The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-11-30
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 80, 1915
A Material Thanksgiving.


Today we are going to gather
aSout our family hearth for the annual
observance of Thanksgiving Day. 1t has
been proclaimed by the President OF the
nation and the Governor of the state
and it is meet and our bounden duty
that we set aside this one day to give
thanks TO the Almighty for the manifold
blessings which have been extended to
us as a nation, to us as city and to US
as individuals for year past.
1t should be particularly day for
introspection We are prosperous in this
country almost beyond our dreams Of
two years ago. The fields have yielded
bountiful harvest, the smoking chimneys
Of factories have proclaimed the stream
of steady gold which has gone into the
pockets Of the workers and the men who
manage these great institutions. Our
nation has been at peace. In the midst
Of wars rattle of musketry and boom
of cannon, we have been spared from
pestilence and famine and yet--in it all
there seems to fall the shadow of some
thing else. We have waxed fat if not
through surely on account of the misery
of O. war ridden continent. 1t is not
q time to criticise any one for growing
fat on the demands of war. War makes
these demands and they must be met.
War brings its sufferings and for every
rifle fired some suffering must follow
and we could not have done anything
to have prevented the years sorrow.
Still there fingers in it all the question
as to whether the prayer of thanks is
Just the proper thing. Rather we feel
that there should be the prayer of the
humble and the contrite heart. The APP
peal to the Giver of all good things that
He make us humble in our prosperity,
that He keep us from vain Boosting and
put into the minds of all of us the de-
sire to go out and aid those who suffer
The thanks of great nation is ever
due to Almighty God and it may be
given better than in any other way by
approaching the throne Of Grace with
hands unstained with the blood of suf-
fering. We are not one with Ninevah
and Tyre" and yet the story of those
ancient nations-which reveled in pros
perity--is recalled today Let us on the
morrow contemplate the demand for
Numbleness.
May it be a holiday Of good cheer and
featured as it ever has been by happy
reunions Of the members of family
about the family table, may it bring
the material good things to every home
and fireside but may it bring along
with them the idea Of contemplation of
Tie plight of others. The President of
the United States has sounded the idea
Of new MATERIAL Thanksgiving in
bis annual proclamation. In his procla-
nation he takes away none Of the tradi-
lions Of the day but he instills into it
the idea of Thankfulness through Help
fulness. In concluding his proclamation
Of the day he says:
"And L also urge and suggest our
duty in this, our day of peace and
abundance, to think in deep sympathy
Of the stricken peoples of the world
upon whom the curse and terror of war
has fallen so pitilessly, and to contrib
hte out of our abundant means to the
relief of their sufferings
Our people could in no better way
show their real attitude towards the
present struggle Of the nations than by
contributing out of their abundance to
the relief of the suffering which war
has brought"
Be old fashioned tomorrow. Take the
members of your family and attend the
public expression of the day in the
churches of the city. Openly proclaim
the fact that your thanks are the mater
ial thanks suggested by your President
by opening your purse strings that out
of the fullness of your prosperity may
come something which may relieve the
misery thrust upon some Others We
know that this kind of an observance
of Thanksgiving will come nearer than
any other to be the real idea of the day
for this year of mingled prosperity and
misery.