The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1909-11-17
Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day is welcomed as
a social and religious festival So
thoroughly Is it pervaded with the old
New England spirit, love of home and
the need of religious worship that 1t
does not lose its own peculiar distinc-
tion. Each year our blessings broaden
and deepen, but on Thanksgiving Day
we do well to compare them with the
days of our forefathers. To them
their mercies were abundant, and
they rendered their grateful thanks
to the Lord of life. 1t seemed so
much to have one day of comfort, and
even luxury, after the kindly old
earth had done her best and the
precious harvests had been gathered
in. The Pilgrim said, God be
praised" at every step, and he kept
an open hearth and a generous heart
for less fortunate neighbor. Ii,one
of those bleak country towns could
have caught a glimpse of lighted
streets and well-stocked libraries, of
dainty home fabrics stitched on pol
ished machines, of grain cut and gath
cred without hand labor and of whis-
pered messages of Kindness to friends
hundred miles away-the vision
would have been as bewildering as a
sight of the Eternal City was to St.
John at Patmos, and the electric cars
would have seemed to them like the
chariots of fire in which Elijah as
| cended to heaven.
What incredible distance between
their holiday and ours! Their graft
tude for blessings received was main
ly expressed in an ascetic way, out
side of the home-in the meeting
house" Only a vestige of that up
ward-looking thankfulness remains
among the moderns. Is iS because
we have thought to enshrine religion
in the home-or tried to-instead Of
keeping it apart in some more formal
ly consecrated place? Partly so, but
the prevailing quality of present-day
religious feeling Is more than ever
love-quality and a heart-sympathy,
and in this we have been gamers,
whatever of loss there has been in
other respects. Deny it as many a
descendant of Pilgrim or Puritan
may, our November holiday is no
longer the Thanksgiving Day of old.
| Transformed by the latter-day re-
ligion of humanity, which makes the
most of hearty, kindly fellowship and
sympathy, the festival is now a time
for the warming of hearts rather than
the giving Of thanks, and doubtless it
is all approved by the Divine Giver.
Tomorrow is a day for gladness,
and to turn the searchlight even upon
sorrow and suffering for what allevia-
tion it may reveal. The hard times
of life are so sharp and severe, their
experience is so vivid that the short
ness Of their duration, as compared
with length of days. is apt to be over
looked. The hurricane and the storm
blot out the memory of the long,
peaceful days when the outline of the
hills stood soft and purple in the dis
| tance.
The past season may be recalled as
peculiarly interesting on account OF
the weather. Each month has
brought surprise. August and Sep.
tember apparently changed places
each offering to the other the best ii
had to give. The result was a com.
bination of which our climate may
well be proud. The late summer and
fall came as near perfection for hui
man enjoyment as New England
could give. The Indian summer, hazy
and mellow, was prolonged beyond its
usual stay, and the late flowers have
persisted in their right to blossom.