President Coolidge's Proclam: tion: Gratitude for the Prosperity of the United States The Americwn community Shanghai celebrated their annual Thanksgiving day service on Thursday at Holy Trinity Cathedral, at the American Club and in the various homes throughout the Settlement and the French Convession.
This festival is observed as a commemoration of the first Pilgrim harvest in 1621 after they had land. ed on the bleak and desolate New England coast, just after the severe winter of 1620. At first it was but after the Repablie it was annually proclaimed by the President the United States. In addition to the service, the American School is following the American custom of holding its premier American football game on that day, their oppouents being the Chinese football team.
The Presidential Proclamation follows:—
Thanksgiving Day Proclamation As a nation and as individuals we have passed another 12 months in the favour of the Almighty; He has smiled upon our fields and they have brought forth plentifully; business has prospered; industries have flourished and Labour has been well employed. White sections of our country have been visited by dis-We have been spared any great national calamity or _pestilential sitation. We are blessed among thi ations of the earth.
Our moral and spiritual life has kept measure with our material prosperity. We are not unmindful of the gratitude we owe to God for: His' watchful care which pointed out to us the ways. of peace and happiness, We should not fail in our acknowledgment of His divine favour which has bestowed upon us so many blessings, neither should we be forgetful of those among us who through stress of circumstances are less fortunately placed, but by deeds of charity make our acknowledgment more acceptable in His sight, Wherefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States, do hereby set apart Thursday, Novem ber 25 as a day of general thanksgiving and prayer, and I recommend that on that' day the people shall cease fiom their daily work and in their homes or in their accustomed places of worship, devoutly give thanks to the Almighty for the many and rich blessings they have received ard seek His guidance that through good deeds and brot ly love they deserve a continuance of his favour.
In witness whereof, I have set my hand and caused tobe affixed the great seal of the United States.
Done at the City of Washington this thirtieth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty six, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifty first.
By the President:
Joseph C. Grew, Acting Secretary of State, The day began with the 11 am. service in the Cathedral at which Judge Milton Purdy, of the United States Court for China, presided.
The Cathedral was effectively decorated with big yellow chryranthemums and greenery, and a mound lof fruit and vogetablec at the and of the central aisle brought a harvest touch into the decorations.
An organ " prelude, "Andante Teanquillo" (Harwood) opened the service and this was followed by an anthem, "O Hearken," sung by the special 'Thanksgiving' Day Choir of mixed voices. After congregational singing and the reading of the President's Proclamation by the Acting Consul-General, Mr. C. E. Gauss, the Rev. C. M. Drury conducted' responsive Scripture Readings. "The Lord Bleas Thee"
Leopold Damrosch) was then given by the choir, followed by the prayer said by the Rev. W. H. Wei-el, 2, and another anthem Byes of the Lord" (Mark Andrews), by the choir, The Toil of Others The sermon was given by Dr. Robert E. Speer, lof the Presbyte The text of hi sermon dealt the necessity of recalling on Thanksgiving Day that everything which: can be possessed in life is really received from others. "Every own was bought for us by the toil of others. We come in behind and hhence we cannot glory in the paths made by others." In describing the rational and honourable attitude for ithe present generation, Dr. Speer seid it was to accept the past as a period productive of valuable ex-_ perience and to be grateful for being ound in the great network of all life behind and present. Generosity all its forms, whether national or individual, was extolled by the speaker.
After the sermon the choir sang "Lord of the Worlds Above" (John E, West) and congregation and choir sang "America," following, which the benediction was pronoanced by Very Rev. C.J. Symons and the service concluded by an organ postlude "Paean" (Harwood)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.