The Oregon daily journal., November 22, 1908, Page 28, Image 28

V, ..Jtflr- - - J I r "4 A M- I TO -V V liWIi Jr- r--: " : " --'l ,
Americans Who Have
Landed Fim.Iv oa Great
Discoveries and
Achievements
T
HIS year the national Thanksgiving,
that testifies to the twelvemonth's
bounties bestowed upon the people
of the land who have acquired so much more
than' the inheritance the Pilgrim Fathers be
queathed, presents some very interesting as
pects ,
A large fart of the nation, it is true, is
j till more or less disgruntled because of the
disappointment of political hopes; yet the
country's crops, in the main, afford ample
ground for gratitude, and there is a pretty
general belief in the return of prosperity.
'. The year 1908, for all its vicissitudes,
will stand out as a notable the notable
exception to ,the or dinaryThanks giving; for
it has beett during the year just past that this
nation hat ' attained discoveries and achieve
ments as great, indeed, greater, than the
landing of the Pilgrims on, the soil destined
for their liberty and their increase.
... Not one, but many rocks of safety in
the wide welter, of experiment and doubt,
have been won in the course of this remark
able year; and there is not one among them
in which any of us who have been on the eve
of succumbing to the old habit of viewing
Thanksgiving askance will fail to enjoy his
share of the rich results.
OTABLE achievements, one following hard
upon the heels of another, have been perform
ed by Americans or In America, so that, even
as Thanksgiving- Is peculiarly an American
Institution, thla particular Thanko&lvlng- is peculiarly
the one which may be said to have" Its own Pilgrim
Fathers, bold and confident adventurers into the un
knowns of the earth and sky. whose courage and faith
are already riving to their country, and to the world,
boon that shall endure from generation to genera
tion. ; ;
' The parallel Is even closer than any bare recital
of those boons would Indicate; for the true Thanks
' giving, the first Thanksgiving, was far from being
of the kind we moderns celebrate, far from being
even the Thanksgiving our fathers and our grand
sir es knew.
- Save for the externals with which some few cen
turies of exploration and adventure have surrounded
, us, the people of this country, during this year, have
. stood In tl) same relation to their future as the self
exiled Puritans of New England stood when Ibey set
'fprth upon their great adventure.
Their rejoicing was made in the midst of bleak
discomforts, on the brink of grave and unknown risks;
"ye It was observed as a day chosen to mark their
xeverent gratitude for the certitude, attained at last,
that through all perils and reverses, they were come
safe Into the possession of the land of their desire.
2t was less an offering of thanks for plenty than the
profoundly moving gratitude which comes to those
who have narrowly grazed disaster and know how to
trejolce over that which barely suffices.
Cv. CONQUEST OF THE AIR
The scene has changed, with the profitable passage
.'" Of the years, from the meager food and shelter, over
I which those forefathers exulted, to the era where we
-Ate ready to lament any lack of luxuries. But so far
' as the most Spartan of us moderns could think of
asking a background of deprivation and stress, the
year that followed 1907's Thanksgiving has afforded
an appropriate petting for these modern assurances
Of the good that is to come.
'Perhaps, of all among these new Plymouth Rocks
. the year has embraced, the most momentous is the
.latest the subjugation of the third great division of
hla baffling world by man.
;-' Conquest of the air, dreamed of so long that for
more than a hundred years mankind stood upon the
fearful brink, trembling, afraid, leaves him no ele
ment to aubdue. With the epochal achievements of
two modest Americans, the brothers Wright, the first
"landing in the atmosphere was accomplished which
could be -accepted as assuring actual, permanent pos
session and dominance over its still limitless and
mysterious fields.
. JCven no. in their earlier day, had the: original Pll
(Tlm Fathers followed after the Spaniards, the Span-
Urda after the Norsemen, and the Vikings far in the
wake of the daring Asiatics. Their hold on the in
clenwjni -shores thejr had. seized was no more secure
tnan has - been-the lodgment of the Wrights in the
voTeTable BOpUete. untold agea-after. the flight of
hapless Icarus, and more than a century after the
futile triumphs of the. Columbus of the air, Mont
Kolnori yet it sufficed.
There ran he no question that- in the immeasurable
fruits of the Wrights' achievement all their country-i-u-a
'will fcttare: for the moat advanced In the wholly
.vi science of night are the most ready to admit
liisl il is atill in its birth throes. Vast and dim in
ifl future looms the form of the gigantic, unlm-
-vinahle toe of the voyage of Clnbad, to which alone
promt's can be compared that enormous bird
v fitch bore with flying ease its heavy burden of man
-. 1 Irasnre over hilt and Valler.- - --r--------
a er?atr 6erre than attended the Invention
cf i o KUaroboit and the locomotive, the demons tra.
"1
THE OREGON SUNDAY
tlon of the effectiveness of the aeroplane opens to
mankind possibilities never Included within the range
of his experience. Precisely because of that vast
unknown, its possibilities are pregnant with more
marvels, while its reality today morn closely parallels
the seemingly trivial foothold gained by the early
Pilgrim Fathers.
By contrast to the exploitation of the elusive at
mosphere, the definite assurance of success in the con
struction of the Panama canal, as being within the
limit of the nation's power, marks another rock pf
safety for which all 'Americans, this year, may well"
give thanks.
Until this year. In the midst of resigning chiefs,
disgruntled commissaries and continually dishearten
ing criticism, that suDerhuman task, a tragic failure
when essayed by another nation, still seemed poised
between success and Ignominious disaster.
With the President's review of the findings pf the
special commission of investigation, submitted to him
during the summer, it became indisputable that not
only was early completion assured to this splendid
adventure In the domination of the seas, but that it
Is destined to a culmination in the highest degree
creditable. In his letter reviewing and commending
the outcome of the work done under Colonel George
W. Goethals that plain army man, who, as the sim
ple performance of the duty to which he is assigned,
is accomplishing the hitherto Impossible in the most
simple, silent and business-like way the President ob
served: Th (uccrsa h literally ben BStoundlnar. Five year,
eo. when we undertook irK. task, no sane man would have
dared hope tor the renulti that have already baen achieved.
The commission Itself. In summarizing the progress
It observed during its long and thorough study of
canal conditions, stated:
Thl year over two and a third million cubic yard were
excavated In each of the winter months the dry teason In
Panama a million yanl being approximately equal to a
eauare mile one tout deep. To Drepare this Immense mass
for removal. 405 tons of dynamite were used per month;
and . to make the dirt fly to this extent thirty-two 95-ton
i
T
lLlXKSCilVIXG the welling-up within
the heart of gratitude for the blessings of
the j-oar has been the burden of many
i sweet sungs of poets.
Thanksgiving for joy and ireedom from sor
row; for .sunshine and rain; for health and. happi
ness; for the blessings of rich harvests and a pleni
tude of good things, Bpiritual and physical this
is the spirit of poems for the November feast of
thanks.
In 1H6-2 President Lincoln proclaimed as a
nationnl holiday the days of thanks instituted by
the Puritans. With the poets "Thanksgiving" ha3
for many years been a theme of joy.
o
NE of the most thankful of poets, to Judge by
his many poem? on that day, was John Green
loaf Whitticr. He wrote:
Onre more the liberal year laughs out
, O'er richer stores than Kerns of gold; 1
once more with harvest song; and shout.
Is nature's boldest triumph told.
Who murmurs at his lot today?
Who Bcorns his native fruit and bloom.
Or slirhs for dainties far away,
besides the bounteous board of home?
Thanksgiving at home the giving of thanks with
the family the New England Thanksgiving, when the
table Is bountifully spread this Is the theme of his
famous poem on "The Pumpkin" the pie of the au
tumn: '
Ah! on Thanksgiving; Day. when from Bast and from West,
f.! Aorlh and from South coine the pilgrim and guest:
When the gray-haired New Ennlander sees round his board
Tlie old broken links of affection restored;
v hen the care-wearied man seeks his mother once mors.
.And the worn roothnr smll.-s where the Rirl smiled before.
W hat moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
V hat calls back the past like the rich pumpkin pis?
Th.n thanks for the present. None sweeter or bettsr
y. rr smoked from en oven or circled a platter.
KalnT hands never wrought at pastry more fine;
Hrlchter eyp never watched o'er Its baking than thine;
And the prayer which ray mouth Is too full to express
dwells my heart that thy shadow may never grow leu;
That the days of thy lot may be strenrthened below.
And ths fame at thv worth, likt the pumpkin vine, grew.
And thy llf be as sweet ,anfl its last sunset sky
Golden-tinted &d fair as thy own pumpkin pie.
2bp AlMfiese W
JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 22, 1908
III MM' -VuVI
steam shovels, thirty-seven 70-ton. ten 46-ton and twenty
four others were In constant use.
A total of 4146 cars and 302 locomotives moved the mass
to the dumps. A fleet of IS b arses, 15 dredeea and II other
vessels were at work in the dredging; service. On April 20
last, 26,118 men were actually at work for the Isthmian
Canal Commission, and 7076 at work for the Panama Kail
road a total of SS.193 men
When we recatl the fact that this enormous plant Is
operated at a distance of 1076 miles from Its main base of
supplies. Jn America, wa cjui estimate with more justice
and accuracy the magnitude and complication of th under
taking. The consequences of this far-reaching change which
the Unlled States government is making in the face
of nature are to be compared only with the results
that have flowed from the settlement of New England
by the pioneers of European civilization. Those 33.
000 men who are ao diligently at work in Panama
are but the outposts of the uncountable commerce and
industries of the future.
Yet that future Is so near at hand that whole com
munities, entire territories, of this great continent
already reckon with it as the present. Capital Is
.
Another poetess, Mrs. Margaret Sangster, wrote
this verse on the. "Thanksglvin' Pumpkin Pies":
Bo you hid me to Thanksglvin'. Thank you, neighbor; It la
kind
To keep a plain old body like myself so much In mind.
Here I've been, alttln' all alone, and a mlat before my eyes,
A-thlnkln', like a simpleton, of mother's pumpkin pies.
Then the old lady of the poem goes on to tell
that she has just come from Sarah's, who lives In a
sort of palace in the city, and has creams and salads,
made by a French cook, that "cost a fortune." How
ever, things didn't quite suit her at her niece's, and
an Invitation to an old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner
suits her well.
How I run oa. 'Well, thank you, neighbor; I see you want
to go.
I'm cotnln' to Thanksglvin': your good old ways I know;
An' my mouth waters; dear old friend, there's tears in these
dim eyes.
For 1 shall taste the flavor of mother's pumpkin plea.
Will Carleton, the New England. poet, strikes the
universal note of thanks in his hymn, part of which
follows:
We thank Thee. Father, for all that ia bright
The gleam of the day and the stars of ths (light:
The flowers of our youth and the fruits of our prime.
And ths blessings that march down the pathway ot time,
We thank Thee, O Father, for all that is drear
The sob of the tempest, the flow of the tear;
For never in blindness and never in vain
Thy mercy- permitted a sorrow or pain.
As In most of her poems, a devout religious spirit
pervades Phoebe Cary's poem on Thanksgiving. It
Is an appeal to the grown-ups on this day to make a
trip back to their childhood, and Is marked by the
felicitous simplicity of the writers -
O men, grown sick with toll and rare, ,
Leave for awhile the crowded mart.
O women, sinking with despair,
Weary of limb and faint of heart.,
Forget your years today-and come i
As children back to childhood's home.
Follow again the winding- rills,
Oe te the places where you went
When, eltnlblng up the summer hills.
In their (green laps you sat content
And soj-tly leaned your head to rest
On Nature's calm and peaceful breast.
The poetess Sighs for a return to the woods, where
love first dawned in one's life, advises one to go into
the orchards' and a the rlpa- fruits, breathe agyn '
shrewdly laying Its plans, cities are prudently pre
paring facilities, states In whole tiers are discussing
waterways that shall be tributary to the limitless
resources the world-uniting canal will shortly lay
open to utilization.
Ten years, and no man knows what millions may
be Invested in the' aeroplane industry, or how many
thousands, idle today, may be earning livelihoods in
shop and landing stage and. in the air itself.
Mercurys winged as the commonplace messengers
of the time, their wages paid for manifold service,
from the delivery of a letter to the production of
needed rain.
Ten years, and the laden -fleets of the world may be
seeking their way through the Isthmus, bearing from
ocean to ocean priceless freights, drawing in their
wake armies of us, who read this now, toward new
mines In South America, new trade centers in China,
new farms in Alaska, new ranches in Australia.
Beside only these two modern Plymouth Rocks of
the mfJdern enterprise, with their Imminent advan
tages shouldering us toward Golcondas, the high hopes
of the plain pilgrims of old New England look very
modest things to make a Thanksgiving for.
What they were so .grateful over was merely that
they had reached the place alive, and believed that
they could, keep alive for the years to come. What
we have been in danger of forgetting wholly Is that
we have taken possession of two great empires such
as our forefathers gltnpsed only in their wildest
fantasies, and the priceless wealths are almost at our
doors.
Even more near to us, however, are a number of
other achievements that may be leas Impressive to
hind
the fragrance of the meadow's new-mown hay; to go
back, too, to the old hearth, to sit at the table with
father and mother and all those you loved in memory.
She concludes:
And though where home has been you stand
Today In alien loneliness;
Though you may clasp no brother's band.
And claim no sister's tender kiss;
Though with no friend nor lover nigh.
The past Is all your company.
Thank Ood for friends your life has known.
For every dear, departed day;
The blessed past Is safe alone;
Ood Klves, but does not take away;
He only safely keeps above
For us the treasures that we love.
One of the simplest and most beautiful of Thanks
giving poems is "We Thank. Thee," by Emerson. It
runs:
For iswrs that bloom about our feet:
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For sung of bird and bum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see.
Father In heaven, we thank Thes.
For Hue of stream and blue of sky:
For pleasant shade of branches high;
For fragrant air and cooling breess;
For beauty of the blonmlnff trees.
Father In heaven, we thank Thee.
While It was not written especially In reference to
our national feast of Thanksgiving, Keats' "Ode to
Autumn" is generally considered a poem of the season.
The first stansa runs: w jp
Season of mists and yellow frultfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun:
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage trees.
And fin all fruit with ripeness to ths core;
To sweU the gourd, and plump the hasel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more.
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
t'ntll they think warm days will never cease.
For summer has O'erbrlmmed their clammy cells. -
And thus, with all his familiar charm and magic,
the poet concludes:
Where are ne songs of spring? Ay. where era they?
Think not of-them; thou bast thy music- too.
While barred clouds bloom the soft dyiag day,: .
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue; , 1
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn, '
Along the liver swallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind Uvea or dies;
And full-srrown lambs toud bleat from billy bourne;
Hedge-crlcketa slog: and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden croft.
And gathering swallows twitter'' la the skies, . i -.-
99
our material
welfare.
The first step was taken this' year toward the con
servation of the resources of the entire country. . It
is no magniloquent figure of speech It Is the unvar
nished truth that, until this year, the centuries which
passed with annual thanksgiving for the multitude of
blessings bestowed upon the heirs of those early
Pilgrim Fathers were wholly devoted to the wanton
waste and ruin of every boon among them.
If ever sinners against the bounty of their Creator
deserved to go down on knees reverent in gratitude
for saving grace at last vouchsafed them, the Ameri
can nation, at this Thanksgiving, should offer up Its
prayer that it has attained the rock of safety amid
Its own wanton wreck of forest, field and stream.
The voyage of the American fleet around the world'
must take Its place as another rock of refuge only
this year reached, although decades have gone by
since the nation first suspected that the distant shores
the fathers found must be Inadequate for protection
In the changed facilities and weapons that have come
to the hand of man.
In Washington, this year, the assemblage of the
world congress for the extirpation of tuberculosis
fixed, for the first time firmly, the stand of the United
States against the invisible, dread bacilli that take
their toiy of millions of the people. There Is no family
In the land that does not owe a Thanksglvhig prayer,
in 1908, for the emancipation that is in. sight from
that gruesome "thraldom of our people.
And, among the countless victories of the labora
tory, few have set further In advance the conscien
tious adventurers of science than the discovery of
the serum which is the antitoxin for cerebro-spinal
meningitis by the Rockefeller Institute for Medical
Research. A thousand lives might have been saved In
New York city alone during the epidemic of 1905; in
1908 and the spring of 1909 thousands of families, to
which the antitoxin of meningitis comes as the rescuer
of their dear ones, can remember the thanksgiving
their gratitude should have Inspired.
Butterflies That Deceive
Birds
By Joha T. Timmons.
T
lUE keen intelligence shown in many of our
common birds Is Indeed remarkable. The close
observation of many Insect-destroying blrda
that inhabit our towns and country districts
enables the birds to select the particular species of
insect life most adapted to their very acute tastes,
although in some Instances some of the most careful
birds are deceived.
Many of our more common birds feast upon the
butterflies that are found during the summer months.
One of the more common butterflies is that known
as the Monarch or milkweed butterfly. It is a large
brown fellow with dark markings, and is quite com
mon throughout the whole world.
One of the reasons for the greater number of these
butterflies Is the fact that It Is a bad-tasting morsel
to the insect-destroying birds, and but few feed upon it.
The butterfly known as the Viceroy Is a specimen
very similar in appearance, but instead of the cater
pillars producing it feeding on the milkweed as the
Monarch, they are found on the willow, poplar and
cherry trees, and the fully developed butterfly Is u.
dainty morsel of food to the birds that have been
smart enough to discover the difference between these '
two species.
Most birds, however,' are seemingly Ignorant of the
difference, or afraid to trust their own Judgment, for.
although a very sweet morsel of diet for those birds
that have tested them, most birds give the Ylcoroy
a wide berth and allow it to escape. Some scientists
tell us the Monarch butterfly has been the cause of
many birds dying, but a careful study of true condi
tions does no warrant this statement, although many
of the birds shun them as completely as if they were
certain death. Others, however, apparently without
as refined tastes, will devour them when other insecta ,
are scarce.
It is not often we find birds deceived by the simi
larity in the- appearance of insects, but in this and a
tew other more rare instances we And that blrda
actually overlook some ot the most , delicious . bits
of food. .. ' . . 1
Our young friends will And th$ study of the butter
, fly a very fascinating occupation, and one that, if fol
lowed, will bring no end of real pleasure and profit "
to the nature studeat- -,
Some specimens are extremely rare, and collectors
have been knows to pay handsome prices for fine, rara '
specimens. ... ' M '
the eye, yet are of equal importance
.t