Norwich bulletin., 1916-11-25
Sunday Morning Talk
FIVE KERNELS OF CORN.


 the custom for the Pilgrims to share their crops in common, the people of Plymouth colony were threatened with a very serious famine. The rationS were dealt out ,WItt1 the utmost care, but, in spite of every precautio the but five grains a day were allowed each person. It shows the stuff of which these men and women were made that not even then vas che voice of murmuring heard or any par pose expressed to abandon the enter prise and return to England.
 Better years followed, but the bit ter winter of 1893 was not forgotten. A pretty custom arose of commence rating, on each recurring Thanksgiv- ing Day, the anxious months when the food had all but failed. Before the dinner was served. there was set i:e- side each plate five grains cf corn. Then each took the little handful of corn and held it while the blessing or grace" was asked. To every one present ever to t.2e youngest who had the sacrifices of the stanch Pilgrim fathers and mothers were thus made vivid. 55
 To most moderns. the palmiest days of the colony would seem quite bar ren of comforts. Thanksgiving Day
 
 tions that we regard as almost mean in their poverty. When Gov. Bradford made deliberate provision, after the first Seanty harvest, for three days feasting and prsyerful rejoicing, pro- viding withal for the entertainment of white men included in the infant col ony itself, he had no false pride about silver plate or many and elaborate courses. He neither wished nor was able to make any display of wealth. The godly pioneer simply desired to express thanks to the Giver- of all good that he and his associates were alive, after theic perilous adventures, and that the means to sustain fife further were at hand.
 As a matter of fact, the thankful spirit is as likely to be found among those who have little as those who have much. Well-favored and self in - | dulgent lives are not those generally conscious of any deep sentiments of gratitude. Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch will, as rl1l9, find more bless ings to be thankful for than will Mrs. De Puyster of the Avenue. Gratitude 1 is one of the most beautiful of vir- 1 tues and 1t dourishes often ;n most 1 forbidding soil, even as flowers attain especially nigh and lovely colorin gs amid the rocks and fogs and east winds of the seashore.
 We remember when 1t was that St Paul thanked God and took courage It was midway between shipwrecll and a prison. He lad barely esca ped death in the deep and was about to pass as an indicted criminal into the 1 hands of Caesar. Wheg the little band of his fellow Christians at Rome heard l that the apostle was coming, they set i out to meet him. It was at this ex- perience of human fellowship that The buffeted man found his heart filled with gratitude. He seemed 10 have 1 lost almost everything that one could l hold dear, but here at least, wAG hu- man sympathy and kindness; there- fore he thanked God and took cour- | age. Some people have so much to be thankful for that they are not very thankful for anything. They are ,n- 1 elined to grunble for something more l It is the people who have lost a good 1 deal who are inclined to count up the 1 good gifts of God that still remain 1 and are often surprised to find them | so many and so precious.
 l The spirit of gratitude is a. moral | achievement. Few can reach 1t with l out some degree of inner struggle 1 There is a good deaf in the lives o1 l most of us that we could wish differ l ent. We must overcome some of cur 1 discentents before we can praise God l But that is 9 victory worth all the costs of winning. Yslfr