Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-03-07
p OVERCOMING.

"No man can go back of his jaw"
is a Slav proverb %signifying that nc
man can conquer inherited qualities.
How far transmitted traits creep
through a family was shown by IN odd
incident which is stated to have occurred
during the Prince of Wales visit to In
dia. Among the guard drawn up to re-
ceive him in Calcutta, was a soldier
who bore so startling a likeness to the
Prince himself that the curiosity of his
attendants was excited as to who he
could be. 1t appeared, on inquiry, that
both the soldier and his father had been
born in India. His grandfather was a
Hanoverian mechanic, who claimed and
boosted of a distant connection with
George III. Yet in this, his descendant,
born and trained in the climatic inhu-
ences of Asia, peculiarities of feature
and of manner of the heir apparent to
the British throne were reproduced as
closely as if they had been twins. Nat
ure has her whims sometimes of exact
reproduction, but the germinal seed al
ways proves to have been the same.
A child with six fingers and six toes
was born last summe in Germany of
1all1C1 lCdu Pdicl1ts. Liz 1uOtucI WIS
startled and annoyed at the physicians
declaration that the deformity was he
reditary; but on writing home, learned
for the first time the family secret, that
this popularity had repeated itself
once in every generation for two or
three centuries.
Natural features recurring in the
widely branching members of a family
invariably index some corresponding
trait of a character-a fault to be over
come. Or a virtue which exaggerates it.
self into a vice. wherever the dropped
lid of the Stuart goes, a selfish soul
walks after" was the essence of popu-
lar experience Of that cold-blooded
race.
''Poor Jennie! she has worn out her
life fighting the hung jaw of the Car
lyles," said a friend of Jennie Welsh,
long before her death made the tragedy
of the house at Cheyne Walk open to
the public.
But we are all apt to forget that it is,
after all, the Stuarts, and not their fol-
lowers, who are handicapped in the
race of life by their sluggish blood and
soul; and that Carlyle's hung lip and
ill-conditioned temper were a fiercer
torture to himself than to his wife.
The hardest fight awaiting any man
is. as the Russians call it, to ego back
of his jaw" to conquer the legacy of
evil tendencies left him by
his fathers. Every mother ought
to be able to define to her boy this work
which lies before him, and to show him
where to begin. The harder the strug-
gle, the more charitable he will be to
other boys whose task is heavier.
But only God knows how much harder
it is for b~ull-necked, heavy-jowled Ben
to be patient, modest and sober, than
for his thin. pale, low-voiced comrade.
But God does know, and whatever mar
may do. He holds the reckoning Just.
He who overcomes his inherited bad
qualities is a b%enefactor to those who
come after. His children may inherit
his resolution and power of resistance.
Truly the words: '.He that overcometh
shall inherit all things" has an applica-
ton to this life as well as that which is
to come.
Struggle! If you overcome, the world
will be better for your living. Struggle!
No man lives for himself alone: no
mans influence ends with his own fam
lily or friends or his own generation.
Every ones triumph of good is an
added treasure to the gold of good in
the world. Struggle on! God will keep
the account.
You may not be able to see the result
now. The flower and fruit do not ap-
pear when a good seed is planted. But
right resolution and right endeavor will
bring the beneficent harvest in the end.
Therefore struggle on.-YouM's COM
panion.