Year: 1867

Short sermons suit Thanksgiving day. The
turkey is simmering in the oven; the children
are to be watched in their clean clothes; the
old people arrived last night, and are anxious
to see and hear all that can be seen and heard
of the family and the home during the short
hours of this annual festival. This day is sa-
cred 10 the rites of hospitality. The whole
house is warm and glowing, and the chill i'm
the November air without serves only to EN-
phasize the warmth within, as the early shad-
ows of tfe quickly coming evening viii bring
out In brighter contrast the illumination OF
the curtained windows. 1t is a day for our
selves and our friends, for fireside talk of the
old days and the old struggles, of which our
everyday friends know nothing; Of present
which the outside world would hardly guess.


And yet the intrusive world will not be kept
wholly out. The light and warmth cannot be
wholly shut in. The poor ye have always
with you. On this day they are sure to be
remembered 1t is impossible to sit snug and
warm at home, and not think OF those less
fortunate who wander in the streets or cover
over chilly hearths. They t,o must share the
festivities OF this thrice welcome season. To
them come this morning unexpected boun-
ties Of food, and fuel, and clothing, from Gods
stewards. On this day, too, it is fitting that
we should remember the nations poor. Our
New England feast day has become nation
al holiday. Our governors, when they invite
us to set apart one day for thanksgiving, do
bat repeat the invitation of the Chief Magis-
trate of the nation. 1t is national day of
thanksgiving for abundant spiritual and ma
terial blessings-for plenteous harvests, for
health and peace, for the steady growth Of
patriotic courage and hope, and the subsistence
OF the waves Of civil commotion.


] And while we rejoice in these nationa
blessings, 1t is well, it is necessary to remem-
Der, that the nations wards, the poor, the
the Southern States for an invitation to join
in our feasting. What can we do for them?
What should we do for them, as fellow Great
ures2 This is no day to talk of political DIFF
ferences. Whatever opinions a man may
hold about the tariff, or the currency, or sui
frage, let him hold them in peace to-day
But here are these poor people, slaves the
other day, citizens now-have we not some
duties towards them irrespective of political
opinions? 1t is out of season TO argue about
slavery. Slavery has ceased. II is useless to
talk about suffrage. The negroes are voting.
Right or wrong, these things have come
about. Here is a race Intellectually crippled
and blind, called upon for the performance of
duties which require intelligence and strength
of character, needing of all things instruction
information, intellectual discipline, and eager
ly receptive, we are told. We bestow food on
are people starving for information, hungry
for knowledge, and shall we Withhold our
hands from giving?


There were last summer almost hundred
thousand pupils enrolled in the Freedmen's
schools, under the care of eighteen hundred
teachers. The Freedman's Union Commission
like the Sanitary and Christian Commissions
during the war, is a spontaneous organization
of the people to perform a work which the
government has not been able to do. 1t is
not partisan, nor partial. The broad human
ity of its purpose is not limited by any formu-
la. 1t is temporary, providing always for its
own speedy termination, by educating South
ern teachers and preparing the way for South
ern free schools. Why shall we not on this
national Thanksgiving day participate In this
excellent work? Why not ON this day set
apart some portion of our store to help raise
the nations poor from their low estate?
While enjoying the blessings of good govern
ment, why not express our gratitude by con-
tributing to make it better, by elevating and
improving the people who are to live under it