THANKFULNESS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2318, 4 August 1898, Page 43

THANKFULNESS.

On a certain All Saints' Day, m?ny a year ago — I think it was in 1841 — that, trancjuil poet Words v/oi th wrote the following lines : — JS r ot loth to thank each momcrt for its boon

Of pure delight, come whence soe'ci it may. Peace let us seek, to steadfast things attune Calm expectation, leaving to the bay ai.d volatiLe Their life ot tran&init bowers. Ihe house that cannot pasa away be ours.

Beaut ilul as the lines are, how they spcm to belong to a forgotten atmosphere ot life and thought. "Wot loth to thank" — that merit is no more ours than is the mental attitude which speaks in "To steadfast things attune calm expectation" — it is all a sweet dream- voice echoing from a long dead past. Lavender, rose leaves, classical, sonnets, fans, ringlets, delicate reserve, and "elegant sensibilities" — why try <>) rofi'l"? such an atmosphere. "Life i.i ;->o .A\.oii to bother ab.uit these old fossa-," \on s.iv - but patience, my up-to-date i"r'i>mi,! Wo are bill human, and beneath all our armourplating of smart cynicism we sometimes aie aware of old-fashioned twinges of sadness, ol disappointment, of emptiness.

In the modern and average acceptation of the (void " thankfulness " there aie several noticeable points. One i^ the cheerful icadiness with which we declare ourselves thankful for the blessings of "others." Presumably our own are mere disguised, for wo liCver seem to see them quite so clearly. Another point is the extreme moderation ot our thankfulness, as compared with the geneious programme of our demands and expectations. We are never tired of asking — indeed, ■\\e take home lionest pride in this asking as pioving our faith — our real lively conviction of the goodness and puwer ol all-ruling Providence. There can be no doubt we shine in a-sking, but as to the thankfulness there aie veiy few of us who could apply to ourselves the words of a dear old Scotchwoman, whose son was local preacher in a ceitain oldtime village. " Aye, David's awfu' powerfu' on yi'en thanks : he's mair powerfu' on return ir ' nor he is in askin' — but that's been his np-bringin', I was ac o' a thankfu' di*po&eelion iiiysel'." This thankfulness to the Supreme Being is the first aspect to consider theoretically, and even the most frivolous or cynical among us who have gone any considerable distance on life's journey know that there are moments when such a .lentiment, however transitory, shuts out all else. We lemember certain little thanksgiving services of our own, when, clergy and congregation alike unknowing, we held heart's festival of gladness and praise — when the choir chanted the Jubilate for our joy, when tiie brilliant sunshine streaming through the stained gla&s windows, the delicate tracery of the leaves silhouetted against the crimson and ambei panes, the .skimming shadows of the birds as they flew back and forth on their bu&y errands, all the^glory and beauty, the fulness and peace of the good world, rejoiced with our thankfulness. Oh, dear heart of mine ! what egotists we are ! If our friends and neighbours rejoice with us, so much the better, but if not we are not greatly concerned, for a wave of lignt from our gladness transforms all the world — which is, by the way, a merciful thing, since it is certain that we are sure of sympathy in sorrow, yet may go far and fare faintly in joy. We need never sorrow alone unless we are minded to do so ; but we must often rejoice alone, and find our joy sufficient for us. The most selfish among us is moved to pity and sympathy for sorrow or loss. A.U unconsciously to ourselves we see in the mourner " but a picture of what I might be," to misuse good Dr Watts. Joy, on the other hand, we agree, is apt to be aggressive. We feel bored by the transparent happiness of devoted couples, peevishly asking, " Do the silly young fools think no one has ever been happy before V We steer clear of Mrs So-and-So"s radiant face — she wants to tell us all about that wonderful son of hers, who "is all very well, no doubt, but by no means the paragon she thinks him." We sefc out with lagging feet to offer our congratulations to Madame Worldwide on her daughter's marriage to the Hon. Algernon Rackett, for as everyone knows that titled young idiot was expected to lay Ms long pedigree and short rent j-jll at the feet of a connection of .our own ! Then the congratulations we offer to fortunate friends who come into unexpected legacies, .draw winning horses in Tatfcersall's, have husbands who are of the "right colour," and so slip into fat Government billets, sous or brothers who have "influence to push them in the bank are very lukewarm. We cannot for our lives help thinking how little merit is recognised in this woild, and how strange it is that we do not come in for any of these things ! On the other hand, when our friends experience any trouble sonow, or embarrassment, v c can always see " how much worse it might have been," and can always enthusiastically and cheerily point out good and valid grounds for* thankfulness, though in a like case of our own we are curiously blind.

There are moments of supreme happiness, of delicious jealisation of the heart's desire which lift us out o{ our ordinary selves and compel our glad peans of thankfulness — but how seldom ! We fix the j)rice of our thankfulness so high, instead of finding in each day's detail of what we aie given ar.d what we are spared a wondeiful record far above our desserts. That truth is stranger than fiction we frankly and frequently admit, telling dramatic incidents in the lives of friends ""or relatives in support thereof. Sorrows, trials, adversities, tragedies — our eyes fill with tears of kindliest sympathy for this mother who has just lost her eldest son under the saddest circumstances ; for that family of helpless children who, deprived of their father, have nothing but the mother's feeble strength between them 't.d the direst poverty. We are truly, honestly grieved — we oven forget to say " it mvhfc liaw been worse" ; also, we forget to "spy, " Thank heaven, that I and mine hive been spared." It is not enough, eh dear heart of mine ! to be thankful for what wo enjoy— we must also be thankful for what we are spared ! And as regards the kindness of our fellow men, are we just as thankful as we might be? —for instance;, as we like them to be to us?

| There is such a charm in knowing thai ! our ettoits have been appreciated. We ,v-« j wanned to inteiiser .self-denial, stimulated to i keener endeavour, all by a frankly-shown ! UiMikfulnfcss. How beautiful and palhetaa | it is to see some natures drowned in a \ery j sea of trouble, yei holding bravely to the : spar of thankfulness — wrapping their own 1 sorrow in tho balm of silence in~order to tell I of the goodness and kindness that has been j-hown them, the wind that was tempered by some mercy that a less thankful nature would hiivc been insensible to: steeped in thankfulness ;>s a ro.«e in its own fragrance. Moreover, there is one important difference in our thankfulness to our fellow men and our thankfulness to the " Givei of all Good Things." Grntitude to our fellows must be uttered in words or expressed delicately bufc unmistakably in action; it is not enough , only to feel and think it -that is where we so 1 of h :n ni.ikft a ini.--tnk.:. ; Dozens of th<.- sucr-t, impulsive little kind- ( i ."-^es we receive from friends are thoroughly | fs-ii -.nd appreciated, and yet, strange to say, j unlo.-« we make a point of acknowledging , them at once we forget to do so. We ha\e all j ieh (he chill of a little kindness (hat ,scemed[ j to have missed its mark, yet few of us have . not been at some time or other guilty of the {' very negligence which, applied to our own t effort"?, has been so bitterly disheartening. . Only in heaven may silent thanks be heard—- ■ only there may thoughts speak for us in d, , golden silence of heartfelt gratitude. How j can mere earthly friends know our thoughts? «ucf--s the comfort and help their gratitude has been to us? We may not leave such' things to be divined — we ihould make it a j liabit to be "not ln(h to thank," to set oui" j lives in the, key of simple, heartfelt thankfulness for all (hat is jjiven and all that is in infinite mercy withheld.