" IN THE LAND OFrUPOIDE DOWN." PAGE 11
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South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Ueorgia.
Vol. JttV. No. 46.
RALEIGH, N. C, NOVEMBER 19, 1910.
Weekly: $1 a Tear
THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THANKSGIVING
T this season, when the crops are mostly gathered in, when
JT& the season's warkis about over and we are beginning pre
parations for another year, it has become a custom for
men of all classes and conditions to pause, as it were, in the
labors of their hands and take account of the blessings that are
theirs, to give one day to enjoying and expressing their grati
tude for the good things that have come to themi It is a beau
tiful custom, too ; especially so wheri it is made, as in many
cases it is, the occasion for the reunion of friends and families,
and of wholesome and grateful
rejoicing.
; Comings as it does, at a time
when the farmer is able to take
Zmtocle of Shis possessions -and T to
estimate the results of his year's
labor, the day has grown to be
associated with the idea of pros
perity material gain: we are
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'agUS hiHX
expected to be thankful because
crops are good and prices high,
because barn and store-room are
filled, because, forsooth, we have
turkey on the table and money
in the bank,
TMb is alt well enough, but it
seems to us that a far finer spirit
is expressed in our Thanksgiving
poem that we should be thank
ful, not only for herds and flocks
and rich-harvested fields for
which we have planned and
mtnrkeA "all the vear. but also
for the gifts that come to us unsought, often almost unheeded :
"For the morning blue above us
And the rusted gold of the fern"
For the everyday beauty of this good old world of ours, and
"the pure joy of living" as Browning puts it.
Thankful we should be, not only for the friends, who gather
with us to enjoy the season's cheer, but also for all the men
and women of the past who toiled and strove to make the world
better and brighter :
- "For those who wrought aforetime,
Led by the mystic strain
To strive for the larger freedom
And live for the greater gain."
Thankful above all, not for any of the things we have, bat
for the things we can do ; counting as our chief est blessing, not
that we have goodly stores, not that we live in peace anfl se
curity, not that this world of ours is fair and poqd, but that it
is our privilege and our duty to make it, fairer n& better, to
OF COURSE. THANKSGIVING DAY MEANS TURKEY.
add to its prosperity and well-being : our greatest possession
still the desire to do something worthy
"The spirit
That can not rest nor bide ...
. But still inspired and driven,
Must seek what better may be."
We should be especially thankful for the spirit, this desire,
because it is this that has given us to dwell in a land of per
sonal liberty and of National aspiration ; because it is this spirit
that is slowly, perhaps, but sure
ly bringing about in the land a
higher standard of living, a finer
sense of justice, a truer discrimi
nation between right and wrong,
a nobler conception of life, both
in its attainments and its aims.
It is because men have not been
content merely to enjoy things
as they were, because men today
are not content merely to enjoy
things as they are, that the pro
gress of humanity has been, and
is, upward and onward. j
That spirit of fretful dissatis
faction which blinds a man's
eyes to the beauty of life as it is,
is a thing no one should be willing
to harbor in his heart at this
season of thanksgiving; but the
possession of that "divine dis
content" which enables him to
see the beauty that is not vetreaU
ity, and to strive to bring, it into being, is a cause for thanks- "
giving than which no man can possess a greater.
And as there are two kinds of discontent, so there seems to be
two kinds of gratitude. There is -the kind that says to itself :
"See, all this is mine; is it not good to be grateful, since I have
been able to get so much ? I certainly have cause for rejoicing
for I. am much more fortunate than others." Then there is the
gratitude which makes a-man glad not' so much for what has
been given him as for what he can give, which enables him to
say, "How fortunate I am since I am able to do this needed
work so long left undone."
Can there be any question as to which of these is th s true spirit
of Thanksgiving Day, or which will contribute most to the happU
ness of humanity and to the growth in the individaal of those
qualities most likely to add to the joy of future Thanksgivings ?
This Week: What Farmers Want to Know; Rational Diversifi
. cation; "What I am Doing for Better Crops"; South
Carolina Drainage Work; The HistThankscivintf; "The Land of Unirle
Pawn " Loose Stock and Worthless Do; .Orchard-Planting Npf.es.
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