The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1886-09-30
THE INFLUENCE OF HEREDrTY.

life a tendency to reproduce its w
marked peculiarities is we'll known.
There is scarcely an intelligent farmer
who does not believe the axiom that
s.iike begets like" Immediately or re-
motely. In the animals they rea for
money, or for that pleasure which is
only another form of profit, breeders
see constantly the evidence of the
power of that law. Even in the seem
ing failures that have led the disap-
pointed to declare that breeding is a
lottery, wiser ones see the operation of
hereditary influences. By skillful man
management these influences have been
made to do much to add to the creature
comfort of man; but, because of a gen.
eral neglect of the aid they offer, they
have done very little directly for the
elevation of man himself. By his skill
of mating animals having desirable
characteristics. mar has developed the
obese porker of to-day from the gaunt
and grizzly wild boar. The lank, fiat
ribbed wild OK of vast horns and
viciousness has been changed into the
substantial bullock of juicy roasts and
much docility. The shaggy pony of
the crags, the hardy courser of the
desert, and the sleek horse of fertile
plains have been nodded by mans art
full use of natures forces into the spir-
tied flying racer, the sturdy hack, and
the massive draft horse of surprising
strength and gentleness. In mating
birds the breeders art has produced re-
suits wonderful in the variety of form
and size and color they display. Many
of the established breeds of the age
exhibit no trace of their origin.
No man can show the limit of the
changes the breeder can make by di-
recting the mating of animals under his
control. But his power does not end
with the mating, for, while the infiu-
ence of heredity does much to form and
to govern the development and action
of the animal. that development and
action will be greatly modified by the
conditions surrounding the animal:
Breeding, which is another name for
hereditary influence, may give to the
OK a tendency to grow big, and fat, and
gentle. With abundant food and water
he will become the embodiment of
lordly ease and prosperous content;
but urn away the well-bred calf to
''rustle" for himself upon bleak bills or
sparsely-grassed plains and he will be-
come a tough, skinny and loosejointed
beast. having vast capacity for consum-
ing food and making little return there
for. Send the corpulent and lazy
porker of high degree from his we'll
filed trough, give to him the joys of
freedom and the choice between starva-
ton and working for his subsistence,
and he will ere long be as gaunt and
fierce a were his distant ~progenitors.
Yet the animal having in his veins
good blood retains the power and the
disposition to respond, far more salts
factorily than the iil-bred can, to good
treatment.
The life of every child is a stream
made up of converging currents of here
ditary influences. They come almost
of necessity where so many races
mingle as in America, from many diff
ferent sources. Some may be turbid
from dirt. torn from the soil of base
passions to cloud the new current;
some may become polluted by long
turnings in the swamps of sin, and
shame, and crime, to poison all with
which they mingle; and others may be
pure, sparkling streams flowing
brightly through the world, making
fertile every field through which they
pass, refreshing with their own pure
life every dropping plant they touch by
the way, sweetening and identifying
every scene in which they appear.
Whence these streams come and what
they are few have cared to inquire in
time and with purpose to prevent the
mingling of the impure in the new cur
rents to be created. The fancy of the
mother that is to be is caught by the face
and form of some playmate, and, if so
muck of his uniformed character as ap-
pears to view will satisfy the easy re-
'quirements of the Mrs. Grundy of her set,
he is accented, and they marry. Meth
er has asked whether the blood in the
veins of the other is that of beggars, of
saints. of scoundrels. Neither has Civ
en- q thought to the influence their mat |
ing will have upon the world; neither
HOS quCSIloiSo "hSUhOl thO
tendencies they bring together will give
to the world demons or angels. Parents
do little better in this respect than they
do for themselves. Almost the only
question asked about the man is, HAS he
any money!" If he have enough they
are content. By the masses not w
so much as that is demanded. The
young are allowed to follow the fleet
ing fancy of the moment, without a
single restraining thought of the ire
mendous Importance to the human race
of the contract they make. How shall
they be expected to consider the effect
of influences of the existence of which
they have never been told?
Carefully prepared, beautifully illus
trated, and expensive books and period
icais are published in great number to
teach the breeder how to turn to ac-
count the forces of heredity; but little
or nothing is said or done to teach the
world how to apply the SAM great
forces to the elevation of humanity,
-Lr,;oolu nto11aot,o1Iu or nnro11y