The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1874-01-15
From the Sci nee of Health.l
Heritage of Woe-A Picture.
BY MRS. AaELIA E. BARR.

Lord Of himselt-that heritage Of
woe y is the affected complaint OF Lord
Byron. No man was ever more mistaken.
IT, indeed, we were lords of ourselves
we should not he subject to original sin,
whisky, ignorence. and those still more
earui nheritanceS-constit ten
denotes to disease and crime.
For man is not only the child of the
spccies-hA is also the child of his parents.
and he inherits from them not only his
form and appearance, but also their ac-
quired habits, their acquired intellects,
virtues, and vices. This truth, dImly
apprehended in the days of Aristotle, is
now universally acknowledged as well
as one still more heavily fraught with
responsibility to every parent-that
while beauty, virtue, talent, ntaH be trans
mitted. an acquired habit or aus'acquired
vice scarcely ever fails to leave its trace
upon one or more of the offspring, either
in its original form or in one closely al
lied to it One other fact in connection
with this is equally noteworthy-that
while what was only habit in the parent,
too often becomes in the child an almost
irresistible instinct.
SO. then, il a bad habit becomes, by
transmission, often fearfully active
vice, it is easily seen how the sins of the
fathers are visited upon the children,
without any visible Intervention of the
divine vengeance
To deny that the moral nature of a pa
rent influences his descendants, would
he to demand continual recreation of
soul for each individual and the very
premises of such an argument would take
Us behind the doctrine of original sin
and the Book of revealed truth. On
the contrary the Bible distinctly asserts
moral heritage; else what did our Saw
iour mean by reproducing the Jews with
being the descendants OF those that kill
ed the prophets? How else. but as a
fresh incarnation of their parents sin,
could they fill up the measure of their
fathers iniquity 2
Buchard. one of the most profound
of Psychologists, says that heritage has
in reality more power over our constitu
ton and character than all the influences
from without, whether moral or phVsi-
cal; and Fernelius* declares, that it
is the greatest part Of our felicity to be
well born, and that it were we'll for hu-
man kind If only such as are sound of
body and mind were suffered to marry"
However, it falls within every ones
experience to kaoa0 that passions and
vices are hereditary. Not merely that
the child of the drunkard becomes u
drunkard by the force of his fathers ex
ample and education, but because he in
hertS direct constitutional tendency to-
wards it. Indeed, NJ Lucas (than whom
| know no higher authority on this sub
iect) says, that example. education and
even compulsion, fail to make criminal
unless the true first cduSe-heredtary in
t1uence-is present This is a hard say
ing: nevertheless let no parent reject it
until they have taken it into their heart
OF hearts and examined it.
Dickens, the clearest and most univer-
al man of his age, OWNED this truth
for he makes little Oliver Twist, a child
OF impressible and amiable temperament,
proof against all temptations; retaining
his honesty and purity. not by any help
of education or any outside influence,
but among thieves and murderers, pure
and honest by the simple instinct OF a
pure and honest nature.
Not more pitiful, | think, are the ap-
proaches OF madness. than are the we'll
understood symptoms which signify to
the hereditary drunkard the hour of his
inherited passion. | knew in Texas a
young man who was heir to such a woe
'ud heritage. He was physically one of
the handsomest of men, and possessed of
great and varied talents, which be had
served his country with distin guished
bravery, and was then holding high po-
sition of trust and honor But with a
regularity that was terrible, there came
to him-no matter where he was, over his
ledger, in the church, by the side of the
woman he loved-a craving for brandy
that possessed him like a demon, and
drove him forth from among his fellows
With set lips and despairing face, he
would deliver to friend the keys of his
Office and betaking himself to his room
not as men go to a carousal, but as they
20 to meet fearful reckoning-and for
two or three days drink in sullen silence
till the craving was appeased.
Some one was one day praising, in his
presence, his vast stores of acquired in
formation, and his delicate fancy as an
artist. "Yet / shall die like brute" :"
he said. sadly; and the despairing look
of hunted animal came into his eyes as
he added: MY father died drunk-my
motherhood forgive her!-my gran
| father shot himself in delirium tremens
you know. boys, how poor Patrick
died-it will be the same with me. u
His prophecy was too soon fulfilled
In such cases as these (and they are
abundant). only an Infinite and Omni
scient God can answer the quest on
| "Whu did sin This man or his parents
for
| "Who made the heart tits He alone
| Decidedly can try us;
i He knows each cord, its various tone,
| Each spring its various bias:
| Then al the balance let's be mute
We never can adjust it;
What's done we partly may compute,
But know not what's resisted"
The history Of the two Coleridges is
well known. The father was Il confirmed
opium-eater the son inherited with hi,
splendid talents his insane craving Iol
stimulants. With this curse hauntin.
him, his beauty. his genius, his brilliant
prospects, were the bitterest ironies, anc
a life of the grandest promise was soor
sacrificed.
No two vices are more distinctly hered
itary than thieving and gambling. Any
one who has lived among negroes accepts
this TACT without dispute. have known
whole families OF negro thieves. / have
in employing them, had the iact simplI