PROCLAMATION.
Another year has
gone, and we are brought to that period when, following the example of our
Puritan fathers, we are accustomed to offer our public thanksgiving to the
author of all good for His merciful providence toward us. Wonderful changes
have occurred during the past year, and adversities seem to have overtaken us
as a country and as a people, yet we have manifold blessings for which to be
thankful. For the bounteous harvest of the field; for the general good health
of the past year; for the peaceful relations we occupy with the nations abroad;
for the aroused patriotic spirit of the people, which promises in due time to
restore peace at home, and triumphantly place our civil and religious
institutions of freedom on a firmer foundation than ever before; for these and
many other blessings we have abundant cause for Christian gratitude. With civil
war raging in our midst, the banner of rebellion along all our southern border,
hostile armies marching to the conflict, and wails of mourning already swelling
from thousands of stricken hearts and households, that we can still recognize
manifold causes of gratitude and acknowledge His kindly providence and
confidently place our trust in His hand to control this storm for the nation's
good, may entitle us to the renewed favor of Him who doeth all things well.
To this end I, Samuel
J. Kirkwood, Governor of the State of Iowa, do hereby appoint Thursday, the
28th day of November, as a day of thanksgiving, and I earnestly recommend the
people of the State to abstain on that day from their usual avocations and
assemble in their respective places of worship, to offer thanks, prayer and
praise to Him in whose mercy now more than ever is our great trust.
SAMUEL J. KIRKWOOD,
Governor of Iowa.
[From MS. Copy of Executive Register, Vol. II, p. 118 — in
the Office of the Secretary of State, Des Moines.]
SOURCES: Henry Warren Lathrop, The Life and
Times of Samuel J. Kirkwood, Iowa's War Governor, p. 176; Benjamin F.
Shambaugh, The Messages and Proclamations
of the Governors of Iowa, Volume 2, p. 489-90
No comments:
Post a Comment