The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-11-28
FOR WHAT ARE WE THANKFUL?

We are thankful for being permit
ted to live out more than the Biblical
limit of years. and among generous,
tolerant and indulgent people, and in
state whose climate is soft and
balmy. whose zephyrs are gentle and
playful, and where nature has been
prodigal with her gifts in so many
things of utility and beauty.
We are thankful for approaching
the fullness OF time when the war
drums shall sound no longer and when
the white dove of peace is stretching
her wings so as to cover the greater
part of the earth, and soon shall Gov
Ell the whole.
We are thankful that the south.
through her various religious, politi
cal and benevolent associations, and
in her state legislature. and through
her members of congress, has welcom
ed the4league of nations almost as the
second coming of the Master, which
foreshadows that the earth shall never
more be incarnadined with the blood
of her young men.
We are thankful that the souths has
shown its loyalty to, and love for the
government in the storm and stress OF
war; that it has not been nest OF
bolshevism in any of it's forms; that
it is a stranger to bomb throwing and
dynamiting, and has never hoisted the
red flag of anarchy.
And then viewing our country as a
whole, quoting from a recent sermon
printed in the New York Herald from
Rev. Ernest M. Stires, rector of ST
Thomas Episcopal church of New
York City, we can truthfully say that
we are thankful and have abundant
gratitude
"6or our government, a daring ex-
pertinent in true democracy, stronger
for every test through which it has
passed. and generally confessed to be
of all political forms the most stable
and the most responsive to the will
of the people.
For our vast resources; for the
song of the harvester, the hum of the
factory, the wealth of the mines, the
wells producing two-thirds of the fuel
oil of the world, the whirr of the saw
i'll the big timber; but more than
these, for our human resources-the
American men and women of high
ideals, keen minds, warm hearts and
strong, practical hands; these are our
treasures.
For the victory Of a year ago,
which has grown from month 70
month: for the safe return from Eu.
rope of nearly two million of our
brave men: for the increasing inspir.
alton of the example of those who
gave all for our safety and honor;
for the larger morality and patriot
ism contributed by four million men
in service and now returning to slim.
ulate all our civilian life.
For our vision of duty at this
hour-to help make war impossible
through league of nations whose
provisions shall be effective. reasona.
BILE and honorable; to make victo
rious in every part of our national
life those ideals of justice, freedom
and humanity, for which civilization
poured out its richest blood; to show
ourselves worthy by an honest enlist.
ment to extend the victory by sacri-
flee Of luxuries, the cessation of ex
travagance, criminal in itself and in
in it's influence, by simpler living
land unself1sh service, by an honest
and persistent effort to solve the in
dustrial problem through enforcing
on capital and labor alike decisions
that are fair to all; by a practical
program Of thorough Americanization
OF the foreign-born. their children and
others. And all of this vast under
taking inspired by the only power
which can bring VICTORIAN obedi
ent faith in God"