The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-28
THAN kSGIWNG:
fBy REV. r. L. rowNsENpo

1922 t46 AA1A4 dt&&Ai 81 2AF lii
ombined bring SO much sunshine into
our hearts as this day. To give ex-
preston to the gratitude that Is in our
hearts blesSeS two. 1t both blesses
him that gives and him that receives.
Gratitude is n OF the sweetest Of
graces- Ingratitudc is one of the
basest of feelings.
To be thankful and 10 give express
sion OF thankfulness for even the least
Of favors. how beautiful, II is a
mark OF fine breeding. II is an in
dlcatlon of the finest OF culture. To
neglect it indicates one Of two things,
fo~rSotfUlness or coarseness. THANH
you" How little Is costs and how
much il means.
one day | was walking down the
street and met q beautiful little
school girl. Just as she met ms. she
struck her foot against n stone, and
came the load OF books she was
carrying in her arms. | stopped at
once and gathered them up for her
and placed them again in her arms
with my politeSt bow. She forgot To
say Thank you" 1t has been fifteen
years ago, yet I Just can't forget il.
L was SO disappointed. | expected 10
see a ray of sunlight on her grateful
face. II to hear the music of graft
tude in her sweet voice. She may
be a dear. sweet mother somewhere
today, still | wish she had said it,
Thank you."
Then. there's always something to
be thankful for The pessimist may
not think so. He does not think so.
The suicide thinks this is a bad old
world and wants TO hurry out of it.
But the optomist sees things in a diff
ferent light. He bears abo0t in hin
a grateful heart and
Finds tongues in trees, books in
running brooks.
Sermons in stones. and good in
everything"
Things have to be awfully bad that
they might not have been even
worse than they are. Most people
can find somebody worse off than
themselves if they but look around a
bit.
Old Sandy. the S~cotchman, was an
optimist. and found good in every
thing. Nothing happened to the bad
but he would say: Il might ha been
worse" It good to be a by-word with
his neighbours: Like Old Sandy, 1t
might ha' been worse"
Some boys thought TO trip him.
One Of the boys acted as spokesman.
and said: SANDY. 1 had a mighty
bad dream last night. 1 dreamed I
was lead and in hell" Promptly
Sandy replied: 1T might ha' been
worse!" My Lord. Sandy, how could
it have been any worse" The mans
reply was: 1T was only a dream!"
So. l suspect our circumstances are
rarely ever as bad as we think they
are In our melancholy hours things
are never as bad as We imagine they
are We are but dreaming bad
dreams and our hearts are the victims
Of some distressing nightmare.
To oof tho Yn0Cf 0f life u-a Yptuf ha
truly grateful for the little blessings
We have. A good bishop once IL
Illustrated this by telling of a poor old
woman who said: II thank God that
II I have only two teeth. they both
meet and / can chew yeti" We
so much. we forget the teeth we still
have. Some mothers weep 20 much
over their departed children. that
those who still remain come to think
mother sees no good In them at all.
The world, the busy, hard-worked
world is dying for a little apprecia-
ton Of service done. a little bit OF
gratitude. It is so easy to blame the
telephone girl. to find fault with the
clerk at the p~ostoffice or railway ticket
agent or express agent. Every body
them. blames them. Who
yer felt to thank them and thus
throw sunlight across their path
Even the hello girls are tired
sometimes. though we think Of them
as part OF the electrical apparatus.
Today Central was tired, her head
ached. h a just succeeded, after
repeated calls. In getting the number
wanted by 349-M. and here they were
her up again. Can't that -o-
be quiet a minute s~oliloquiEed
which she reiterated. Num-
please p trying not TO speak cross
ly. Central said 4 pleasant voice. /
want to thank you for taking so much
trouble to get me that last number.
You are always very kind and
obliging. and do appreciate it. The
was so great. SO overwheim-
that Central could only rurmur
c~onfusely. T-oh-yes, madam Moth
ing like that had ever happened be-
fore. Suddenly her headache was
suddenly the day was bright2r.
suddenly, too, there came a lump n
her throat. and she reached for her
- n 3lavcbiF wa IN .~r1E - -