Emphasis Preaching Journal

It is the dream of every immigrant that in the new land to which s/he is headed, life will be easier than it was at home. It was said that the immigrants of the nineteenth century came to the United States because they had heard that the streets of America were paved with gold, and all one had to do was dig for it. But it was not so. The cities here were as dirty as in Europe, and the work was hard. Rents were not cheap, and several families would find themselves living in a single apartment. If one had no other family to share the rent, probably the bedroom would be "let out" to boarders, and the family would sleep in the living room. And everyone in the family worked, from the eight-
year-olds to the grandparents, in order to make ends meet. But they did not return home, for their eyes were fixed on the promise of freedom, and the ability of a person in this "land of plenty" to ascend as high as his or her talents and energy would let them. They transferred their hopes from themselves to their children, who would "at least have it better than their parents." And the wisest of them taught their children that it was by the hand of God they had succeeded, when all around them people were suffering poverty for that enduring hope, and that their children, though in a land of promise and bounty, should not forget the loving God who guided them in this transition. It was in this frame of mind that Thanksgiving was made a national holiday. -- Herrmann