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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1921-11-3, Page 2The Night Before Thanksgiving By SARAH MID Jl!.WhITT. Gems of Thought. No mutter how unfor- Donentio blies is worth more sham tunate your environment, all the bialy in the world. or how • unpromising your . l'110 e •Faeity to enjoy simple tninerg present condition, if you Tittle Wars a sad heart in the low. "I feel just as if, somethinwas tharaeterizcs alt great snubs; clingto your vision and 1, dark little that stood gold' to happen," rho said. Poor * r " y t i skin Th i „ .11 d ai- our nnpht toward its reali- Orme Small as her house. was, u' ate, if be's alive." mirm Toa, not to the a:an who does 0 are mentally tau 1 zation, y U y o!d Mrs. Robb found it too large ler It was dark now out of doors, and what racbody else ever atbem, ::s to On Wilding, e>llal'ging you 1' herself a?one•, she only needed the there were tiny clicks again=•t the win- but to the nem who «!,, a beat what kitchen and a tiny bedroom that lea low. It was beginning to snow, and multitudes as well — eeaulay. ideal, increasing the power f it arid there still remained• the the great elm. ete:rlcel in the rising :a e 0 Of your mental magnet to out o o with the tvin;l overIaued, To maks erne r.. - k of God's ores- attract your own. --o, S. belt rel m orad a hedxo m, • * * { tion a little fruitfullcr, better, mate Marden, overhead: • worth of God; to noake some hurnon • lowgarret There had been a time, lifter she A,dead limb cf one o the old trees heartYa little �w'lser, manfuller,•hap was left alone, when Mrs. Robb could had falls th t t and.' poor fire bl 1 l' I * ;You teen. •i;m..d mn:•r art r:.me of the rM• fi ore r , er some Johnny 'Barris, erhaps hes h r ower, pe r: y gives its keel) gtrUfagling with all numbly by the raadstd0 under J p Y n n 'au urn, '. pier—armee Y e ss eoeuz' e. tl i r h 't ' s Mra, Iicibla s • • k i G i -_( ^ 1Cecp n the eursh:,ne as much as ed "burnt it moat 0, m h 1 own,trim •1 she It house, but almost "a man's work cut- could have the °lueury ,of a fire, I can inc feeling that it was her Render an hens t and a perfe_t meta Dep within every heart deet has alalia in her piece e garden groin•l.: She 1. 1 r. P, Commands call itgl.'', all influence, all net dulled the tern of its imter vi. roc crines began to fill the stove as fate; 1.1 help tlto e who wero poorer titan her. wf:o,1 Baca itnttee e,t tea ms wee " or r t. rteyc NW. the was staling edea nor only n at least she Man ire his ,awn and the :zee thea: wrranh to these a., erenyee to do. a woman's wort. niau.- her thankfully; _ At last sieleness andae•e had come not night at hunt¢ and with strange Land in hand, those • tee relee ass enemies of the poor. and tagethet they he'd wasted ' herseringtli reel elm usee 00 me d t i better days 1 Nothihng to him falls early or too late. .- "It'll get me good an' warm," Eitel sal istance. Shehad always been look- said, still talking to herself, as lonely comfortable bon 's ou.'live Mother ed upon by'her neighbor; ne being people do. "'It's cumin' on toserm.i Robb!" g y independent, but new she win left, Tho snow ell ked faster and fasto She looked at him again and nod- baro-fuate3 and lame -handed, with a against the window, and she sat alone ded, but she did not even try to speak. debt to carry and her bare land, and thinking in the dark! There was a good hot supper ready the house ill-provisianel t stand the "There's lots of talks I love,` she d a. happy guest had come; it was rieee of time. said once. "They'd be sorry I ai the night before Thanksgiving. Por a while she maueged to get on, got nobody to, come, an' no supper but at last it began to be whispered the night before Thanksgtvin. I'm about That there was no use for any- dreadful glad they don't know." And one to be so proud; it WAS, easier for she drew a littlenearer to the fire the chole town to care for her than and laid her head back drowsily in O Tow einghbore, and Mrs. Rabb hurlthe ofd roe -king -their. better ter go to the poorhouse before :vin- It seemed only a moment before tee :eel be done' with it. there wens a loud koelcing, ands some - At nes terrible suggestion her body lifted the latch of the door. The 1 r c: e heart seemed to stand still. The fire shone bright through the front TA i,'e wham she cared for most hap- T•*•tu-1 to to poor, and she could no ;roger go- into their househo".ds to > tele', _elf of tae The Wry ellns cverbeei seemed to fey "Oh no!" as they groaned in the of the stove and made a little light in the room, but Mary Ann Robb waked up frightened and bewildered. "Who's there?" she called as she found liar crutch and went to the door. She was only conscious of her one late autumn winds, and there was great fear. "They're come to take me something appealing even to the to the poorhouse!" she said, and burst t range passerby in the look of the into tears. nee giey house, with Mrs. Robb's There was a tall man, not John Tele, worri'i face at the window. Mender, who seemed to fill the nar- row doorway. "Cone, let me in!" he said gaily. "It's a cold night. You didn't expect ate, did you, Mother Robb?" "Dear me, what is it?" she falter- ed, stepping back as he eame in, and dropping her crutch. "Be I dreamin'? I was a-dreamin' about—oh, there, what was I a-sayin' ? 'Tain't true! No! I've made some kind of a mis- take" • • Some one has said that annirersar- i,.e azo days to make other people r ,. py in, but sometimes when they , ere tl ey seem to be full of shadows, e,..:1 rbe power et giving jay to others, thio inalienable right wn',•h ought to lli one the saddest heart, the most indifferent ssinpatht son:en:nes even this :teems to be w thlr wn. Cn •v,: 1 -_,qty. 4nn R. -ebb set at 'mer win','.e un the afttrnour: !,u arc as, and this was the man who Thar.ka, icing ;nd felt herself poor kept the poorhouse, and she would go and Forrowful, indeed. Across the frozen road she looked eastward over e great stretch of cold meadow':vid, Drown and yentda'weet ani eroased by icy ditches. It seemed to her as if before this, without complaint; they might have given her notice, but she must not fret. "Sit down, sir," she said, turning, toward him with touching patience.' "You'll have to give me a little time. in :'1 the troubles that she had known If I'd been notified I wouldn't have and carried, there had always been kept you waitin' a minute this stormy some hope to hold; as if she bud never night.' looked poverty full in the fate and It was not the keeper of the poor - seen its cold and pitiless look before, house. The man by the door took She looked anxiously down the road, one step forward and put his arm with a horrible shrinking and dread around her and kissed her. at the thought of being asked, out of "What are you talking about?" pity, to join in some Thanksgiving said John Harris. "You ain't goin' feast, but there was -nobody coming to make me feel like a stranger? I've with gifts in hand. Once she hacl been c come all the way from Alberta to full of love for such days, whether atl spend Thanksgivin'. There's all sorts home or' abroad, but something chilled; o' things out here in the wagon, an' a herr very heart now. man to help get 'em in. Her nearest neighbor had been fore' i "Why,. don't cry so, Mother Robb. most of those who wished her to go' I thought you'd have a great laugh to the town farm. and he had said if I came and surprised you. Don't more than once that it was the only you remember I always'said I should sensible thing. But John Mender was come?" waning impatiently to get her tiny I It was John Harris, indeed. The farm into his own hands; he had ad -II poor soul could say nothing. She felt vanced some money upon it in heed now as if her heart was going to extremity and pretended that there break With joy. He left her in the, vas stilt•* debt, after he cleared her rocking -chair acid came and went in wood lot to pay hianself back. He would plow over the graves in the field corner and fell • the great elms, and waited now like a spider for his poor prey. He often repraach- ed her for being too generous to worthless people ie the past and com- ing to be a charge to others now. Oh, if she could only die in her own house and not suffer the pain of homeless- ness and dependence! I1 was just at sunset, and as she looked out hopelessly across the gray fields there was o sudden gleam of light far away on the law hills be- yond; the clouds opened in the west and let the sunshine through. The great cheerful fellow hurried One lovely gleam shot swift as an about the tiny house, and the little arrow and brightened a far cold hill- old woman Iimped after him, forget - side where it fell, and at the same ting everything but hospitality. Had momenta sudden gleam of hope not she a house for John to come to? brightened the `winter landscape of Were not her old there and tables !her heart. in their places still? And he rem - "There was Johnny Harris," said timbered everything, and kissed her Idary Ann Robb softly. "He was a as they stood before the fire as if she soldier's sora. Left an orphan and were a girl. distressed. ma John Mender scolded, He had found plenty of hard times, but I couldn't see the poor boy in but luck had come at last. Ile had want. I kept him that year after he struck luck, and this was the end of got hurt, ispi•te o' what anybody said, a great year. an' he helped me what little he could. "No, I couldn't seem to write let- no said I was the only motive he'd ters; no use to complain o' the worst, ever had. 'I'm going out West. Moth- an' I wanted to tell you the bast when or Robb,' says he. 'I shan't come hack I came"; and he told it while she till I get rich,' an' then he'd look at cooked the 'supper. "No, I wa'n't goin'- me out' laugh, so pleasant and boyish. to write no foolish letters," John re. "He wasn't one that liked to write. petted. I don't think he was dein' very ivell Ile was afraid he should cry hien When I heard—there it's most four self when he found out how bad things years ago new. I always thought if had been, and they sat down to sup - he got sick or anything I should, have per together, just as they used to c o a good home for brim to come to. when he was a homeless orphan boy There's poor Darn Blake, the deaf .whom nobody one wanted in winter one, too—he won't have any place to weather while he wan crippled and W0100211e him." could not work. She could • not be The !"„ht faded out of doers and kinder now than she, was then, but again Mrs. Robb'* troubles stood be- she looked so poor and old! Bert her. Yet it was not rel dart: ns Ile taw her taste her cup of tea it had been in her sad heart. She still sat by the window, hoping- now in spite of herself, instead of faardng, and a eurlous feeling of negefness and oxpectaney made her feel net De much light-hearted as light-headed. his std boyish way, bringing in the store of gifts and provisions. It was better than any dream. He laughed and talked and went out to send away the 'man to bring a wagonful of wood from John Men- der's and tame in himself, laden with pieces of the nearest fence to keep the fire going in the mean time. They must cook the beefsteak for supper right away; they must find the pound of tea sarong all the other bundles; they must get good fires started in both the cold bedrooms. Why, Mother Robb didn't seem to be ready for eompany from out West! sion, is the belie* teat' we aro ono with seem great unknoavn, unseen power; and that we ere somehow in- separably conoceted with the Infinite Canseiau"snecs. The eyes, of all wait upon Thee,' 0 Lord: and Thou givest them their meat in due season. —Ps. 145: 15. Thanksgiving Day, 1921 With the reeutxenee of our national day of thanksgiving the question r.s. tannin crises: What definite resaeon has Canada to be thankful; what out- standing feature of our nationhood havo wo that is not common to all eoviatries what can we disceru. .ort the hcrieon of our national life that augurs well for the future of Canada' end Canadians? ., During the past year the world has been passing through a period of de- eiesion, No country has entirely eseuped. Canada, fortunately, has not been greatly affected. True, we have felt a sleekness in business, we have our unemployment problem, and we nee passing through a period of readjustment of wages, but withal, wo have experienced in only minor degree the depression which is caus- ing so math suffering in other coun- tries.. For this happy position we are undoubtedly largely indebted to our abundant and 'varied natural re- sources. Our people are loolcieg earnestly to the development of these cs'a means of :seeming a return ofprosperity, of employment, and of plenty. The rich heritage whieh.Na- sled .ent It down agate. with zt trembling hand ami s1 leek at him. that diniivg-room table. In front cif „No, I wanted to come myself," he eachone was a saucer of: snowy eop- binstered, wiping his eyes and trying ped corm a sheet of yellow paper, a to laugh. "A.nair you're .going to have pencil, and a wee tube of Itheao•y everything you need to make you iva'tato. lit :..,.i iy �w\� ' \I' 111 1, 1r1// % - lr As David Sang-- H, an --H, GIVE thanks unto the Levi, O for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonder- ful works to the children of men! And let thein sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into watersprings. .And there He maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a. city for habitation; and sow the fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; He suffereth not their cattle to decrease. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens ; praise Him in the heights. Praise ye Him, all His angels; ' praise ye Him, all His hosts. Praise ye Him, sun and moon: praise Him, all ye stars of light. Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps ; fire and hail; snow and vapours; stormy wind ful- filling his word; mountains and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kingsof the earth and all people; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens ; old men and children ; let them ,praise' the name of the Lord: for His name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth and heaven. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord! An Autumn Party Everybody's invitation came wrap- ped up in a reddish -greenish -brownish crepe -paper cornbusk, end this is what it said: Polly Popcorn buds thee to e Pioneer Party at three o'01odt OA ye afternoon of Thanksgiving at Dorothy Smith's house Watch out fen ye Indians Polly Popoorrn, who: ]rooked se pici- ously line Dorothy Smith to her little guests, was wearing a fluffy white frock that appeared to be all popcorn. Really, her mother had made it out. of some big -checked yellow -and -white gin.gbant, by running a gathering stitch around edges of the white squares and drawing them up into little fat senate bunches, .Her oap Was just the shape of a frilly -round pop- ped popoorn kernel. The first amusement was Poneot•2 Art. A7.1 the girls end boys eat around You know what queer ehapes corn plops inlay --e face, or a .head, a cat, a monkey, a spider, an Eskimo's hut. The idea of this contest was to, select a promising pop'eorui kernel -one that suggested a picture—then stick it by means of the library paste to the yellow paper, and with the pencil draw whatever else wee needed to complete the pitrture, Legs, tails, whiskers;, bodies, .back yards, all ecru of tltinlgs you can imagines, were added, and the restate were very d un vy. Nath child was permitted to anauko three, provided they would all go on the aibeet of yellow paper. Then wet. childsigned lits or her mune, end the pictures, were earetully collected, and laid out on the table for an ant exhibit, later, of pours*, to be taken home by the individual artiste Next, asides were chosen for a game called Inddan:s and settlers. Indians were given headbands with, gay featherw to Wear, Settlers had wide - brimmed brawn paper hate. A epece was obcured down thelength of th living -mem, and the Indians tend ' Set. tiers farmed in two parallel files. At the opposite end of the moat s pa- poose doll leaned' egainot a wigwam, turo has provided, in our forests, our waterways, our fisheries, »110e0 and our fertile .soil, is yielding up treasure at the ckli of man to such an extent that we may well say it is frons our :satinet reseuree0 we will pay our war debt. What, however, do aur natural TA - Evinces mean to the average Can - :Wien? How muclt does be know about them. When challenged to- sup- port his country's claim to greatness, has he the intimele and close touch that devotes the student? Soule information supplied by the Natural Resou roes Intelligence Branch of the Department of the In- terior may be of interest. This branch of the Ottawa Government itas been establishes especially for the purpose of answering enquiries -regarding our natural resources. Canada's area is' 3,729,666 square smiles, of whiph 3.37 per cent. is wetter. It equals in ares the United States and 'allher poseossions. Canada has 11101'O than doubled her population in 28 years. The water-powel energy of Canada is equal to --nearly twenty million boric -power,• of which Ontario has 5,- 800 000 h.p. Qu:0 6,, 000 h.p. A.pproxintatelyand 1,662,ehe000 h.p000. used by central stations for electrical energy is developed Trent water -power. Canada hies the only two coal re- gions on the sea coasts of North Am- erica, in Neva Scotia and British Coluni'bia, while Alberta possesses coal deposits estimated at 15 per cent. of the•world's'supply. The Mackeneie oil field is in process of development, but sufficient work has not as yet been. performedto prove its value. 011 shales are found in .quantity in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. In each province, known deposits must total over a billion tone, with an oil` content of from 20 to 110 gaillens per ten. The total area of land covered by foresee in Canada is estimated at be- tween 000 and 600 million acres. Com- mercial timber covers '226 million acres and the remainder is suitable for pulpwood Canada supplies over 87 per cent. of the world's requirements of as- betstos. This is largely produced in Quebec. Of nickel, Ontario's output represents 80 per cent. of the world's supply. Developments see takhag place in the nickel situation which' sister at home who cannot go to should, make this induttry again ac- school cod there is no one to teach five at an early date.;her. So the teleated girl devotes her - The above are but a few of the' serf to farm living anldets the talents go, keeping silent about it, and only Ile whom they call the Recording Angel, knows her heart or Dan rea11'* metisure how her neale :spirit swells the lido of the world's thanksgiving. It would take ins hours just to list all the Grea'hearts I leave known— from the Patient mother anal friends and teachers who put up with my ova” w ith such boundless resources we may careens and indifferent youth, deter- mined to, leek* something of me, out and up., in ever incr.:ne d numbers, until when I stop to comma them, I give up in a ftorel of gsatituda and decide that the world is'w heavenly blazed the anginal trails from coast place and the coaly snags there are to coast, eine to theme Lar -sighted mom for are eons of pre:eel-lying statesmen who, in 1867, eponsored the and thankagiring. erastiers of thls great Dominion of Long ago, my fhabsad Canada. a T, lioiiig veay young,riend hadAlgrematra 3iu*nt- ings for such taeasurea as violets in the spring, white moccasin flowers in their season,, four-leaved—clovers.c t the days of grace and agates where agates are found. She always found the first ani the.mest. W'h le I would bo saying. "TOmere 45210 nasals!" she would gather Stam under my very eyes. We used to call it luck, We know boner now. She could see and her treasure brisket never eves empty. My trateure basket of something - to -be -thankful -for is always full. I should better eay5 some folks -to -be - thankful. It is folies we're :grateful about—not what they have or give. I used to'think I w:•rs lucky in folks. I know better naw. I have a seeing eyo and I can find Greathearts ever wberet So can you, if you try. and a little white baby doll lay in a doll's cradle. The game was really a rival relay race. At a signal the first Indsian aatd the first Settler started for their rese peetive goals; the Indian snatched the yvhbte dell, the Sether the papoose; then they eu.rned hastily and ran, bleak to their separate thane, handing their prizes to the next in line, who, in turn, Tan to deposit the prizes in enema= and cradle, as first found. These rune leers, on returning, teethed kande with the next in line, who then had: to run and snatch the prizes in their tursi, and so back to the team, Thus the runners ante lately stone and interned the . papoose and the white baby. The; first team to coin: - plebe the circuit was hailed as the, win- ning. one, awed marched triumphantly about the room to the mune of the phonogs'aph. The phonogiapla teem' into use again for the next game. Ten thin deem wens selected to belong le the popcorn chorine Laeh was given an unshelled ere. of popeorn, and toid to pretend: it wee a harmonica, The ahil- dren *zee vged athamMeiveaa in a must- cal -lucking group and put their pap- eea'n benrieniotas to theirmouths, win:tepee the phonograph lstatalted a lively tuna. The members of the group wero exopected to go through the anotioats of playing the harmonicas GRRA T aEARTS (Aau Appreciation.) have you filen 1121 on them since you read your biueeindseeld copy of Pilgrim's I'ro!grees, ever stud ever so long ago? I have! I meet then every day. They .are tiro Solk wbto keep the stream of thsnlcagiving from freezing over, be- tween Thaelogiring Dgys. Mey.I tell you about erneof them? Two et then lived in the heart of a great pity. It was winter. Winter in vary cod' 111 cities, ,Colder still, in city homes where dinners• erre mend and serves by charity to little people who, beeauec they heave ntr small ]tomes have to be loved end cuddled en inane • These two people were poor but they used en. balk about a Rieh Father, quite as if they knew him, ,and even when their own cupboard was bareish, they managed, greethearte,dly, to slip gifte into eupboards that were very bare, When Thaekegiving tiane cams around they 'aid to each. other, "We must fill the baskets," So there were foto baskets Tilled with: Banton, coffee, sugar, apples, eggs, celery, nuts1 raisins, warns cocks --oh, many won- derful things. They sat down to a ddnmr of poa:h- ed eggs .and milk and baked applea and them cup nm over—filled to the brine with the gratitude of those whose lips they had turned to unex- .pected tisanksgavinge. Another was a lonely man, a one- armed man living alone on a western homestead. He was saddened and embittered' by some peat happening he never told- abode But he was a . Gread'heart, too. One bitter den, he turned his broncho several miles off" the trail that led to hie own cabin, because he had 'sa Bunch" a •aolitaa'y woman an another lonely homestead,. "might be wanting something." Sure enough, 'he found elm was nearly out of water and wood, so until darkness fell. lie served her need -end. then turn- ed the restless horse to 'face the night wind --and called it "nothing." Another of these 'Greathearts lives on a rented farm. She Ise gift. with two talemts=one for music and an. - other for writing. But there's a. Inane outstanding features of Canada's na- ture resources. 11 r agriculture and fisheries, liar tnaneem tetion systems by lard and water,' and the indom- itzhle rrairit of her people are assets of invaluable worth. What has Canada to be thankful tor? It is obvious that Nsitarre hes been very generous to Canada, and, with prude in our country look for- ward. to the day wben the northern half of the American continent will cont„ln at large and contented popula- tion, a credit to the pioneers who in time to the real music. The chil- dren entei:d into the spirit of the fun, and ,became abmost too enthusi- astic in their mimicry. The rest of the children were eager to try it, so harmonicas wens sup- plied far everyosae. (It is best to let the two groups take terra, as an audience is needed.) Charades foilrawed, under the lead- ership of Dorothy's mother and big sister. The last game before supper was perhaps the jolliest of all. It -wee palled a Wend Turkey Hunt. No—they didn't hide paper turkeys around the room to find. No! One child was chosen as turkey, and had a bell tied around the *'eek 011 8 ribbon. The rest of the children were blindfolded, and called the hunWe Of course, their object wase to catch the turkey, whose belt jingled at every step. Once caught, the turkey became a hunter, and the hunter whocaught him .tuirned• into the turkey. Ready enough for supper were the childeen when they were sununoned to the dining table. where now, in- stead of the Popcorn Art Exhibit, a row of tiny brown paper wigwams circled the table—one in front of each place on a plate. Each bore a child's name "Inditnflcd.” Thuss, Diek Brown land Dickqua, Bessie Perkins had Bes- siasoit, Bauatly Stevens had Bently- cjuee. The wigwams were found to be re- movable, and diseleeedn they .pots of baked benne With thew were served popeornl ssa1d,iviclies—rounds of baked brown broad shutting together over plump pepped corn. The ice cream was enclosed in indi- vidual atockades of chocolate crael:ere, and there were "Indians" (somotime!s fenveus as "Brownies"), The favors were a great surprise, Each was an animated popcorn boy, who proved to to made of e. jumping - leek with a big popcorn !ball molded over ins wooden heiad as a foundation. The "popcorn jaeka," With their possn- bilitiee for unties, were designed to he carried home as souvenirs from Polly Popeorree shine Pioneer Party, "While the earth renlaineth, seedtime and harvest , , shall not eeaae." 0—. Harvest Hymn. L � We plough the fields and scatter The good seed on the land, But it is 'fed and watered By God's almighty hand;' He sends the snow in winter; The warmth to swell the grain, The breezes. and the sunshine, And soft refreshing rain. A11 good things around us Are sent from Heaven above, Then thank the Lord, 0 thank the Lord, For all His love. How easy it is for one benevolent being to diffuse pleasure around him, amus how truly is a kind heart a foun- tain of gladness, making everything within its i4einity to freshen into smiles: Washington Irving. Come, ye thankful people, come, Raise the song of harvest -hornet All is safely gathered in, Ere the winter storms begin; Goal, our Maker, doth provide For our wants to be supplied: . Conte to God's own 'temple, come, Ttaise the song of harvest-hol'nel Thou crown -est the year with rThy goodness.—Pa, 65 t 11: