Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-11-29

1nero IS SOmeInlng ma1eSuc and
beautiful about a national Thanksgiv.
ing day. We have a feeling that God
is pleased with US when we express
our gratitude for the mercies which we
have received. This is the underlying
principle OF the devotions of this day
our country over. And how base in
deed is the sin of ingratitude 1t is
one OF the meanest into which humani-
ty can fall. How sharper than SER
pent's tooth is it to have a thankless
cLild." We are all children of a great
Father, and just as a human parent
feels the careless Indifference of his
child, SO God our heavenly Father Is
grieved when we are Indifferent to
the love which blesses us.
BLOW. blow, thou wintry wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As mans ingratitude
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
AS benefits forgot;
Tho thou the waters warp,
my sung Is not so sharp
AS friend remembered not"
One of the greatest benefactors of
today said recently that he had learn
ed by sad experience that no man
could be philanthropist until he had
grown calloused to the ingratitude of
mankind. We are as a people motor
iously ungrateful. 1t is pathetically
true, that as a nation we are losing
out OF our life some of the finer and
sweeter traits of character and we are
becoming less noble because we are
a nation of ingrates. This character
istic is Illustrated in the striking COM
ment made by Robert Louis Stevenson
upon Matthew Arnold just after Ar
nold's death. Poor Matt, he has gone
to heaven, there is no doubt of that,
but he won't like God He simply
meanth that Matthew Arnold had done
so much fault finding with God in his
lifetime that 1t had become a habit,
and there was no likelihood Of It's be-
Ing overcome, even in a higher and
better world. DR.. William Adams
with a bit of sarcasm calls attention
to this in saying, "a man ought 70
have a very steady head who reads
nothing but American newspapers.
Why one might be excused who
should live in a constant expectation
Of the worlds catastrophe Rumor of
a comet whisking its fiery tail among
the stars and certain to demolish our
planet; tornado upsetting houses,
fences and forests: corn in the last
OF June, all over the west, not more
than three inches high, when it should
have been as many feet; now a
drought which bakes the burrows and
burns up the pastures; now rains ex-
cessive and continuous beyond the
memory Of the Oldest inhabitant;
tremendous inundation of the Mississ-
ippi; cold snap in May, which kills
all the fruit; popular election when
the very foundations of society are
moved; Shem, Ham and Japhet pelt-
Ing one another with determinations
and the air filled with all the menaces
and terrors of the old prophets; today
plethora of money eager to buy up
the whole continent and tomorrow a
panic, verify one might believe that
the world was coming to an end 20
times in the course of a twelve-month."
But isn't 1T remarkable that we get
along well despite all this. The sun
rises and sets for us. The stars are
are not jostled out of their orbits.
The seasons follow each other in or
derby succession and each Thanksgfv-
ing day find US with renewed cause to
thank God and take courage.
In order to completely fill up the
measure of this day we should return
our gratitude to God as Americans,
as Christians and as men. We are
citizens of the greatest republic the
world has ever known; we are sub
jects Of a better country, that is a
heavenly; and we are members of the
human family.
What cause have we for gratitude
as Americans?
Instantly there flashes into our
minds the unexampled prosperity which
has come to us this year. The wealth
of the wooded hills, the hidden treas
ures of the granite mountain, the IN
told riches Of our rolling prairies. the
opulence Of a thousand valleys, all
these and more are ours to command.
We are the granary and treasury of
the world. So great has been the ma
terial reward of our labors this year
that We are embarrassed by our pros
perity. The abundance of our estate
has never been paralleled since the
treasures of civilization were poured
into the Golfers of the City of the Seven
Hills, when Rome was the center of
the world. But these are not the great
| est things for which We are thankful