The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1904-12-02
Great Mems
Sons Who Fail

s-s-S-e-%-e-e-e-e-
3 other day one Edwarf NJ Field was
arrhgned la the New TX city police
court on the charge OF ste, 'ns sn over
coat. The man Is described ma presenting
a pitiable picture-ragged. dirty bes0tted
With utter indifference 10 the legal cOnse-
Quences OF his crime To the lawyer who
as a mere formality was assigned 10 de-
fend him. he said.
Never mind about bailing me out. The
three meals / will get in jail will be
godsend to mo!'
The foregoing Is commonplace
enough police court item. but behind the
name OF the miserable wretch who sham
bed on with an officers grip on his trem-
bling arm lo0med the honOred name OF
one Of the greatest men America has ever
The besotted hobo thief was the son OF
the late Cyrus w Field who has been
called "the Columbus OF modern times,
who. By his cable. moored the New
World alongside the old"
Incidents OF the kind which show the
strange degeneracy OF moral perversity
OF great mems sons are OF frequent Oc-
currence. II is but a few weeks since
the wayward son OF the great inventor.
Edison. was taken back To his fathers
house and heart after a sad experience
OF dissipation and even vagabondage. II
has become almost proverbiai that the
sons Of great men amount 10 nothing"
and n those Of them who come under this
sorry classification are not vicious, they
are generally harmless. that Is TO say.
negative nonentities. II Is the exception
where we find a great father and a great
son, as in the case Of John Adams and
John Quincy Adams, or even Dumas,
pere. and Dumas. Ills
In the case OF young Field Il Is point
ed out by contemporary that he in
herited an honored name and the best
blood Of New England. was carefully
educated and inherited fortune He
was born with a furnishing. physical.
AM mi mid
covet. He had the chance OF one In ten
thousand" Aside from the greatness OF
his father. two Of his uncles were the
most distinguished men Of their time.
So far as heredity is concerned. Edward
Field social Outcast s0t and criminal
seems TO have inherited sound natural
endowment.
Our contemporary. moralizlng on this
mans downfall says.
HE was strong but did not use his
strength. He weakened himself By ex-
cesses. He broke the moral law. lie
sinned. And the moral law swept aside
brthright ancestry and social standing
and punished him as a sinner.
The lesson? The same laws that pull
ed this man down WILL II used properly,
help another man up. These inevitable
laws VIII help man up though he have
not tithe OF the heritage Edward Field
had. The other end OF tho road down
which Field slid so rapidly leads upward.
And 1t Is the irony Of destiny that one
man with great equipment drifts down
ward while another man with a much
lessor chance tolls to the top. And be-
cause his struggle Is the greater. he
who goes upward-overcomlng weight by
velocity Of striving-deserves the nobfl-
ity that comes TO him."
Very good; but let us look deeper
Perhaps this mans endowment, through
heredity was ample as lines OF breeding
are considered In the human family II
may have been and It may not have been.
Too often like does not beget like when
sired by greatness The reason is partly
physiological. but largely psychoiogicaiiy
occult. Great ambition and the cOncen-
tration OF brain and heart upon working
out an ambitious destiny is not conducive
TO the production Of a great succession.
The line is apt TO be broken IN the second
generation through the mysterious laws
OF nature, which are no respecters OF per-
sons. A peasant father, uncouth. unlet-
tered, but natural man. Is more apt 20
ual endowment that goes 70 make real
greatness which will storm its way TO the
top.
But, perhaps. the greatest defect OF
greatness Is its elf-concentration--its SUI
periority to the duties and obligations OF
paternity in a personal sense Too few
great men. or signally successful men as
the world measures success. get well ac-
quairted with their children. They leava
their training 70 hirelinas and expect
money and the prestige of a name TO do
for them what nothing IN Gods world but
a natural fathers or mothers unSelhsh
love can do for them.
Perhaps there Is another side 70 the
reasons for Edward Fields
failure IN life.--Atlanta Constitution.