New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-11-27
THANKSGIVING

1ne lrlDune t1ndS particular
pleasure in complying with this re-
quest, addressed to it several days
ago by a young lady:
Kindly tell me whether Thanks
giving is a Christian holiday only.
or a holiday for all nationalties.
Our correspondent may be excused
for using the word 'nationalities"
when she obviously means creeds
1t is q confusion of terms that does
not necessarily imply confusion of
ideas.
We are glad to be able to say that
Thanksgiving is for the thankful, no
matter where or how their faith is
exemplified or where born. 1t is only
fair to acknowledge that this was
not always so. Thanksgiving Day
originated in the devout souls OF the
bleak shores of New England to
worship God in their own way For
a long time some OF them were not
willing to accord to others the
liberty which they suffered so much
20 gain for themselves; they even
prosecuted people who worshipped
the same God in a slightly different
way. But they belonged to the great
army of those who in all time have
builded better than they knew
For you cannot permanently claim
freedom to worship God your way
and deny similar freedom to others.
AS Lincoln replied to Douglas, it is
we'll to have standard maXims, never
completely realized, but to be labored
for and approXimated TO, to con-
found and confutc those who oppose
advancing freedom.
The spirit Of liberty is pervasivc,
irresistible. Once a people invoke
it, even for limited purpose, it
spreads and conquers and dominates
their whole life 1t was so with the
Puritan Thanksgiving. 1t was so
with slavery, which was doomed
from the moment the American poo
pie planted their political faith in
the declaration that all men are
created equal in their right to life,
liberty and the pursuit Of happi-
ness. 1t was so with suffrage, re-
stricted at first to one class and
later to one sex. That sort of suf-
frage could not last in d country
dedicated to the proposition that
governments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed.
The fulfillment of true principle,
once it is sincerely accepted, is in
evitable. If you have principles,
sooner or later they will compel you
to live up to them.
This year of all years Thanksgiv-
ing has universal meaning and
appeal. We have just come through
the trial of battle in which all our
beliefs, all our ideals, all that makes
INC name AIileIlCa pIeClOuS, were
at stake. The government, in order to
win the war and preserve the civil
cation for which America stands,
laid the hand Of authority upon the
lives and fortunes of all Americans
as it needed them. There was no
distinction then of race or creed, and
there is no such distinction in the
rejoicing that fills and ovcrhows orr
hearts.
People were never in greater
need of the spirit of THANKSGIVING
than they are to-day. The war is
won, but the world must be healed
and mended, and thank fulness is one
OF the sovereign remedies.
Just consider the implications Of
thankfulness. You can't be Thankful
without being hopeful; pessimisn
and cynicism do not co-exist will
gratitude, and thankfulness shut,
out the whole tribe of malevolenc,
and destruction. 1t is the natura
outpouring of the optimist. And so
for what we have received, for VIVA
we are about to receive, may tn
Lord make us truly thankful,