Putnam patriot., 1908-11-27
The Semi. Centennial of Hollands Bitter
 Sweet

Hd1 meat tc tdt hf8d1 tbt "p11b bthbti | 10 had known not of. Then, for the | first time, their eyes were gratified by reading that most charming of all Thanksgiving poems, Bitter-Sweet. p lt had come from the press Of the -cribners only few weeks before, at | just that season Of the year when tie | little wild shrub, whose name iL beafs, was grown most beautiful with it's crimson clusters It's author, Dr. H0l. | land. then in the fortieth year Of his age, was still quite unknown to fame. This was his first extensive venture in- to the field of poetry. The "Timothy | 1ftcombfs Letters" and the Bay Path he had already written, but his larger collection Of stories and essays, including "GcId- Foil, came after wards, and IL was not till ten years la- I ter that his second important poem "Kathrina," was given to the public At the time of the publication Of eBitter-sweet" Dr. Holland was an as- sociate editor Of the Springfield Repub- icaB, and 1t was while the engfossing duties of that position claimed his chief attention that he found, at broken in- tervals, the opportunity he SO we'll em- pIoyed in producing this beautiful po- etic picture. The story Is unique In its structure, and consists of series of scenes Tn an old New England farm. house on Thanksgiving night. A ty- "Wintcr's wild birthnight. In the
 East
 The uneasy wind moans with It's sense
 of cold,
 And sends It's signs through gloomy
 mountain gorge,
 Along the valley, up the whitening
 hill
 To tease the signing spirits of the pines, And waste in dismal woods their chilly
 life"
 The large family are all gathered home for the annual festival. The aged sire, Israel,
 ia pnritaa Who reads his Bible daily, loves his
 69d,
 And lives serenelY in the faith of
 Christ,
 welcomes the returning band broth. CTS, sisters, wives, children awith good old Scripture names,h and they keep the holiday 1.-the sweetest holiday of all the year
 The book itself more artistieally pre- pared than most books of fifty years ago, consisted of about thfee thousand lines filling a volume of nearly the same size of that containing Mir. Long fellow k poem, "The Gouftship of Miles 5tandish, (which had then also recent ly come from the press. lts aim wns to maintain by argument, by expefi- ence, by story, and by illustration, the time-wofn proposition that evil exists in the world not against Gods will, but by His permission for purpose which eontemplates the highest possi- ble destiny of the human race. A the ologieal theme of this character, select ed as the basis Of il poem, would seem very faf-fetched by the people of today but it was not foreign to the thought and discussion of our fathers, and one oi the admirable qualities of this truly sweet poem with It's bitter message, k that the chosen theme and the day 1t celebrates, as no other verse by any American author has done, are so per fectlY in harmony with each other. more than a gay holiday The minis ter's sermon, then delivered, was more than A social talk or a political address; it dealt with the deep things of a nor. al government whose chief administra- tor k God. And what the old-time New England clergyman discussed in the pulpit on the chilly morning of Thanksgiving Day, his parishioners enjoyed debating around warm open fire on Thanksgiving night. But those men et h, gone generation were eeateful and glad. If they did not have as much, they seemed to have en- ioyed more what they did possess, and no part ct "Bttter.~weet" K more bcau- tiful in Itself, ot more in keeping both with the sentiment of the book, or the feelings ot the people than the Thanks giving Hymn, sung that winter night hold patriarch said:
 "The old on, ndredth-nohlest tune
 of tunes.
 old tunes arc precious to me as old
 paths
 In which wandered when a happy
 boy.
 In truth, they are the old paths of the
 soul,
 on trod, well worn, familiar, mp Ia
 God
 What, therefore, is more fitting on our Thanksgiving Day of ials than the hymn composed by Dr. Holland half n century ago;
 '"For Summer's bloom and Autumn $
 blight,
 For hending wheat and blighted
 maire,
 For health and sickness, Lord of light,
 And Lord of darkness, hear our
 praise.
 We trace to Thee our joys and woes,--- To Thee of causes slIli the caGse,- We thank Thee that Thy hand bestows: We bless Thee that Thy love with draws.
 We bring no sorrows to Thy throne,