The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1896-06-27

stockings, sew on buttons and patch
the boys trousers2 At any rate they
think 50, and their assumptions are be-
coming ~fiagrantly annoying Il plain
w~ork-a-day men and women who pay
their debts and say their prayers at
home and IN church.
A society is being formed In New Eng
land composed exclusively of descend.
ants Of the Nayhower. These gentle
ladies are tracing their lineage to the
foundation of the new world, and are
proud of being descended from the peo-
pie who burned witches. The society
Of the sturdy yeomanry of modern
New England consists of better men
and women than those who came over
in the Mayfower. This is not said in
disparagement of the Mayiower peo-
pie. They were good In their day and
generation. But the world is growing
more intelligent, and better every way.
OF the Mayhower people it may be said
as it is said of Samson. That terrible
fellow was a butcher of thousands, and
fell because of his association with an
evil woman. But he was the best man
Of his age, and was trying to serve God
according to his limited light. Nobody
wants to trace ancestry to Samson.
Why should anyone want to trace an
cestry to the witch burners?
1t seems that when men and women
accumulate wealth and do not have to
earn their daily bread, they assume viz.
tues which they do not possess. Then
they fall victims to the decisions which
bring in their train a desire to demon.
strate superior ancestry. Jay Gould
was never such u fool. He was too
busy. Cornelius Vanderbilt never had
time to make a family tree. Abraham
Lincoln never sought to establish a line
age of lordlings. He was too big q
man to look for bigger in the former
Lincolns. The search of ancestry is
usually carried on by small people, who
thereby acknowledge their own insig-
~nificance by seeking a superior an
cestry.
Confucius, Buddha, Zoroaster, Alex
ander, Caesar, Napoleon, Wolsey, Crom-
well, Washington-those men sought no
ancestral strength to bolster them up
and add to their laurels. Luther, Cal
win, Knox, Wesley, Campbell did not
point with pride" to ancestors who had
done something. They were too busy
doing and achieving things 10 engage in
such nonsense. Instead of being proud
of their families they were making their
families proud of them.
The best family tree that 1 ever saw
vas printed many years ago by Josh
Billings. He said that inasmuch as
other people were having family trees
he had looked up his own, and found
it to consist of a pair of upright wooden
pillars with a cross-tree over them, and
q rope dangling down. He said that
out Of respect to the lamented deceased
he would not give particulars of their
achievements. He added: 'This is sar-
kasm."
In q comic opera, which was popular
. few years ago, there was a major gen.
eraT who purchased an ancient castle,
and said that he had bought his an.
cestors with the property. That Siss
was sarcasm, and the people who heard
the opera enjoyed it. The fact Of the
matter is, that these descendants OF the
Mayfower, Colonial DANES, and other
ancestral societies do hot need ancestry
SO much as they need good hard work.
Ii the m~illionaires and money kinga
in other citieshaVe time and inclination
for nothing better, for themselves and
the ladies of their families, let then
spend their exertions in proving su.
perior ancestry. But here in the ma.
ticnal capital, such proceedings are
out of place. The society leaders o.
to-day win 500 pass away. Their has.
bands will not remain in congress, nor
in the executive departments. They
will go out Of Office, and become claim
agents or lobbyists, just as their pre-