The Washington herald., 1913-11-27
WOMAN AND, THE HOME
The Day of Thanksgiving
Edited by JuLIA CHANDLER MANI.
By FRANCES SHAFFER.

1t was approaching Thanksgiving Day.
and they were quietly discussing life on
the darker side. when troubles and wor-
ries and losses and pains come crowdlng
along. all In a heap: and one woman, with
fine bit OF faith. remarked:
But the best of 1t is. when things look
the dreariest of all and when II seems
that not another step can be tak.n in
the darkness, there always comes turn
in the road. leading to the light. always
some fair way that is opened"
But some one, perhaps more practical
than trusting, asked ncr IL she counted
II true that most Of us have really
begin to squirm under the load, "r II
We only think we have.
Thinking back to the woes that have
pushed and pressed far harder than she
liked, and remembering. after all, that
release came pretty soon, she was bound
to admit that IL life had not been rather
kind In Withholding the worst Of its blows
she would not have come to the End OF
her trouble-road quite so soon.
For. you see, she began to make COM
PARSONS.
Letting her thoughts wander away to
visions of.siife as some folk must live
1t, and to the long darksome way they
must travel. with scarcely one bright
turn TO enlfveH II. she knew II was true
that few Of us are driven along as far
as strength or courage or patience will
endure. Because, when folk must hold
out to the bitter end. II takes weary push
ing and many a hurt TO break them.
Rather, We are turned aside, into the
easier, brighter pathway. where the dark
ness and the hurts are lifted-and the
end of the road is very far away We
escape, but-and there's the pity OF it
some hapless wayfarers are driven along.
And, as she compared her own rela-
lively sunny days with the turbulent
downpour that constitutes life for many
another. she and all the little group de-
cided that for this year. at least, the
note OF thanksgiving in the heart would
be for some Of the things they had
missed.
And then they fell to talking Of men
and women who go through crises so
bitter and intense that II seems to on
lockers that II the test were theirs they
barely would have courage to lie down
and die. none at all to sustain them.
But again some one reminded them that
the pathway was there, to be followed
in all its dreariness. down to the very
end. with never a break in the road and
with no kind fortune to turn them aside
Because life has not a way of asking
whether its burdens are acceptable or
no: II portions them out as 1t will. and
the hapless ones must stumble along
with the stoutest hearts they can sum-
mon.
And the rest, those who think they
have carried along as heavy a load
as they ought to be asked to carry when
they have borne only the average bur
dens. do not' stop to measure the weary
distance between them and the end OF
the road that some must travel. Sor-
rows come and troubles follow and they
think they have tasted enough of life's
bitterness; but their path has been
cleared of tragedy. and they have rea-
son to rejoice. For there are storms
that crush and beat folk down along
their tired way and make them long to
bury themselves and all their woes And
that group had escaped them, that group
and many another, in whose heart there
is no little song of thanksgiving, be-
cause they persistently think of the
things they wish they had, rather than
of the grievous ills they have skipped.
"a cmfwy abmanan
Thankful. you and I?
II not, there are the slums to arouse US
Weighed down by troubles that crowd
so hard we think the end OF the road
must be at hand.
Let u.s. read between the lines of the
stories that daily flash over the wires and
guess something of the heartache and
genuine woe that come to some troubled
folk, and then let us rest in the glad con-
viction that We scarcely know the mean
ing OF trouble.
Nothing to be thankful for? Let our
Old friend praaok, &,