Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1913-11-29
SPIRIT OF THANKFULNESS.

ing services Thursday morning. More
Of us should have gone. Every property
owner should have placed himself OF
that particular day, at that service or
another in some position where he
could have had his conscience prObed
as to the reasonable demand of the Gre
atOr for thankfulness for his benefits
poured out like water upon our most
%ungrateful heads.
Why property owner more than an
other? Why? Because in the building
up, of a great civilization here in this
favored land, with all the splendid ac-
cessOrieS of a great civilization, some
men nave been more fortunate than 9th
ers in the acquisition of this worlds
goods. Does it follow that God has fay-
Ored these men more than others. BY
no means. It follows that his benefac-
tions have taken his particular form
in their case. In other cases ii has tax
en- other forms.
AT the public Thanksgiving service
at the Presbyterian church in Browns
vile, the preacher urged us to develop
the thanksgiving spirit in ourselves. He
clearly proved that the development
was possible. For those of us in the hab
it of thinking upon the duties ond OBJ
legations of our lives the proof was
hardly needed. Nor was it necessary to
labor long to make US see the duty of
thankfulness.
Duty? Ay. there the rub. What form
should those duties take As the minis
ter developed his theme. some
may have remembered the story of the
man who divided his fortune among his
servants as he was about to 90 to a far
country. Some of tn, servants, grateful
for the use of the money. employed it
in such fashion as to return it with in
terest to the owner. One hopes that
their thrift and enterprise brought
some reasonable profit to them. One Of
them returned it all, not a cent miss
He had not felt that the loan imposed
any enterprise or energy on him. Him
the master east into outer darkness.
No once can exhaust this wonderful
story by any one application Of it. This
one application it will undoubtedly
bear: He who has wealth entrusted ia
him in any measure is Gods {. btor.
lie must pay it in some way the Master
will approve.
The man in this valley who has mon
ey or moneys worth is Gods debtor
in such a sense that the debt must be
paid back to the valley or the people
who live in it. If such fortune as Won
have WAS created here in whole or in
a railroad to tidewater. That will mean
do not begin to say YOU made your mon
ey Yourself. If your land is worth $40,
300 or $125 an acre you never made it
worth that. You never made it worth
So an acre-because you couldn't. You
neyer in all your life possessed the ply
steal strength or the wisdom to make
ten acres of land worth $50 an acre.
Ages before you were born the God
Of heaven and earth was at work max
Ihs WIS "ohuVIIW 'dI'A puiiuIHS ~
up by his endless mighty processes
from the bed of his ocean. Moreover
every man who has cleared an acre of
land; every man who has helped to con
struct a bridge or c%ulvert; every man
who helped to build of helped to secure
the construction of a railroad here. has
helped to make you rich. Not a home
builder, not a merchant, not a cotton
ginner. not a carpenter, not a black.
smith, not one who has done a days
work or who has invest one dollar
to any profit, who has not helped your
fortune.
Cultivate the grateful spirit. and pay
them all back; pay them back as God
would have you. Invest your money I'M
valley improvement by helping to build
a railroad to tidewat2r. That will mean
help for the farmer, help for the me
ehanic-help for all merchants and for
all investors in this country. We need
community spirit in Brownsville: we
need community spirit in the valley.
Heaven keep the spirit of honesty in
US all, so that we may perceive our debt
to the community as well as our debt
to the grocer and butcher.
--O--
!. 1t, is to be observed that the State of
New York is not fighting Harry Thawi
xrff1 onu intanfinn Of Navip HE ,1,rt 4