News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1915-11-24
PASS ON THE JOY
OF Thanksgiving
Making Others Glad Should Be
Considered One of the Chief
Duties of the
Season.

count your blessings in a negative
sort of way, by saying, Eyes, it's yer!
nice, but it could be much nicer" It's
quite the usual thing to hear folk com
plain-and complaining is heard more
often than praise and thankfulness
| .Yet-so they tell us-a little over three
hundred years ago band of sturdy
venturesome Christian folk were very
/ thankful indeed and praised their Lore
fervently over a handful of parchet
corn and bit of unleavened bread.
| Once year we set apart day, con
secrated to their memory, and try tt
| throw aside the customs and complain
| ings of the world as we know it. We
! gather ogether-fanlilies of us-anG
eat turkey and plum pudding; we tall
of commonplace and sometimes we
feel bored and tired. Yet we are sup
posed to be celebrating.
We have bushels of things to be
glad for this year-hundreds it seems
more than we ever had. AS we Offer
up our blessings it won't be hard tc
remember that across dividing Bit
of ocean other people are starving tC
death, and that ought to make us just
a bit more thankful. AS we see ou1
families sitting around talking com
monplaces it may help us to think OF
other families in other countries that
are fighting and dying on blood-stained
battlefields. AS we hear the crisp No
Ivember wind banging in the trees, we
ought to be mighty thankful that ii
isn't the sound of cannon and bugles
and screams that we're hearing Oh
friends of mine, it won't be very hard
to be thankful this year!
AS was walking down Fourth ave
nue. few days ago l was thinking,
with my head in the clouds, of many
things; thinking so hard that l did
not notice exactly where my feet were
taking me. 1t was only when I STUN.
ming around corner that l came
down to earth with bump.
ooh! I'm so sorry" l said. did
hurt your"
Oats a right, lady," said the little
boy with a dirty Raphael-cherub grin
81 was only running!"
"Oh!"-he was lingering at my side,
so l felt it necessary to make CONVEX
sation-"you were running-playing
something?"
HUH" the little boy grunted
beatifically as he pulled up one ragged
stocking. ooh, no; was JUS running
fer fun
His little face crinkled with smiles
again and he trotted on out of my
sight.
Just running for fun, for the pure
joy of living. A little boy with moth,
ing else to make him happy-and yet
number of us frown and fret in the
midst of all sorts of pleasures.
was talking to chum of mine not
long ago, and some way our converse
ton drifted around to Thanksgiving
time, and our Interpretation of the
day.
tits al wrong!" said my chum
earnestly, "all wrong!"
"Why?" l asked curiously. I'm al
ways thankful for my blessings on
Thanksgiving; so are most people.
Why is it all wrong?"
"Well" answered my chum, ION
Thanksgiving day we sit around and
talk and eat-principally / once
asked little girl what Thanksgiving
day meant, and she said turkey and
cranberry saucel' And then we thank
God complacently for our harvests,
and our food, and our clothes, and his
love. Isn't it SOP" Il
"Yes," l admitted. Il
WELL" continued the girl, "the Pill
grims did that, too, years ago. But
they did not stop there. After they |
thanked God for their own blessings
they tried to pass on the joy to folk
less fortunate than they were. They,
even invited the Indians, beings that
they had every reason to be afraid of,
into their homes and gave them lit
tie Of the seasons cheer. They kept,
Thanksgiving"
1hen-l was choosing my WORDS
rather carefully-"then your idea is
not to be thankful yourself-only to
give someone else a chance to be
But" asked the girl softly, isn't
hat the right way to be thankful" 1
Isn't it?
It's very easy thing to pass along
the outside of life without even dip
ping down into the depths, and ever so
many people do it because it is the
easiest way. Somehow it is hard to
convince folk that things that tear at
their heartstrings are the things that
hey should see and know. It's mighty
easy to eat our Thanksgiving dinners
without a thought of our brothers and
sisters who are starving on some other
street in the same city, and it's only
It is so much easier, reckon,
hat people do forget to pass a BIT of
heir plenty and peace.
But, as l write, I can't help thinking
If filled-to-overflowing baskets that
have seen in missions, of eager chill