ourself. But you can't do it with these useless,
strength-robbing things growing on your lives. Among the last words of
Jesus on earth were these: 'Herein is my Father glorified, that ye
bear much fruit.' If we are to bear much fruit, we must trim off the
useless things and allow the bright sunshine of His approval and
guidance to come into our lives."

THE PILGRIMS
--Thanksgiving Day
--Bravery

The Story of Their Steadfastness of Faith is an Inspiring Study for
Thanksgiving Day.

THE LESSON--That the blessings for which we are thankful today have
come through those whose faith was firmly grounded.

Thanksgiving Day should be one of mixed seriousness and smiles. This
chalk talk endeavors to meet this combination in its treatment of the
character of the Pilgrims and of the present-time observation of the
day which had its beginning in Plymouth colony.

~~The Talk.~~

"The thoughts of Christian people all over America should turn today
back to the twenty-second day of December, 1620, when that company of
noble men and women, after battling with the ocean waves for two
months, succeeded in getting ashore from their sturdy little boat, the
Mayflower, and set their feet upon the new land of America. The spot
where these Pilgrims landed is now a sacred one. We call it Plymouth
Rock, and there we may still see the rock on which they are said to
have stepped as they came ashore in their row-boats.

"Who were these people? And why did they come to America and start a
colony when there were no white people anywhere around; when savage
Indians would surely try to kill them; when they would have to labor
hard to get any food or clothing, and where they would have to live in
the wild country in huts which must be made from the logs which they
would cut out of the forest?

"The Pilgrims were people from England who loved God and wanted to do
His will. But there were other and more powerful people in England who
punished them and treated them shamefully because they did not choose
to do things which they knew would not please God. Finally, to get
away from their persecutors, they left England and went over to
Holland where they tried to live as they believed the Lord would have
them live. But there they found a rough, immoral lot of people--mostly
sailors and soldiers who had left the service of their country and
were leading reckless lives. For the good of their children, they
decided not to remain there. Th