THE GARLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3467, 24 August 1920, Page 45

THE GARLAND.

FOR THE QUIET HOUR

No. 365.

By Duncan Wright, Dunedin.

"THANK YOU."

THANKSGIVING. (By Ray Palmer.) November! draped: in sullen gray, And veiled with withered leaves, One ever-welcome, smiling day, Thy laden gloom relieves. Day of bright hours, that all too fast With noiseless feet go by, Oh, give me back the buried past lire thou thyself shalt diet Let me trade o'er the misty track Of long, long vanished years; Let childhood's dreamy days come back With all their smiles and tears. On memory's canvas, fair and bright, The dear old home is drawn, And o'er it falls the golden light,

As of a cloudless morn. I see the trees that hemmed it round, On which, each year anew, The robin built her nest and found A greeting warm and true. I see the crib with ripened com And yellow grain o'erflow. The well-filled barn, the close-grazed lawn, The orchard's tempting glow. I pass again the threshold where, A bounding child, I played; When parents, brothers, sisters, there For me an Eden made. I eee again my father's smile; I hear my mother's song; Sweet dreams! so sweet, that etill awhue

I would! the bliss prolong. But onward hastes my restless thought,

As onward trod my feet, When, home and childhood left, I sought The strifes for manhood meet. E'er since a man, with busy pen, I've trod life's flinty path, With crimsoned footsteps now, and then, Amid the tempest's wrath; Thou, loving God, my feet hast kept, That else afar had strayed; Hast dried the tear when sorrow wept, And let the gloomy shade 1 Thy hand, o'er all the desert waste, My cup hath daily filled; The Bread of Heaven -hath made me taste, And every wish hath stilled. Though childhood's lights and joys can greet No more my fond return, Homeward, each year, shall turn my feet, Long as life's flame shall" bum. Bound the old hearthstone meet again. The old deep lave shall glow, And youthful mirth shall wake, and reign, And .hearts together flow. Oh, ever welcome, ever dear, Thou ancient festal day, When Home calls back to social cheer Its wanderers long away.

On the authority of the Rev. E. J. Hardy, M.A., we are told that on one occasion, when the Bishop of Manchester was leaving some place by train, his chaplain said "Thank you" to the porter who shut,the door of the carriage. "That's right," said the Bishop; '1 always like to hear people say thank you." Why are there disputes between capital and labour, classes and masses, and many other differences that divide those who profess and call themselves. Christians 1 It is because we do not recognise and do not acknowledge what we owe to each other. Continued Bev. Hardy from whom I am quoting to-day : "A friend of mine said 'Thank you' to a new servant who had done some little service. The girl seemed suprised, and explained that in her former situations she ne\jr was thanked for anything. She must have lived with savages." "When the publisher had received the last bit of copy of Johnson's Dictionary, he was so weary of the author that he exclaimed, 'Thank God, I have done with that fellow!' Hearing this, the Doctor remarked, 'l'm glad that the follow thanks God for anything !' " "There are grumbling people who, it is feared, never do thank God for anything. And yet surely gratitude for the common blessings of Providence is one of the most certain of our duties.

"A poor woman when she came near the sea for the. first time exclaimed : 'lt is grand to see something of which there is enough for everybody.' There are. many persons who are just the opposite of this woman. They do not value such blessings as health, strength, simple food, decent clothes, the blue sky, the green fields, because they are so common. ... A lady applied to a well-known philanthropist on behalf of an orphan. After he had given liberally she said, 'When he Is old enough I will teach him to name and thank his benefactor.' 'Stop,' said the good man, 'you are mistaken; we do not thank the clouds for the rain. Teach him to look higher, and thank Him who giveth both the clouds and the rain.' "

"In the exuberance of his soul you find those words': '0 give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good : for His mercy endureth for ever'; and in the same Psalm (107), the royal singer four times vehemently exclaims.: 'Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men !'" EEJOICB, AND AGAIN I SAY REJOICE. My song shall be of birds and flowers, And all the lovely things of earth; The little leaves that clap their hands. The health and wholesomeness of mirth. The wonder in a baby's eyes, The clinging clasp of loving hands,, The gle© of frolic waves, that chase Each other up the golden sands. The morning stars together sang, "When this old earth of ours was young, 'Tie we have lost the "hearing ear/' Not they who leave their songs unsung. Some poets dip their pens in tears, And some in worrnword and in gall, With ev'ry "bush fir© with God," And love the banner over all.

Oh, were my quill a feather dropp'd_ From some bright angel in his flight, My muse might soar on higher wing To spread the Gospel' of delight. —M. H. Brown, in Chamber's.

"The custom (continues Mr Hardy) oi saying grace or giving thanks prevailed amongst the ancient Greeks and (Romans, and exists now in some form amongst all nations not entirely savage. The Jews had their psalms of thanksgiving, not only after eating the Passover, but on a variety of other occasions, and after meals, and even between the several courses of dishes. Our Lord taught us to say grace by Himself giving thanks to the last supper.. In the account of His shipwreck we read that Paul did the same, and he says in the Epistle to the Romans : 'He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks.' , , . 'The life of the true Christian who sees the hand of God in all things, is one long thanksgiving.' Bernard Gilpen, when summonea to London to answer a charge of heresy, broke his leg. The person in whose custody he wai retorted on Bernard his favourite saying, that nothing could happen to him but what was for his good; and the event showed its truth, for Queen Mary died, and through the delay occasioned by the broken leg his life was saved. Now let .us thank the Eternal Power il oonvinced That heaven but tries our virtues by affliction J That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour Serves but to brighten all our future days.

"In everything give thanks. There is absolutely nothing but sin itself which is not fitted to renew the delight of giving thanks. Why then are any Christian faces clouded ? Why are there any Christian hearts that are tired? Call upon yont spirits to give thanks unto God." To God who life and spirit gave, Let all give praises due, And from the cradle to the grave Their thankful songs renew. For joy He gave our vital breath, And all we love below, "With promises that, after death, More pleasures we shall know. Like happy chidren let us spend ' ■ Oust days in constant cheer: For us our Father and our Friend Haa spread an- Eden here. His breath gives warmth to summer days; His billows cool the air: In heaven bears witness of His ways

The rainbow bright and fair. And meadows, mountains, fieldls, and wood* Display His goodness round; Ancll all the shores of mighty floods. "With His great name resound. To Him the at dark, ■Sings gladly,—let us join, And raise, in concert with the lark, A melody divine.

"Sing unto the Lord with sing praise upon the harp unto our God.' —Old Testament.

"And all the angels stood round about* the throne, and about the. elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God. Saying, Amen : Blessing, and glory and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and~ power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. (Eevelation xi, 11, 12)." "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift."—(2 Cor. ix, 15).

"One very important part of our prayers, and one -which we are apt to forget, is the thanksgiving. We plead .earnestly for a given thing; we obtain the answer to our petitions, in many cases a hundredfold; and then we forget all about it, come with some new request and do not say 'Thank you' after receiving what we so much desired. A neighbour may have received a visit from burglars who failed to accomplish their object; he forgets to acknowledge the Hand that saved him and his family; and .we forget who watched over us and spared lis all alarm. There is sickness in the neighbourhood, and death visits, many families; our house is guarded by the Lord of hosts, and no harm comes nigh our dwelling ; still our hearts send u£. no cry of thanksgiving for all thesa mercies; If we received such marks of attention and kindness from an earthly friend, we would overwhelm him with gratitude. Is it no matter if we fail to acknowledge the favours received from the Great King? We cannot leave any duty undone without loss. In this case we aia losing a blessing, and treating our heavenly Father as we would be ashamed to treat any one else."—Anon. Thanks to the human heart by which we live^ Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fear#, To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep fo» tears. : —Wordsworth. THANKSGIVING- DAY. in the States with nearly 90,000,000, of people, is an annual festival of thanksgiving for the mercies of the closing year. Practically it is a national harvest festival, fixed by proclamation of the President and the Governors of States, and ranks as a national holiday. Since 1817 the festival has- been observed annually in New York, and since 1863 the Presidents have always issued proclamations appointing the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day.