Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-11-29
Dr.. WiIbert P. Ferguson's Ad-
dress at Union Thanksgiving
Services Is Striking

"Americanism-ItS Pillars and Per |
lis" was the title OF q striking ad- |
dress Ly Rev DR. Wibert P Fergu- |
son. principal Of Mills school Of the |
Mid Pacific institute. at the union |
services at the Methodist church on
Thanksgiving morning. The address |
Is powerful in theme and treatment |
of the subject DR. Ferguson said:
A community of shepherds far up
in the Alps, when returning in the !
evening to their homes, find their
mothers, wives and sisters awaiting |
them along some rocky ledge. In
stantly the shepherds shout the chal-
, lenge across the glen, Praise ye the
Lord" and the women in joyous Choir
us reply, praise ye the Lord" Thus
rock answers to rock, hill to hill and
valley to valley with devOut praise.
Akin to this simple custom is Ameri-
cas- Thanksgiving Day. Seven hours
earlier than in Honolulu. the anthem
of praise began in Porto Rico, low
and sweet: it broke upon the New
ENGLAND hills with mighty cadence: it
gathered strength on the mighty
prairies Of the west; its tones were
those Of a hallelujah chorus with full
struck the majestic Rockies: nor did |
it lose force as it poured through the
canons OF the Colorado and the Co :
lumbia that the strains might reach
FROSTY Alaska. sunny Hawaii and the
seething Philippines. Its note in Ha-
waii was accompanied by the beauti- |
full expression of patriotism surging
in the heart of one native to the i
soil:
Father, we thank Thee!
Father, we thank Thee!
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
We thank Thee for our Island home,
Its kindly sun, its summer sea,
It's gentle rain, its balmy breeze
And clouds as light as ocean breeze. |
We thank Thee for the soft green
grass
That never hides beneath the snow
For all the trees and flowers that
grow
With not a frost to bid them pass
We thank Thee for the sugar cane,
And coffee berries. ripe and red,
And taro we are daily fed.
And all the rice fields golden grain.
Father, we thank Thee!
Z Father, we thank Thee!
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
b Mary Dillingham; Frear.
A. l am not so much concerned today
/ with America as with Americans.
Do they stand for a distinct type;
and are they preserving and improv.
ing that type? My text suggests that
the Jews were a peculiar people and
differed from other nations. Is our
nation distinct and Is there a real
Americanism as discussed and de.
fined in a series of lectures before
the University of Copenhagen by our
distinguished educationist and publ.
cist, DR.. Nicholas Murray Butler, the
head of our largest university with
total enrolment this year beyond
$4,000 students? Strange and diff.
cult It may seem to discover a type
in a country as young as ours and
peopled by races so heterogeneous.
DR.. Butler found the typical Ameri-
can, not in New England, which is
hindered by traditionalism, and not
in the south-which is held down by
Sectionalism, but in .--e middle west.
Thither came the best Of New Eng
land unfettered by traditions but we'll
taught by experiments in government
made on the eastern shores, and did
take occasion by the hand and make
the bounds of freedom wider yet"
Orderly foundations were laid and
the very highest type of Americanism
was thereupon observation-disclosures, in
dustrious, inventive, daring, self-reli-
ant and religious. The states of the
middle west developed a more demo
cratic form of government, more re-
sponsive to the needs and the will of
the people, than the early fathers
dare evolve from our colonial types
These giants of the west were some.
times rude and crude but they were
always stalwart in maintaining free
institutions which would develop a
more distinctive Americanism than
in far eastern states where these
westerners found, as they claimed.
too many "warmed-oHer Englishmen."
The new states glorified the Anglo
Saxon but determined to differentiate
themselves from English colonists as
found in Canada or Australia. Amer
icanism thus became an atmosphere
in which men of large girth and vic.
torious tread were developed; and it
became also a system by which indi-
viduality may best be developed into
It's highest dignity, truest independ-
ence and greatest efficiency. Such an
Americanism has crowned the central
states with glory and honor and Civ
en- them the highest place of power
and influence in our political life.
To develop this noble spirit of the
nation DR. Butler asserts it to be ne
cessary to follow closely the writings
and addresses of Hamilton, Lincoln
and Emerson-a very suggestive COM
bination-and adds to this list seven
others to make up a list of the ten
most representative men in American
history, viz: Washington, Jefferson,
Jonathan Edwards. Benjamin Frank
lin, John Marshall, Daniel Webster
and Willard Gibbs. Their spirit must
pervade American life if We reach the