Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-10-10
"PM LIKE MY FATHER"

in the New York Weekly. He was bit
ailing, had been for some months off color.
l called on him in his sick room and found
him much depressed He had the notion
that he had inherited "a short-lived consti-
tution," whatever that may be. The life
insurance people had asked him, in their
curious catechism, whether he resembled
his father or his mother the more strongly,
and if either, which. This was revela-
ton TO him; he had never thought of it be-
fore. He concluded that he resembled his
father, who had died at thirty years of age.
My friend is already forty-six. His ply
sician assured both his wife and me that
nothing gravely threatening was the mat
ter with him. We found-his devoted wife
and THAT his father had died of fever
contracted on the Isthmus But it is no use |;
the poor Ounce has the notion that he is to
fade away 'like his father" OF course
this is nervous fatigue, nothing more nor
less j.; it is incipient nervous prostration. But
the item Of heredity in the case presents a
common delusion.
People presume on longevity as well, be-
cause they "come of long lived family"
Sngularly, gentleman boasted this other
extreme to me the week before last. He
was quite sure Of advanced age, "because
his father, grandfather, and away back ali
his ancestry were long-livers." And yet as
1 write, that very gentleman is dead
/ am certain that both hope and fear are
inspired, without reason and against rea-
son, by the popular notion. II may be true
that longevity or short life is inherited; but
the trace is so feeble that In the battle of life
u Is not worth elther eXpectihgor areadlng'
III you get such a notion INTO your heao IL Is
iatuous oeinoh. hour latner, Ior IN
sCance' uleo aI siAIy years Vi age iou
Will areau the epoch You Will erect
STONE wall OF iatalsn ior yourseli rlgnl
Vhere' Ohconsciously 10 yoursell you Will
continually pc calculating upon IL WIN ap-
prehehsloh you VIII not taIK ABOUT IL,
even TO your wlie, TIL you have approached
your hity-elghth year; then, as you get
trlfie worn, and perhaps SICK, some day
you VIII let out your 1ear: IL VIII torture
your IoVeu ones IL VIII oaHle your physl
cians as tney wonder What can an you' ana
you are ashamed 10 tell them IL VIII actu-
ally cripple your nervous force, subtract
from your STOCK OF Vltaltyi ana there Is NJ
Tie douOt that the pure, uhmlXeu loollsh-
ness may hasleh your ueaIh' your Idther
| Will nave had nothlng 10 90 Win your
| ueaJh' pu1 you may hasIen your own deaoh
| oy psychlc uepleuoh' lhere Is lar more
evidence that men DO actually cause tnelr
own premature death by apprehension
thah tha1 hereultary iiinlC causes IT,
10 presume that you lhherlt the longevity
OF grandfather VINO liVed 10 Iour-score Is
even more ABSURD. III may not nave oeen
vltallty win the OLD gentleman at all. he
may nave hau no more poWeriul lorganisn
than ordinary men. But a quiet, unevent-
ful lie, exceptionally Tree from any heavy
strain, may nave kept MS heart thropDlng
so long. IL you are nara pushed ana over
uoihg'H you soiace your alarm by refer
ring your Bullty hlha oack 10 Ine shauoWy
grahuslre raVher thah taxing Wnoiesome
rest the prooapiiiIies are that you VIII
snap your handspring oeiore you know IL.
lhe theory VIII make one more victim, and
you are the man iheory Is one thing' put
taots are oetter' 'eulte hKeiy your grand
hnother Will Cell you 'nuV you look ana act
oiuer at iorty-hVe than her husband did at
sixty You I'VE IN more exciting and ex-
actihR age hou are a city man; ne was a
country man You IKE lahcy dishes; he
hoineiy ioou' You sleep mornings; he
nights You are 1retted by money, as by
pohtics' ne was fretted by nothing worse
than an unruly OK or a shower on his new
mown nay You are housed in shop, or
factory or oihce, with the devltalized air Of
modern furnace neat; ne, this noble octo-
geharlan, hVed among mountains, or
preaIheu lhe preath OF the Wlde, VIDE sea,
10 not presume on the venerable fellows
that went before you; there is temptation
ana snare III IL every time.
EVERY man must san his own ship. In
tue haihe Oh the klhd creator do not think
you are gong 10 cough your life away be-
cause consumption Is hereditary III our
fanny facts snow that the decided major
ry oiVicuhs OF TINS terrible malady are the
orlSihai cases no talht can be discovered
III ancestry Ihlhk OF III The majority OF
cohsumpuVes' reassert, are the first cases
IN the iamliy, have II on good au'
thorlty IN pulmonary maladies that de-
clueaIy tue vast majority OF the offspring of
Gonsunp'lVes hhaily die OF other diseases
itls not 10 De denied that there is law OF
hereui'y III disease But the children pre-
ulsposeu tocohsuhption, Tor instance, being
iorewarned, are iorearmed to caution; TAX
ing exceiIeht care OF themselves they out
Probably over eighty per cent, ofthe insane
are original cases; that is, III neither branch
Of the family, within three generations, can
be found an insane ancestor | will NOT nj