Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 283, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1916 — Page 3

THANKSGIVING

GOD be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon Earth, thy saving health among all nations/ Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the people praise Thee. Then shall the Earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the Earth shall fear him. " From the 67th Psalm.

PRAISE HIM for This Host Precious Gift

N AN evening of this week it occurred to a man, sitting alone in an upper Kr— yrU room, that Thanksgiving day was right at hand. So he bestirred his Pjjfl IL mind to consider those things for which an American might sensibly ■ V W offer up gratitude to God. Hti reflected that across the Atlantic millions of huYnan beings were at that very moment engaged in the dreadful task of killing other human beings with every invention which Ingenuity and skill could bring forth from the laboratories of science and the workshops of industry. In other lands at that very moment tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of helpless folk —feeble, aged men and women, mothers with babes clinging convulsively to their breasts, little Children sobbing In terror, a vast army of the Innocent and the anguished—were enduring the extremities of exposure, of hunger, and of despair as they fled from their wasted farmsteads and burning villages, escaping from the pitiless cruelty of savage men only to lie down to suffer and die under the pitiless skies of God in the winter and the bitter storms. At that very moment most dreadful war hid half the world in the blackness of its darkness and from that horrid cloud rained destruction upon unhappy Europe—upon her ancient capitals, upon her pleasant cities, upon her villages, her fields, her temples, her treasures of art, upon all the accumulations of a thousand years of genius, of learning, of industry, of skill and of patient advancement of the happiness and the civilization of the race of man. So he that considered all this wickedness that was being done under the sun, this drunken dance of death and hell above the fetid corpses and the multitudinous graves, this awful nightmare of indescribable woe and whith, said in the bitterness of his heart that no God ruled over such a maniac world and there was no thanksgiving due to the Giver of Gifts that were not good, but everyone altogether evil. And when the man had made an end of his thinking, he went and stood in a wlndofr and looked out upon the evening, because it was fair to see. He saw in vision at that instant the vastness of the republic and the multitude of the good and happy folk who live under the shelter of its strength. He reflected how brief a time had thus magnified the works of our pioneer fathers and our pioneer mothers, those brave and simple men and women whose names should never be mentioned with anything but profound gratitude. And to this American, glad with a great pride in the deeds of his people and the story of his country, and grateful to the Goodness which has guided and sheltered his fathers and hi£ folk, lifted up his eyqs to the night, to the quiet stars, to the brooding immensity above, and said in his heart: “Thank God that I am an American I” And, citizens, that is the one outstanding, splendid fact for which each one of us should soberly and most gratefully thank God on Thanksgiving day this year. The finest thing you possess or ever can possess is just your American citizenship. It Is neither necessary nor becoming, on this day or lon any other day, to cheapen.this birthright of ours by brag or spreadeagle declamation. But it Is highly becoming on this. Thanksgiving day to feel a deep gratitude and a manly pride in this heritage. .

And so we firmly believe you do feel. We all hear It repeated that patriotism is a thing of the past; that our people have become commercialized; that the masses have no deeprooted loyalty to the country; that our rich men put dollars above the obligations of their citizenship ; that our poor folk care little for the ideals of free government; that we Americans are decadent in the virtues and valor which marked our fathers. That is not true. If there be any power in the world xvjhich plots war against us Americans and promises nself victory over us on the assumption of our decadence in loyalty, that,power will find how terrible was its mistake when our country calls her sons to battle in her defense. We have, it Is true, in our capacity as a collective people, left undone things that should have been done and done things which should have been left undone; and there, is more truth than there should be in much that is jeeringly said by those who hate us. \ We acknowledge that much of our politics offends common decency. We see, here and there, painful evidence of corruption among lawmakers and even among the judges, who should know only justice and integrity. We see rich men who do betray their country and foul their hands and soil their souls with most infamous dealings and most shameful profits. We see Americans Who do put the dollar above every consideration of right and duty, above the claims of our common humanity. But while these things are true, it is true also that the heart and conscience of the American people, take them as a nation, are sound and sane and wholesome. The blood of our fathers still runs In the veins of their sons. The spirit of the nation may in-

U. S. TROOPS MAY USE CACTUS FOR WATER

In the pursuit of Villa and his bandits through the arid regions of northern Mexico the United States troops traversed a region whose only vegetation is the barbed and forbidding cactus. To any but a cowboy or a trained plainsman of the Southwest, inhabitants themselves of the “cactus belt,” this.plant seemingly has no more value than the veriest weed, but it may well be that it may prove of great value to the troops in the absence of water,vfodder, or even food for human beings. In the punitive expedition there are many cow “punchers of the “cactus belt” serving as scouts, and in the cowboy and the Indian of the South-,, west the lowly cactus has its greatest admirer, for they know what a game struggle for life this plant has to m6ke against an unlaved desert soil. Even their 'ponies and cattle and the poor beasts of the desert knovr'of>th?ese uses of the catjtus for water and fodder, says the New York Herald. There are some thousand varieties of this monstrous vegetable family, not counting the 300 varieties of the agave, or century plant—incorrectly included by many—in northern Mexico. The varieties of the yucca palm and all other forms of vegetatlort known to the arid region have the same faculty of sucking up from the soil every drop of the all tow little moisture In it and storing it up in their tough and leathery leaves and roots. Of the many varieties perhaps the most remarkable is that member of the family known to those schooled in desert craft as the “water barrel.” This plant is shaped somewhat like a beer keg and is about the same size. Through all the years of its growth it has been sopping up what moisture the famished earth contained and retaining it. It is the sole reliance of desert dwellers in time of drought, and the troops, far from water holes and with water scarce, may yet be obliged to drink from it The “water barrel” is tapped by slicing off the „ top with a sword or machete and pounding the pulp until the water contained in it wells up into

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. IND.

deed seem to slumber in the soft bed of longenjoyed peace and security. But let war come against the land and no man need doubt that that spirit will spring up instantly awake. We can rightfully be grateful that it has fallen to our happy lot to live in this most wonderful of all ages and to be citizens of this most wonderful of all the nations. Let your hearts swell with just pride as you contemplate your country, so august, so splendid, so renowned in the -earth. Look upon your flag as It streams its bright foldf yonder above your heads with proud and happy eyes. Remember how honorable is its story, and forget not how many thousands of brave and good men died that it might wave yonder. the ensign of a free people. Tell to your children the story of their forebears, of those men and women who, amid the wilderness and forests that stood where now stand mighty cities and stretch cultivated farms, erected, with, hardships and endurance and most •heroic faith and valor, tjje noble edifice of our republican liberties. Speak to them of Bunker Hill and Valley Forge and Saratoga and Yorktown, and of the great Declaration—that most famous Charter of Human Freedom. Tell them to thank God for their fathers’ and mothers’ hardihood and courage, for the wars t they fought, for the victories they won. Tell them to salute their flag with high and proud hearts. Tell theKi to thank God this Thanksgiving day that they are Americans. And then do you soberly, gratefully, proudly thank God yourself that you are an American. Oh, dear and mighty motherland, what better gift or more to be desired oftuld God give than to be born and to die, ’strong Daughter of Liberty, between thy shining feet!—From the Chicago American.

the saucer thus formed. The pulp itself is pure and the water stored in it is likewise pure and refreshing. Not all the water-bearing cacti are as gracious to famishing man, however, as the “water barrel,” for most of them have protected themselves against the maraudings of those who would drink and live by imparting a bitter taste to the water they contain. The “peyote” especially, which abounds in the plains and deserts of Arizona, has a trick of discouraging depredations upon it, for its plump and Juicy pulp secretes a bitter and poisonous juice. ——— ; —; In the last dozen years scientists have, interested themselves in the study of the cactus for Its possibilities as food, fodder and economic by-products. Dr. Leon E. Landone, foremost in the study of this desert plant, several years ago conducted extensive experiments in Los Angeles to ascertain the value of . the thornless cactus as an article of food for human beings. In an effort to prove his contention that it contains food properties sufficient to enable a man to work 18 hours a day, he and his two secretaries for two weeks lived on a daily diet of the leaves and fruit of the cactus, the former being served green or fried and the latter either raw or cooked. While the “cactus squad” survived the experience and professer to have enjoyed their novel diet, it is a fact that the cactus never has attained the popularity of a filet mignon. In the. whole vegetable kingdom probably there is not another plant family having so many dis-" ferentintions of form as the cacti. For it is possible to find among them species that crawl and creep like vines, other than stand erect in » single unbending stalk, like a green jiving monument of the desert; still others that are rooted to the spot, with their highest growth close to the ground and bearing almost no resemblarfce to usual firms of vegetation, and others, again, that branch out thick unblodming branches.

TRAINING TODAY'S BOYS AND GIRLS

Trivial Matters Must Not Be Given Undue Importance. WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIALS? That is the Question the Young Mother Must Endeavor to Answer In Her Dally Dealings With the Children, -c By SIDONIE M. GRUENBERG. Grandmother was on a visit. Naturally, she noticed a great deal about her daughter’s way of managing an establishment. She noticed, among other things, that the sandwiches for little Edith’s school lunch were put up by the cook. It reminded her of the days when she had to prepare school lunches for five children. So It happened that one afternoon they were discussing sandwiches. “I sometimes wonder,” said grandmother, “how you can intrust the making of Edith’s lunch to the cook. When you were children I put up the lunches myself, and for a long time there were five of you to do It for.” “Yes, mother,” said the daughter, “I remember very well how fine those sandwiches tasted that you used to make for us. And the other children envied us, too. It was certainly lovely of you to put so much devotion and care Into the dally lunches for us.” And she relapsed Into the mood appropriate for reminiscence. But grandmother’s questioh had not been answered, so she came back to the cook. “R would be ever so much nicer for Edith if you put up her lunches yourself,” she reflected. “Well, mother, if the younger children did not need so much of my time In the morning perhaps I would do It myself. I’d like very much to do It. But I have to let Marla either do that or look after the other children.” “But,” persisted Grandmother, “what would you do if you could not afford to keep any help? I had. no one to help me when you went to school.” “If I could not afford to' have help I would have to choose between using the little time I have with the children before Edith goes off to school for making sandwiches and using it for doing the other things that call for my attention now. I think that probably I would prepare the lunches In the evening, and depend upon paraffin paper and the refrigerator to keep them In proper condition until the next day.” “Of course, I could have done the same thing," continued grandmother, “but I preferred to make the sandwitches with my own hands and to

She Noticed That Edith’s Sandwiches Were Put Up by the Cook.

have them fresh for you in the morning.” Perhaps there was a faint suggestion of reproach in her tone. She certainly was not convinced that her granddaughter was being as well cared for as her daughter had been. But the daughter made one more attempt. “I remember very well,” she said, “how we enjoyed those sandwiches that you used to make for us. But I also seem to remember that you were so rushed every morning when you were seeing us off to school that we left you in anything but a cheerful mood. You put your love Into the lunches, but It got on your nerves. We might have thrived at least as well on less sentiment in the sandwiches, and we might have had a little more of your attention to the things that interested us at the time perhaps as much as did the lunches.” In connection with our dealings with the children every detail that needs attention calls upon us to answer the question, “W T hat are the essentials?” But we do not often stop long enough to answer. If we did, the whole tone of the day’s work would probably be different With most of us certain features of our customs and surroundings stand out so prominently that they force us to overlook matters that are really more important A young mother who had some difficulty in getting suitable help during the illness of her first baby magnified her troubles by insisting upon all the routine of the household being continued the same as it had been before the baby came. She could not get sufficient help to relieve her entirely of the care of the baby, yet she laid as much emphasis upon the individual doilies at the table ond upon other fixings and frills as she did upon the things essential to th- health of the child. With her limited resources she had to choose between the child and the furbelows — and shl had not learned to choose. Every one of us has to manage with limited resources. We have only so much phy> ical strength; we have only so much time; we can command a limited amount of help from others. It is therefore imperative that we selgct the essentials most carefully. The other side of the problems lies in the fact ♦bai the child has limitations — -——— —~ V —- ” * ~~ •

strength and time. We most ehooat the essentials here also. ! If you were told bluntly that you had to choose between the child’* health and polished brasses, or between his companionship and fancy icing on your. company cake, yon would think the suggestion brutal. But do we not dally make such choices in our practical management of our affairs? Very few of us know how to choose wisely. Indeed, so far as any conscious, deliberate purpose goes, very.few of us choose at all. We drift Into’ our habits; we absentmindedly accept the conventions; we yield to the suggestions showered upon us by the periodl-

She Had to Choose Between the Child and the Furbelows.

cals and the theaters; we seek the proprieties. But very seldom do parents sit down with themselves and canvass the possibilities of the dally life, resolved to choose the essentials and to Ignore all else. And because of our failure to do this our children get what is left of our energy and our consideration. They are the Immediate victims. But in the long run the parents themselves suffer quite as much.

SET WORLDLY MAN THINKING

Simple Family Prayers Brought Back to Him the Memories of Youth and Peace. As Allan Lindsay’s eye fell upon the much-thumbed Bible with its shabby black cover, he smiled In ■ superior way. It lay open on a little,— old-fashioned stand by the sitting-room window, with several neatly folded copies of the weekly newspaper. There was a pair of cheap, steel-bowed spectacles between the leaves. No doubt, Lindsay reflected, this was a primitive New England household, where they held family prayers morning and evening. They would not expect a “suminfer boarder” to attend, at all events —that was one comfort. Lindsay prided himself on being a thoroughly seasoned man of the world, and the slow-moving life of the country Irritated him. While he idly fingered a copy of the West Salem Banner he was thinking of the neverending clamor of city streets and the high-tension leisure of an evening at the club. A man had to get out of the whirl now and again, to be sure—he was here by the doctor’s orders—but to live this kind of life year in and year out! Lindsay shook his head disdainfully. “St John XIV.” He read the boldfaced type at the top of the page absently. It was a long, long time since he had read even that much of the Bible, and he turned his head to assure himself that he was quite alone in the room as he moved the steel-bowed spectacles aside a little. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give upon you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let It be afraid.” The cynical smile was gone when Allan Lindsay lifted his head. “Peace 1” It was like the haunting echo of some sweet, old song of his childhood, long forgotten. Was It merely the word of a poet and dreamer, or did it stand for something that might come —yes, and something did come —Into our anxious, busy, turbulent life? 1 As Lindsay asked himself the question, he was thinking of Mrs. Eliot’s plain, motherly face. Or was It the face of his own mother? Lindsay was not sure, but he seemed to see something in both that he saw rarely In any of the alert, somewhat hard faces In his own larger, busier world. Mr. Eliot’s uncertain old voice droned monotonously from the room below, and Lindsay bowed his head reverently when he heard the shuffle of chairs and detected the slight change of tone In the voice. There were young Eliots out in the clamorous, distracting world that Lindsay knew so well, and he wondered vaguely whether this petition from the old family altar—this daily request for untroubled hearts and peaceful lives for them and theirs—reached so far. His own hearthstone was cold and silent now, but perhaps the silenced voices were just beginning to be heard in the heart these older loving hearts pleaded for so long.— Youth’s Companion.

One Use for Horses.

A motor car was held up In a busy street by a wagon drawn by twe horses. The driver seemed in no hurry to get out of the way and at length the occupant of the motor car ex* claimed sarcastically: “Here, L say, my man! What are these things you are driving? What are they for, I should like to know?" “These ’ere, guv’nor?” answered ths carter, flicking the horses with his whip. “Oh, these is wot is commonly called ’orses, an’ they’re sometimes used for to take motorists to the ’orspitaL”

Professor to Old Cook.

“Regina, you have been with me now twenty-five years. In reward for your faithful service, I have decided to name this new beetle which I have discovered, after you.”—Gargoyle,