The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1909, Page 83

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

“83

For Thanksgiving Day.

We plow 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.

All good gifts around us

Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord,
For all His love!

He only is the Maker

Of all things near and far;

He paints the wayside flower,
He lights the evening star;

The winds and waves obey Him,
By Him: the birds are fed;
Much more to us, His children,
He gives our daily bread.

All good gifts around us

Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord,
For all His love!

We thank Thee, then, O Father,
For all things bright and good,
The seed-time ‘and the harvest,
Our life, our health, our food.
Accept the gifts we offer
For all Thy love imparts,
And, what Thou most desirest,
Our humble, thankful hearts.
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord,
For all His love!
From the German of Matthias Claudius.

A Lesson on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day was near. But Farmer
Brown did not feel like observing that day. Others,
he thought, might have reason for thanksgiving,
_ but with him matters had not been going to his
liking. His wheat fields had produced but half
a crop.
and worms. Sickness had killed many of his hogs
and cattle. So Farmer Brown was in a bad humor.
He was almost provoked on seeing the President's
proclamation for Thanksgiving Day, and when his
pastor announced the usual service on that day,
he made up his mind that he, for one, would not
attend.

Two days before Thanksgiving two of his
brother’s children, Maud and Welter, came from

‘His fruit trees had been robbed by insects .

the city for a visit. The young people had seen
but little of country life and were delighted at
the new scenes. They had come from a humble
home and were not used to the abundance found
at their uncle’s. They compared their uncle’s gar-
ners of wheat with their little flour bin, his smoke-
house full of meat with their almost empty cellar.
His barn full of hay and horses and cattle and
their aunt’s stacks of quilts and comforters and
shelves full of canned fruits, preserves, jellies, and
jams made them think of the scarcity in their
home, and they felt that their uncle and aunt were
surely highly favored people. Maud, indeed, was
surprised to hear her uncle complaining and de-
claring that he was not going to the Thanksgiving
service this year.

On the evening before Thanksgiving, Farmer
Brown was unusually talkative, and took time to
converse with his niece and nephew. He asked
many questions about their father, his only brother.
Maud described their humble home, told of their
mother’s long sickness, of their father’s “small
wages and heavy expenses, and of their constant
struggle to make ends meet. She also told of their
church and their father’s interest in the good work,
and how regularly they attended services.

As Farmer Brown listened, he was deeply
moved. Indeed, he was ashamed of himself. He
had_ learned a lesson on thanksgiving. For many
an hour that night he lay awake, counting the
many mercies of God for which he ought to be
thankful. The next morning his wife was gladly
surprised to see her husband changed and in a
better humor than he had been for six months.

At nine o’clock the team stood at the gate, and
everybody was asked to go along to church. When
the preacher spoke of how much every one had to
be thankful for, Farmer Brown said Amen in his
heart and could scarcely keep from saying it out
aloud. -And when, on the next day, Maud and
Walter started for home, they took an expression of
their uncle’s thanksgiving with them in the shape
of useful gifts for the kinfolks in the city.

The Influence of Bad Example.

“To give children good instruction and a bad
example,” says an old theologian, “is but beckoning
them with one hand to show them the way to
heaven, while we take them by the other and lead
them’ to’ hell.”