Each man's children are beautiful and promising in his view.
He cannot see the hopeless construction of their foreheads, nor
can he read in their eyes the sad absence of "speculation."
Let us be thankful for that. The future depends on the good care
awarded to almost worthless specimens now. ----
FOR THE UNIVERSAL INSTINCT OF THANKFULNESS, LET BE DEEPLY
THANKFUL.
The thick-lipped negro on the Congo finds a dead hippopotamus,
half eaten by wild beasts, and in his woolly brain a dim, misty
feeling of THANKFULNESS is born.
The Tartar bandit surprises mild Chinese conducting a tea caravan
across the stony desert. He murders the mild Celestials and
feels THANKFUL as he contemplates the booty.
A great Trust manager finds ways to add some millions to those
which he already has and does not need. In THANKFUL mood he
gives two millions or three to education.
As inborn, as instinctive as the beating of the heart in the
human being is THANKFULNESS.
Thankfulness is the unconscious acknowledgment of a Higher Power.
It is the indestructible evidence of man's permanent belief in
just government of the universe.
It is the most hopeful, the most promising feature of man's
character.