Evening star., 1939-11-19
m Who Lived China for Seven Enjoys Variety Hobbies
Just
Between
Yourselves
: BY PHILIP H. LOVE,
Junior Star Editor.

such a fuss over Thanksgiving"
said Peggy. "It's nice to have the
day of from school, to go to a
football game, to fill up on stuffed
turkey and other good things, but
well. it's just another holiday after
ALL"
II don't know so much about
that" countered her friend Kitty.
1T may be just another holiday,
but it's one that has a lot of good
Christian tradition behind it. Take
the Pilgrims, for instance"
"All right-let's take the Pill
grims," Peggy interrupted. "You
can't blame them for celebrating
thanksgiving; they had plenty to
be thankful for. But times have
changed. Nowadays people have
just about everything they want
all kinds of modern conveniences,
nice houses and apartments to live
in, plenty to eat. And there's GER
tainly no reason to go around feel
ing thankful for things that are
well, things that are more or less
taken for granted"
That's just the point!" Kitty ex-
claimed. You may take a lot of
things for granted because you've
always had them, but what OF the
people who don't have-and never
have had-those things?"
We'll, they've got still less to be
thankful for
Il disagree with you," Kitty re-
piled. Il don't know just how to
explain what I feel about Thanks
giving, but-well, let's start with
you. ...
"You say the things you enjoy are
too commonplace to warrant any
feeling of thankfuness. All right
maybe they are commonplace with
you, but isn't that all the more rea-
son why you should be thankful?
II you've always had practically
everything you've wanted, you ought
to regard Thanksgiving as the
greatest holiday of an-you've Ger
tainly got more reason to celebrate
it wholeheartedly than most people.
But think of the other people
those who haven't been so fortunate
as you. You say they have still
less to be thankful for Well. /
disagree with you there, too, and
I'll tell you why.
Anybody who has steady Job.
no matter how humble. has that to
be thankful for. Anybody who has
part-time job, anybody whose health
is good, whose home life is happy
all these people have reasons to be
thankful. too. And even those who
don't have work. who aren't in good
health, whose home life isn't so
happy-well, they ought to be
thankful for the w. P. A., the Com
munity Chest. free disqualification,
and also for living in country that
is still free and still at peace.
What have the people of Great
Britain, France, Germany, Poland,
Czecho- -Slovakia, Belgium. Holland,
Finland-what have any of the peo-
pie in Europe got to be thankful
for?"
That's just it," Peggy retorted.
Thanksgiving is>an American holi-
day"
"Of course it's an American holi-
day. And it ought to be an Amer
lean holiday. Why, we-the people
of this country, the poorest as well
as the richest, the weakest as well as
the strongest-we've got more to be
thankful for than any other people
on earth"
Just another holiday did you
say, Peggy? Oh, no! Think over
what your friend said-look about
you, here and across the seas-and
you'll see that Thanksgiving is, in
many respects, the grandest OF all
our holidays. Enjoy your time off
from school, see all the football
games you like, fill up on stuffed
turkey and other good things, too
but don't overlook the spirit of
thankfulness that made the holiday
possible in the first place!
4 X
Janet Reid Ralph, II, of 5210 Illi-
nois avenue NV, in note accom-
panying her latest story, "a Turkey
Gobbler's Luck" explained: Il wrote
this story partly to show the good
that State wild life parks bring to
every one. I visited one in Maine
this summer and found it very in
teresting." And from her sister,
Marie-Louise, II, prize winner of a
few weeks ago: Thanks for the
prize dollar. 1t was a thrill to re-
ceive it-and spent it to good ad-
vantage"