Year: 1876

Curisiinhs, new lear - iuiio" iNe, A+'Ao'eA
Day, May Day, various saints days-and all
continue to have more or less observance in
different parts Of the country. These we
have inherited from .'the Old Country" but
Thanksgiving Day is our own. 1t IS purely
American. 1t dates from the early settle
times of hardship and suffering and among
n people who, under all circumstances, oven
the mo unpropitious, were taught to hnd
something still in their lives for which to
thank the Giver Of all good. The grim old
Puritan deacon who, in time OF fam
inc. invited his friend to dine on dish OF
CLANS, fanked by empty plates, and began
the meal by offering "thanks to God for the
bounty of the seas, of which He hath
provided for our sustenance and re-
freshment," spoke and thought In the
devout spirit which still characterizes
the day. and though we, the more fortunate
descendants Of those earlier and poverty
stricken days, sometimes misuse our abun-
dance to the getting of an indigestion, the
day is still one of thanks as we'll MS feasting-
one on which Americans are accustomed to
survey their lives and to speak out their
gratitude to God.


1T is good thing to give thanks unto the
Lord" says the Psalmist. 1t is pleasant
and useful custom by which on one day in
the year we join in general, national
act of gratitude. 1t will be well if for one
day we can turn from the turmoil of politics,
from the scheming and self-seeking Of poll
ticians from the cares of business and the
anxieties of daily life, and, whether in
church or at home, review our lives, the
events of the past year, the joys and sor-
rows, anxieties, satisfactions and disappoint-
ments, and, SO reviewing, lift up our hearts
in gratitude to God. There are parts Of our
population to whom perhaps the giving OF
thanks to-day will seem rs strained as was
the Puritan deacon's gratitude for a dinner
of clans. and yet he might have had less.


1t is the centennial. and it is certainly
matter for special gratitude that the
blessing of Divine Providence has been
upon our land SO long that liberty has been
maintained among us (; that the union OF
States still exists that in this century since
the foundation of the nation we have in
creased not merely in numbers and wealth,
but, as we believe, in virtue, in intelligence,
in all that makes people really great and a
nation enduring. The temporary evils from
which q community suffers seem often to
overshadow the good; but ifw look back
into our past we shall see that, on the
whole, evil and wrong have been temporary
ovI II fc a Eoh Ia
gree that, on the whole, those things which
make for the soundest happiness and pros
perity of nation have been stronger
than any evils or wrongs. Those who
look only at recent events in some
of the Southern States, who see only the
soldiers in the South Carolina State House,
the rogues in the Louisiana Returning
Board the scheming and unpatriotic poll
ticians in Washington and elsewhere, the
indecent and reckless conduct of partisans,
may prefer rather to keep to-day as day of
fasting and humiliation but, discouraging
and disgusting as are these things, we pre-
fer to believe that they are temporary. and
that the corrupt and reckless partisans to
whom we owe national disgrace will work
their will but little while, and the cause
of right, Of humanity and constitutional
liberty will not suffer permanent injury.


Surveying the year since last Thanksgiv-
ing Day we have many and various causes
for gratitude to the Disposer of events.
Abundant crops keep famine from our
doors improving business gives US hope of
increased prosperity for next year. No pes
thence has attacked our lives no war has
scourged us. Our mechanics and skilled
laborers have heard the praises of their in
genuity and industry from the mouths of
all foreign visitors to the Centennial Exh-
bition. We have held most exciting Pres
idential election without disorder We are
at peace with oil nations, and have neither
suffered nor done wrong to any. For these
and many other blessings we may well give
thanks to-day. And if we must re-
member the anxious condition of the
public mind about the acts of bad
men in the disputed States, the
reckless partisan spirit which is there cast
ing shade on the fair fame Of the country,
surely we may be both grateful and proud
that the strain which has been so needlessly
put upon the temper of the people, not only
down there, but everywhere, has so far
worked no evil. No American to-day can
help but beproud of his countrymen, to see
that in spite of the rash measures of the
politicians lawful methods alone are used to
obtain justice F; and patient endurance of
temporary wrong-the true and only course
for men who desire to remain free and who
value liberty-has been the rule no matter
how great and pervading the sense of wrong.


1t is day OF prayer as well as thanks, and
from millions of pious hearts will go up to-
day devou. petitions that these trials which
tho nation is now undergoing may be turned
70 4,nr uo4,d TINT the nennla may lenrn wis.