The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-06-04
Home Training vs.. Hereditary.

Al meeting III WHICH we paFClpl
tated the subject Of criminal heredity
was discussed. The leading speaker
of the evening took the ground tnat
the development of active crime in So
cicty was not SO much due to inheri-
tance of Il special disposition toward
wicked and lawleSs conduct as it was
to improper home traing anu vicious
social influences. In many homes OF
comfort and seeming respectability
the very atmosphere teemed with de-
ceit and prevarication. The little
children of those homes were fairly
nursgd in lies by fashionable case-seek-
ing mothers, and ylib-toungcd, selfish
attendants, becoming, ere old enough
to attend school, sllillul in arts of du-
piiclty and cunning. Unless their
later teaching contained wholesome
moral checks, the bias of develop
ment was naturally toward that level
or mental perversion that is fruitful OF
vice and crime.
Take any community, for example,
how many mothers are in the habit OF
making promises To their restless lit
tie ones that they do not think OF
keeping. "lf Freddy will he a good
boy and not make so much noise ma
ma will give him some candy" Fred
dy tries his best to keep quiet, and
docs really we'll for his eXcltablc tenn
permanent, and after time comes for
the candy, and is met with a'Oh, go
away, child, haven't any for YOU"
A mother has a call to make. She
has already promised to take little Al
ice with her "the next time" she goes
out. So the little girl closely watches
mother while she is dressing and waits
eagerly for Ecr turn to be dressed.
But mama is all ready without q sim
Gle word to The eager child. And
when, at last, she tearfully asks aren't
YOU going to take me-: she Is sharp
iv answered IL can't do it to-day,
child. .1crI tine.
We have known Il mother who had
made promises Of this k nd repeated
~ To send her little one down to the
Kitchen, or into the back yard, on
some tlimSy errand, so that she could
slip out of the house unperceivcd.
Fine moral training this. And yet
five were to attempt to show the real
character of such conduct to such
mothcr. as these, We should be taxed
with gross impcrtinencc and misrep-
re&cntailOn.
We believe that thousands Of eases
of misconduct, with their varying de-
.recs of viciouSnesS, that arc attribut.
ed to hcrcdity, nay, that the great ma
iority of cases SO imputed by scientific
authority, can be shown by inquiry
into their history to be due first to im-
proper treatment, or the lack of judlc-
ious moral training in early child
hood. Heredity may be held rcspon-
siblc for sufficient proportion of the
deformities mcntrl aud physical that
allict society, but tnat proportion on
candid analysis will, we think, shrink
greatly below the size it holds in conn
mon estimation.
We have given an instance ortwo of
conduct on the part of mothers that
has pefrcrling effect upon the young
minds. We could point to the con-
,nltuct of fathers, very respectable men
lis society goes, that is equally repre-
hcnsibie. Of course the bright, ambi-
tious boy looks up admiringly to his
father, and in his simple ignorance
thinks rapa's vices Of manner and
habit great things, and resolves to
adopt them too whel! iic is biz enough.
So the boy not yc: uuJ Of S.lnri clothes
learns to smoke ana 10 drink, to play
games for money, and 10 use language
that suggests evil.
The close observer who contributes
the sketches from Lavater draws in
one number 4 portrait Of refined
and cultured gentleman, who employs
his leisure i'm scientific study, and in
the absorption of such study is harsh
and unjust to his little children, care
lessly sowing germs of distrust and
disrespcct in their innocent minds,
that later favoring environment will
nourish into dangerous flower.
When young man has been de-
tccted in some penal act, do his pa
rents thiuk of the extent to which
they may he responsible for his Of
fence? On the contrary, as q rule,
they "w 0ndcr what could have got
ten into him to do such thing ~
or they attribute Lis fall to "that club
or "that young man, Jones, with
whom he was so intimate.' They be-
stow little thought upon their own i'll
consistcncies, not to say abuses, OF
treatment when he was child. Per-
iaps they were TOO 1HSr with their
own personal affairs to give him the
care he should have received and il
reference be made to this, they plant
lively protest that he would do as he
pleased, and they "couldn't help
it.n
The subject Of hcrcdity was not un-
known in Pope's day, and he was GER
tainly philosopher enonngh to consid-
cr its bearing on human character,
yet he wrote, and We think with most
truthful pcrtincncy:
""lis education forms the common mind.
Just as the twis is bent the trees incliucd.'
An old saw, indeed, and of late
seemingly Income questionable to
quote.