Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-11-27
THANKSGIVING

In this old world of ours there is SO much sof good
and Of i'll that ones attention may be fully occupied by
either if he seeks for that and nothing else. And by
recognizing the existence only II the good or the ill one
may place himself SO thoroughly out OF touch with the
world as it is that it is impossible for him to adjust him
sef to its affairs in any practical way. We live in a
world Of mixed qualities and mixed motives, and we
must recognize both in order to deal effectively with
either. Perhaps because it is the undesirable things that
create our emergencies. the situations which require
immediate action. that it is these things which occupy
tho most prominent places in our consciousness. War.
pestilence and famine: fire. flood and crime: social
and political ills; all these occupy a great deal OF our
time and call for a large share OF our attention:
It is wholesome. therefore, that We should, occasion
ally devote attention solely to the other features OF the
picture. and by contemplating the good things Of life,
restore the balances.
Thanksgiving day is a day set apart by custom and
tradition to this purpose. The observance Of the day
began under conditions which at this distance do not
seem cheerful. A little band OF men and women, self
exiled to a savage wilderness, with their numbers dim
inished by death and the survivors weakened by disease.
their crops having failed and a stern winter being upon
them. the Pilgrims yet found time to render thanks to
Almighty God for the blessings which he had bestowed
upon them. There seems to be a sort Of grim irony about
it, and yet it was a magnificent demonstration Of the
superiority Of the human spirit over its material sur
round1ngs. q superb disqualification Of qualities which
have made this nation great, qualities without which
no nation can really live. -.
The yeaFs have passed, and have brought with them
their changes The wit of man has solved a few more
Of natures riddles, and has devised means whereby to
revolutionize the externals OF life. But through al: the
material changes the spirit that was exhibited in that
first New England Thanksgiving has persisted, and the
institutions which the Pilgrims conceived to be the most
important things in life are still the moving influences
in the Affairs Of men. Liberty and tyranny are engaged
in their endless struggle, now, as then: the sacred in
stitution Of the family, is still attacked by influences
which would destroy it; there are still those who would
substitute for a world Of order one Of chaos, and there
are still those who repudiate the Obligations Of con-
science and Of everything that tends to the full graft
ficaton Of their own unbridled passions. Yet through
all the hlurk and mist that influence which our fore
fathers recognized as the hand Of God, still guides, and
restraints, and urges onward. And whenever the issue is
clearly understood to be between good and evil, men
and women are found in sufficient numbers to put forth
all the effort and make all the sacrifices that may be
necessary to insure the success of good and the suppress
sion Of evil.
We give thanks for material good, and we do we'll.
But back of it alt there is the persistence Of the eternal
principle. immaterial, .undefinable, and often unrecog-
nizable, for which we have still more abundant reason
to be humbly and devoutly grateful.