The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-30


 (Copyright. 1905. by Joseph B. Bowleso
 m a family of eleven children. sons and daughters unusually gifted. charm- ing and successful, there was one who, in early manhood. went astray- He was spoken of by the neighbors as ''the one black sheep in a very white flock" From time to time, his youth full escapades got him into trouble, and after awhile his recklessness brought disgrace upon the family name.
 He left home, and for years was not heard of by the outside world, though occasionally a letter ora message came to the mother, whose love for him never wavered, and whose faith in him was unclouded, notwithstanding the great strain that had been put upon it. She sometimes said to the few with whom she convcrsed on the subject of her absent boy: Tt is too much to expect in so large a family as mine, that all shall be equally well conducted know that Felix will come out right in the end, for of all my children he has the most loving heart"
 The father said little. but he. too. yearned for the return of the pSDdigal. Meanwhile. in a distant land. the black sheep came to himself, was rehabili- tated in his own esteem. honestly earn d money enough to pay his debts and at last returned, to bring sunshine to the hearth that his folly had darkened. He was no longer the black sheep.
 Two or three things may be noted when we mention one who belongs to the list of the black sheep. The first Is that outsiders are much more strenu- ous and severe in their condemnation of him than are his own family. The neighbors have long memories for the mistakes and sins of youth They are
 ct that as a youngster he was wilo anu thoughtless, and any doubtful deed he may have committed is not easily for gotten by them.
 God help and pity the boy who goes wrong, if he has nobody of his kith and kin to care for and love him and con- done his offenses. Blood Is thicker than water. Parents, brothers and sisters are very thankful at the first evidence of genuine repentance, on the part of an fll-doer for whom they care, they are very ready to find some pallia- tton for weakness, and they will make no end of sacrifices for the child who gives most trouble in the home It would almost seem as if here were certain unfairness toward the steady going chap who does his plain duty day after day and year after year, re- ceives little praise. ahd has his virtues completely taken for granted. while the other is earessed and coddled and praised at the slightest evidence that he is turning over a new leaf.
 Human nature will have to be more nearly perfect than it Is before this state of things can be accepted with out a single murmur. Yet when all IS said, the proper attitude for family to take is that of endless patience with the one who Is not strong enough to stand alone. We have this endless patience with the sick, for those who are laid aside by bodily disease make large demands on the well, and every one recognizes that strength must pay a debt to weakness. In very true sense sinfuness of every kind is spiritual disease, and it can be cured in its own realm only by just such means as are freely used to cure physical maladies.
 Whatever people may think or say. in the privacy of their homes and be- hind closed doors, the family should present an unbroken front to the world, and should by every means in It's power shield the erring child from public crfti- -cism. from the consequences of his acts. if possible. and should bend all its ener- gies toward his reformation.
 The black sheep is to some extent the victim of heredity. In old halls in England, where ancestral portraits hang on the walls, one is sometimes shown the sinister face with malign- ant. down dropping brow, and cruel jaw of some knight of the middle ages of whom tradition ayers that he sold his soul to the devil There shall be generations of clean living. high hearted splendid men and women of that race, and then, in some twentieth century cradle shall suddenly appear a poor little chip of the old block, a child who brings into the quiet family the strange tumultuous passions, the craft and wickedness of a remote pre- decessor. This we grant Is an ex- treme case. but more or less every hu- man being comes into this world weighted with and handicapped by the idiosyncracies of those who have gone before. In a brilliant family known to me, the one cratic member who has been a source of anxiety since he lief, the schoolroom repeats line by line and trait for trait the peculiarities oi a dissipated great-grandfather. It 1: not SO much to the credit of a family