THE PILGRIMS --Thanksgiving Day --Bravery
The Story of Their Steadfastness of Faith is an Inspiring Study for Thanksgiving Day.
THE LESSON--That the blessings for which we are thankful today have come through those whose faith was firmly grounded.
Thanksgiving Day should be one of mixed seriousness and smiles. This chalk talk endeavors to meet this combination in its treatment of the character of the Pilgrims and of the present-time observation of the day which had its beginning in Plymouth colony.
~~The Talk.~~
"The thoughts of Christian people all over America should turn today back to the twenty-second day of December, 1620, when that company of n.o.ble men and women, after battling with the ocean waves for two months, succeeded in getting ash.o.r.e from their st.u.r.dy little boat, the Mayflower, and set their feet upon the new land of America. The spot where these Pilgrims landed is now a sacred one. We call it Plymouth Rock, and there we may still see the rock on which they are said to have stepped as they came ash.o.r.e in their row-boats.
"Who were these people? And why did they come to America and start a colony when there were no white people anywhere around; when savage Indians would surely try to kill them; when they would have to labor hard to get any food or clothing, and where they would have to live in the wild country in huts which must be made from the logs which they would cut out of the forest?
"The Pilgrims were people from England who loved G.o.d and wanted to do His will. But there were other and more powerful people in England who punished them and treated them shamefully because they did not choose to do things which they knew would not please G.o.d. Finally, to get away from their persecutors, they left England and went over to Holland where they tried to live as they believed the Lord would have them live. But there they found a rough, immoral lot of people--mostly sailors and soldiers who had left the service of their country and were leading reckless lives. For the good of their children, they decided not to remain there. They then bade farewell to all that was near and dear to them in the old country and started across the ocean to America--the new land. After a voyage of two months, they reached the bleak, rocky coast of Ma.s.sachusetts, and they knew that if they could come ash.o.r.e safely, they could here worship G.o.d just as they wished to do.
"We are glad that they kept a diary of what they did. When they asked the London company to let them start a colony in America, they said, "We verily believe that G.o.d is with us and will prosper us in our endeavors. We are men who will not be easily discouraged." That"s the kind of people they said they were--the women as well as the men--and they proved it to be so. After they had signed the const.i.tution which was the foundation of the first democratic government in America, while the Mayflower was standing in the harbor, the brave company of one hundred and one disembarked from their little vessel and commenced at once to chop down the trees needed to build homes and to provide fuel, for it was in the dead of winter. Before the first winter had ended, forty of their number had died from exposure, famine and disease, but when the Mayflower started back on its return trip to England, not one of the survivors would go with the ship"s crew.
Here, then, on this bleak, forbidding New England coast these Pilgrims set up the first model government. [Draw a little of the outline of the New England states at the upper right-hand corner of Fig. 120.]
They had trouble with the Indians, but the Red Men soon came to respect them, and peace continued for many years. Three years after they had landed, Governor Bradford proclaimed a great feast--the feast of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving! How dear the word has grown. "Out of small beginnings," says Governor Bradford in his history of the colony, "great things have been produced by His hand that made all things out of nothing; and, as one small candle will light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone to many, yea, to our whole nation."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 120]
"And, today, this nation, the greatest nation on the earth, still looks back to that first Thanksgiving Day. [Draw the remaining lines to complete Fig. 120.]
"To us, it is a day of worship and feasting, and in both of these features we are following the example of Governor Bradford, Elder William Brewster, John Carver, Edward Winslow, Miles Standish and the other brave men and women who formed that early company. We do not go out into the woods for the wild turkey as they did. But we get the turkey just the same. I have no doubt that your thoughts of thanksgiving to G.o.d for his many blessings to us this year are already mingling with thoughts of scenes like this: [Detach the map drawing from the board, turn it over and re-attach it with thumb tacks. Change the map into a steaming roast turkey by adding the lines to form the wing, the "drumstick," the garnishment and the plate. Use black for all but the garnishment. This completes Fig. 121].
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 121]
OUR HANDS --Visitors" Day --Conduct
Actions Sometimes Speak Plainer Than Words--The Important Part Which Our Hands Play.
THE LESSON--That we should watch carefully "the work of our hands."
This chatty little talk about the hand may be given added force if the speaker will, by the use of his own hands, ill.u.s.trate the characteristics and emotions as they are mentioned.
~~The Talk.~~
"Today, we shall talk a little about our hands--these most useful "tools" that are fastened to the outer ends of our arms.
"Helen Keller, who has been deaf and blind ever since she was a little child, tells us that her hands are a splendid subst.i.tute for eyes and ears, and that their sensitive touch has revealed to her the beauties and wonders of the world. In other words, she _has seen the world with her hands_!
"Did you ever see a palmist read a hand? It is a very interesting thing, although most of us haven"t a great deal of confidence in the revelations which the palmist finds there in the lines and the high places and the low places. [Draw the hand and put in the lettering of Fig. 122.] We laugh at the mistakes which the palmist makes, even though we think seriously of the true things she speaks.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 122]
"But we don"t need to go to the palmist to find out what is really in our hands--to find out the real story they have to tell. Look at your own hands a moment Let us see what we find there.
"Are your hands the kind that clasp other hands in warm friendship?
Are they hands which are busy every day doing good, honest work? Are they hands that take food and clothing to the poor? Are they hands that stroke the fevered brow? Are they hands that help to lighten the burdens of other people? Are they hands that lift up the fallen one and point him to Him who said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden?" Are they hands that help wherever and whenever they can?
_Think about it! Are they?_
"Or, are they hands that clench in anger? Are they hands that crush heartlessly? Are they hands that drag downward? Are they hands that pull backward? Are they hands that strike in cruelty? Are they hands that slap insultingly? Are they hands that tear pitilessly? Are they hands that grope into the dark places and do more harm than good?
_Think about it! Are they?_
"Or, are they hands that drop lazily? Are they hands that lie idly and fold indolently? _Think about it! Are they?_
"In G.o.d"s word, we find the hand mentioned more than a hundred times. It appears constantly as an index of character. So, you see, there is more than one way to determine character than by the "reading" of the hand. Of the industrious, busy hand, Solomon says, "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute." And again of the lazy hand, he says, "How long wilt thou sleep? When wilt thou rise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep." What a picture of laziness!
"But in no other place in the Bible do we find such striking references to the hand as in the words of the Psalmist. [Insert the letter "S" in Palmist, changing it to Psalmist.] Here is what the Psalmist says: "He that hath clean hands and a pure heart shall receive the blessing of the Lord. Let the beauty of the Lord our G.o.d be upon us and establish the work of our hands; yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it." [Add the words, "The Work of Our Hands, Establish Thou It."]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 123]
"This is a splendid prayer for all of us. To our visitors today, we extend a warm hand, because you are as welcome as the flowers in May. Ours is the "right hand of fellowship," as Paul calls it. Here we have a plenty of work for many more hands to do--willing hands, busy hands, loving hands. If yours are not busy doing a work of uplift and helpfulness somewhere else, remember that we shall be glad to enlist them in service here. The lines of E. A. Houseman, in his poem, "A Shropshire Lad" show most beautifully the thought which we should give the work of our hands as the days bring new problems and opportunities:
""Hand," said I, "since now we part From fields and men we know by heart, For strangers" faces, strangers" lands, Hand, you have held true fellows" hands; Be clean, then!--rot, before you do A thing they"d not believe of you!""
HELEN KELLER --Girl"s Day --Seeing
Her Wonderful Experience Furnishes an Inspiring Thought for Girls"
Day.
THE LESSON--That our physical eyes cannot reveal to us the precious gifts of G.o.d; only our spiritual eyes can tell us of His loving kindness.
Helen Keller"s wondrous life is full of inspiration, and a study of it will provide the conscientious teacher with many helpful thoughts.
The ill.u.s.tration is especially appropriate for Girls" Day.
~~The Talk.~~
"It happens very often that two people look at the same thing at the same time, and each of the two sees something entirely different from the other. Somebody has described the optimist as the man who sees the doughnut, while the pessimist sees nothing but the hole. So, also, you and I might see before us nothing but an unshapely block of marble, while the sculptor would see the angel in the stone!
"All of this proves to us that what we see doesn"t depend upon our eyesight, but upon the mind which is back of the eyesight and which receives the impressions not only through the eyes but through the senses of hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling. In fact, our eyes and our ears may be tightly closed--we may be totally deaf and blind--and still we may be able to "see" things more clearly than we might with our eyesight and our hearing.
"We have all heard about Helen Keller, the deaf and blind girl. I will draw an outline of her portrait. [Draw Fig. 124, with eye closed, complete.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 124]
"This young woman has been deprived of her eyesight and hearing ever since she was a young child, and yet her ability to learn, to comprehend, to understand, to really "see," is developed to such a high degree that she is advanced far beyond most well-educated people who possess all of their natural faculties.
"Helen Keller, now grown to womanhood, has written many wonderful things. Here is one of them: "It does not matter where we are, so long as we have light in our hearts and make our dark ways ring with the music of burdens cheerfully borne and tasks bravely filled. They say life is a closed book to me. One critic doubted that I could feel the sun, and I believe he thought others felt it for me. But if, indeed, I had so little share as that in the life of others, it would still be true that