something TO the
guardian destiny that has brought him
safely to where he can afford a cefe-
bration. Good health. appetite, family
and friends; work 70 do and viii 70
do it. even sorrows to face and dis
appointment to combat make up the
reasons for Thanksgiving that every
manly person must realize and accept
Life that is worth while is a process
Of experiences, { emulation OF feel
ing, an inner recognition of duty
builded upon what life holds. what IT
teaches. what it requires. The man
who can look back on the year and
see that he has Iabored, that ne has
been brave, that he has faced cheer
fully what he might have cringed be-
fore, has the best reason for thank
f~ulness, and the surest obligation TO
repay. Such a man is on the track Of
the for which he was created
and in the realization of that fact is
there room for everything except self
ishness or fear.
1t is a pretty custom on a
deep capitalization of thought. that
has put the concrete performance of
the Thanksgiving Day celebration to
the recognition of childhood. 1t is
a deVout principle hat has set apart
the care Of orphans from the super
abundance Of the celebration Of the
years work and harvest. The gift to
cheerful gift as Well as the most far
reaching. Here there is no bicker Of
sentiment or room for doubt. Here is
no creed, no division, no sop to char
ity. After all, the average thanksgiv-
ing lies in the hope of the parent for
the future of his child. How becom-
ing therefore that, childless or blessed
with a family, there should hang about
the day the central sentiment Of par
enthood and motherhood to those chill
dren who are left to look for sympathy
and understanding ana support to the
great parent-heart of the world itself.
Next Thursday every nome in North
Carolina will pour some special OBJ
lation to the day of the year when
the people give thanks for the har-
vest of their labor. m or rich
in kind and quantity, is there every
provided a feast, placed upon
the affairs u love some special sacri-
flee, some mead of acknowledgement
The memories of the day are the mem
cries of childhood and the duty Of the
day is toward those little ones to
the memory is uncertain of at
tainment.
If, in every Thanksgiving day prep
aration. there should be counted an
other head; if, in making acknowl-
edgement. there should be set aside
for the orphan children of the State
the equivalent of the strangers
place." the day in Its returns to a
work that springs from the heart of
all The people, but is so easily for
gotten and so unthinkingly ignored by
the individual, would act through time
itself in ever swelling influence.
Whether it is turkey, or roast pig,
or "'possum'' or Chatham rabbit. or
Uncle Remus' pot liquor and dump
lings, there is possible this sauce for
Thanksgiving that all may partake Of
and which, in the pressure of an
other year of trial and of labor, most
pleasantly will return in satisfaction
and most ~abundantly repay.