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Editorials - 11/23/00

Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanks
Thanksgiving is the one day set aside each year for the purpose of counting our blessings. While the custom has been around since America's colonial days, it was President Abraham Lincoln who proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday and designated the last Thursday in November.

Lincoln's proclamation came in 1863, during the Civil War. Here are some excerpts:

"The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

"In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union."

After reminding the populace that the war has not "arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship," and that "population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battlefield," Lincoln concluded.

"I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

"And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."

Sylva's Christmas parade to be Tuesday

Christmas spirit will be in the air Tuesday in downtown Sylva. Our annual parade will take a different route this year, beginning on Skyland Drive, turning right on Business 23 by McDonald's and then traveling east on N.C. 107. This year's paraders will march down Main Street toward the historic Jackson County Courthouse, rather than away from it as in years past.

Those arriving early may participate in caroling on the steps of the First Baptist Church and see the lighting of the Hospice Tree at the fountain at about 6 p.m.

The courthouse will sparkle on its hilltop, resplendent in greenery and lights, gracing this year's parade with the charm of a bygone era.

Let's make this year's parade the best attended ever and start the holidays off right. See you there.

Editorial policy

The opinions expressed on this page are those of the Sylva Herald Editorial Committee. Opinions are derived independently and owe no allegiance to any group, organization or political party. We welcome opposing views.

Back to Archive: 11/23/00.