The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-11-26
Thanksgiving.

If there ever was time when the
American people had reason to give
thanks this is the year. We are at
peace. The most important nations
of the rest of the world are at war.
Our factories are running and soon
they will be buster than ever; the
wheels of industry on the other side
have been stopped. Our crops,
amounting to ten billion dollars, the
largest we have ever known, are
harvested and safe; their crops have
in many cases rotted in the fields.
Our boys are safe in their schools, or
at their work; their boys are in the
armies. Peace and tranquility re-
main in our homes; indscribable sOr-
row broods in the homes of Europe.
/ Our children run at the close of day
to greet their fathers returning from
! work; hundred of thousands of chill
dren on the other side will never
again see their fathers. Our individ-
ual concerns are mostly of the de-
gree of comfort and of the degree of
Z, pleasure that we will have, while mil
| lions of men and women over there
would be happy if they had only a
! reasonable assurance of life and a
crust for themselves and for those
whom they love. OF what account
are the temporary Inconvenience re-
sulting from the higher problems OF
business and finance, compared with
the troubles of those families who
have neither homes nor place to
pray, who by night sleep in terror of
the sword and by day are distraught
by fears based on horrors unspeak-
able!
Amid the customary Thanksgiving
services and at the gathering OF the
clans around the board for the time
honored and cherished dinner in the
old home, let each heart take cogniz-
ance of the fact that as individuals
no less than people we are singular
ly favored and fortunate.
The glimpses of the European in
ferno that we get from day to day
should give us new thanksgiving
in America Thanksgiving that has
a deeper and more solemn meaning
than any other holiday that the pres
ent generation has known.
How can we in obscure places,
daily performing small tasks ade-
quately repay the foresight Of those
generations long gone before, who
have guided us to this happy and Sc
cure result? How can the average
man and woman living in some ham,
let, remote from the centers of popu-
lation, adequately express his or her
gratitude and appreciation of these
! blessings?
No man can better serve his cOun-
try in time OF peace than by develop
ing his own character to the end that
daily decisions shall always be in line
with truth and right, no matter how
plausible or profitable the lure of a
contrary decision may seem to be.
For it was true men who have made
our country what it is-not noisy,
blatant disturbing men, but honest,
thinking, patient men, who have been
fearless in seeking truth and justice
and logged in clinging to the truth
and justice after they have found it.
And it is men still that the country
needs and will continue to need to re-
tain our prosperity and national hap
piness. -,..-.-4..,z,.-e7-...,-
To take account of what each OF
us possesses, to weigh 1t against the
state of our unfortunate brothers on
the European continent; or of those
below the Rio Grande where nation
is emerging from war; or of those
above the Northern frontier who are
answering the call of the mother
country, and finally, to rise to new
heights of resolution and determine
ton to do our own individual parts
in treasuring up our heritage of citi-
zenship that we may pass that heri-
tage on clean and full to those that
must follow us, that is the plain duty
of all our folks at the Thanksgiving
time of 1914!