The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-09-26

tanned quite a number of works on
Heredity, into which he had dipped
and dived at odd moments in his usual
unscholarly and characteristic man
Eer; but of late he had really become
tIresome on the subject.
He was one of those half-artistic,
wholly erratic men whose business il
apparently is to puzzle their fellow
creatures and defy classification. His
pug-like face, his jerky manner, his
objectionable clothes. the cursedness
of his hair, the atmosphere of this
room of his, above everything his mad
dening theories, all tended to mark
him out from the common herd with
out allotting him any definite place
of his own, unless it were the general
one of crank"
Perhaps Loreton understood him as
well as anyone because he had long ago
given up the effort to define him, and
for the sake of his good points, bore
with his peculiarities as a mother
bears with the teasings of her first
born.
II was without shade of surprise
that lie saw Orridge jump up to greet
him now with the exclamation: I've
got another"
Have you?" was all that Loreton
would say in the calmest of tones.
Clear as day" continued Orridge,
clapping to the old diary in which he
had been reading, and passing long
fingers through his hair. as was usual
with him under excitement.
Come on out" said Loreton, utterly
unimpressed.
Out be darned!" And Orridge
threw himself into a chair before the
fire. "I've been looking through my
fathers diaries again" he went on.
Fascinating work, l tell you. You
know my weakness for savories %
Loreton nodded. And my dislike to
raw fruit?" Another nod. well, there
it is. Listen to this" He reopened the
nervous rapidly, and read out: Bat
this is the last picnic that | shall go
to. The inclemency of the wea Their, the
trivolity of the company and the char
Scter of the viands, consisting chiefly
as they will on these occasions-of
raw fruit and cakes, to the exclusion
of the more savory and civilized dishes
that are alone worth eating < ~
and so on. There you are. Another
case firmly established"
Il suppose So" said Loreton, inward
IL deploring the fact that he should
have walked into the middle of one
of bridges fits. as he termed these
plunges into the hereditary ques-
tion.
That's the second discovery this
week." continued Orridge, too deep in
his subject to care how far outside Of
IS the other might be sitting. 81
showed you my Aunt Gregory's photo
graph, didn't -"
yes" lied Loreton. suavely.
Orridge took up the photograph
from the mantelpiece, where it fig
ured among many others-not OF the
order usually to be counted on in a
young mans den, but all represent
ing types OF the elderly relative in
varying degrees of severity and repel-
lance. "See that mouth?" he said.
And that chin? Mine-line for line.
That's where 1 get my temper from.
But I'll root her out yet"
"Pity you didn't inherit one of her
good points, if any," suggested Lore
ton.
That's just the devil of it."
snapped Orridge. 1--WE can't choose.
It's horrible. Don't you see the hor-
ror of it? And the crying necessity
for combating this awful thing? We
think of ourselves, each of us, as a
great. Independent unit. We think
that this, that and the other quality
which goes to the making up of our
personalities is ours, our very own.
evolved by our own distinctive indi-
viduality. And behold, we need only
look skin-dcep into the matter to
find that we are nothing, more nor
less, than disgusting hash of rela-
tives and ancestors, within and with
out! The without, of course, we
can't help; we recognize that we have
the nose of a tipping grandfather,
the eyelid of sanctimonious uncle.
the teeth of an aunt, the figure of a
convict ancestor; but that's unalter-
able. It's revolving and humiliating.
but it must be borne. But the other
thing, the within-that, | saw, need
not and should not be borne. What's
to prevent me from stamping out nv
grandfather's untruthfulness, or nv
mothers timidity, or my Aunt Greg
ory's temper" He hurled the pho
tograph violently across the room.
"And | will, too. You'll see. Bv dint
of careful research into the family
annals, and hard work at myself
j shall end by becoming the perfect
independent human being. instead of
*he bundle of rotten inheritances that
am now"
1t was soon after II that Loreton
rose to 60. He had tried to induce
Orridge 70 come away with him on
his projected travels, which were to
end with a walking tour in Switzer-
land-but in vain.
On his return, after eight months.
he repaired one day to Orridge's
rooms and found him in Orridce
was looking peculiarly bright for him.
well. l em pleased to see you, old