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Show ill ANXG GIVING, 1914. T .A. y.M) 1 VI. N'O Is a, Puritan lVU.,i, a:i'l liii:'. al'.vajs had a thread ' !! nu-:t rmitiliig through ' It. ",r!:.i:u,iK i.-; ".Mi-rry Christmas;" I ii! v.ii-.-ti v.'f givo our thank.), wo ''o il v, 1 . i -c : 1 1 i 1 1 solemnity; and n ro!!ily fully with the demands l.;ililiin, ' to church, and sit under a !!mi-ii;;iical discourse from l!:c snenker. Ve ni-v.-i omit Tiiaiiksgiving merely mere-ly bir;ni::i. ilie skies are overcast or ;i:!':il ai'fain are tangled. Four '!')!!inU:tc;iviiini befell in tho years of !!; t " i i 1 V.'nr, and not one of them wsm : !::i)t d. In 1837, in 1857, in li-7:'., in l.:i3 and in 1907 we had Tb-iiik .;,!ving just as usual, In spite of panic and pinch. Ai'il of course we shall keep Thank :p;ivhi;- this year very, very Imiiii year though it is for everyone. every-one. Relatively speaking, we never li 'i'l mo e to lie thankful for. Here v.i' t ic; vr, which ii something, and no: in a';y immediate peril; with Kood crops, and markets for most of them; with our industrial appara-t appara-t as existent and tolerably busy; with our lur.i'.h and our families' healtb about, as usual, while over there a-ivus a-ivus tiie Atlantic, our various cousin ra; e by the million ill the most deadly dead-ly activities. We have warrant to be thankful, deeply thankful, that we are not in their case: not bereaved, not In terror ter-ror of any enemy, not sending the you'll and hope of our nation into a. rilcntless struggle to defend what ivs dearer to us than life; that not even our means of subsistance are imperiled, and that the check to our . profpei'ity that results from the calamities, of neighbors whose concerns con-cerns are intertwined with ours is only a check, temporary and manageable. man-ageable. We have warrant, it ceoms, to be thankful that this year we are the most fortunate people in the world, the least endangered, the least distressed. And that position implies a very serious responsibility. To whom ituuii is given, from them much tlu.H be required. If we are merely. mere-ly. thankful that destruction has pass-i pass-i d us by, we shall fall far short in our thanksgiving. If we are mere-lythai mere-lythai kful that an ocean sweepu between be-tween us and trouble, and that wt can so on much as usual, that is not enough. Vv'e should most be thankful thank-ful that out of our plenty we shall have means to help; that in the impending im-pending days of appealing need, we t hall have food for the hungry, i !o:l:es for the stripped, money for the pi. nnilcss, roofs, if need be, for the homeless. What calls are to l'e made on our resources we cannot yet compute; but there is every sign thai we shall have such a chance to btlp mankind as our country in all I s national life has never had before. This year our thankfulness for v hai we have is to be tested by what we do with it. There is a great ban est of fellowship for us to reap '! we have the spirit for the adven-n. adven-n. re. Wo thai! sell, of course, but there will be those to aid who cannot b;:y; those to succor who cannot call to us. but who must be sought. With !o h h an i'.s wo must give, and pinch our own needs down to do it. That is the nature of our thaaks-Kiv'iiK thaaks-Kiv'iiK this year. We have offered o us a great, anextraordlnary, op-ortunlty. op-ortunlty. If we close with It a? e should, we shall be thankful all iur days. TTU |