Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-07-14
Ca(r11aQe
Grf11
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage, ID. ID.

And its potent influence in mOlding life
and character is discussed by the
preacher, who points out the only way
IN which an evil inheritance from ones
ancestors may be overcome The text
Is l Samuel xvii. 80. Whose son art
thou, thou young man"
If YOU were to ask the average
American, "Would you like to live In
EuropcY in ninety-nine cases out OF a
hundred he would answer, "No'-em-
phatically no. Europe is not the place
for n poor man or for the son Of n
poor man, but only for the aristocrat.
If a man has not had a father and a
grandfather and Il great-grandfather
belonging TO the nobility he has but lit
tie chance of social recognition. There
tie question which man asks man IS
not "Who nre you" or "What have
you done" or What do you knowW
but "Who was your fatherY "WhO
was your mothcrT People across the
seas seem to think more about the
cradle in which you were rocked as n
baby than about the schools in which
you have studied and the business
house In which you have worked.
You say this abSurdity Of reverence
for blood Is never more demonstrated
than in the unhappiness of some Of our
international marriages. Many Of the
poverty stricken titled families Of Eu-
rope want the American ducats. Their
palms are itching after the American
gold But when the dukes and the
earls and the marquiseS WOO Americas
fairest daughters and take them to
their dingy ancestral halls the titled
mothers in-law and sisters-in-law and
c0uslns-in-law patronize and slight the
foreign interlOper. Though their wed
ding robes may be made out OF pearls
and their dowries be as big as the
opened chest Of a Monte Crlst0, yet
because their blood is not blue" the
old families will have as little as posi-
bic to do with the American brides.
Oh. the absurdty of cringing before
blood! Oh, the righteousness Of max
ing n passport for social success out Of
the mildewed epitaphs of ancestors
Whose bodies turned to dust one cen
tvy, two centuries or even four or five
centuries ago!
Wrong Ancestor Worship.
Yes. it Is absurd to worship at the
graves of ancestors, rs do some of the
titled families of Europe. When In
January, 1850, the ancestral bones of
the Hohenzollerns were being moved
into the new crypts Of the great cathe-
drar Nhere they now sleep Frederick
the Great, who. had ii deep reyerenoC
for his grandfather, Frederick William,
the great clector, had his ancestors
coffin opened. Then he looked with
alteration upon the face Of the dead.
He patted the hands molderlng into
dust as he turned to his cOurtiers anS
said: "Ah. gentlemen, these are the
hands which did the great works!
These are the sacred hands, So some
people reverence their dead ancestors
and never cease to hold high their
heads in pride of what their great
crandfathers did, though their own
hands have never done anything re-
markable and though they have been
all their lives mere parasites, depend
ing on Others for their support and ad-
Vancement.
But though Europe may err in TOO
much reverence for the dead, be-
lieve Americans err just as much on
the other side when they pretend to
despise the sources from which their
family blood is derived. The sins Of
the fathers are visited upon the chill
dren. even unto the third and fourth
generations. BY the same law of her
itage the virtues of the parents are
also transmitted through the blood. /
want you this morning to analyZe your
blood in the gospel laboratories. /
would put your eye to the gospel micro
scope and invite you to examine your
ancestral corpuscles. I want you TO
find your limitations physically, men
tally, morally and spiritually. And as
some of us learn how narrow our
horizons may be on account OF our
family blood | would also have some
of us learn how great our opportunl-
tles of life are on account Of father
and mother and grandparents and
creat-grandparents whose qualities we
inherit.
I would have you do this for your
own sake and for the sake or your
children. These evil prOpensities may
he checked. These evil tendencies may
be controlled When you learn from
your self examination and from your
knowledge of your ancestors what
your dangers are you know where to
station your guard and what tempta-
tions YOU must avoid. You may over
come your inherited taint. Most of the
philosophers declare that environment
and education are more potent IN the
formation of character than the strong
est hereditary influence. You may have
the glory of reversing bad heredlty
and transmitting to your children an
inheritance purified and cleansed.
Reversing the Inheritance.
| would take you, in the first place
and examine you in reference to your
ancestors in n physical sense. | would
ask you such questions as the life in
surance doctor does when you are
about to take out a new policy Are
your two parents alive? At what age
did they die? OF what diseaseF Are
your uncles and aunts alivef At what
age and of what disease did they diei
How long did your grandparents on
your mothers side live? How long did
your grandparents on your fathers
his throat with a razor. Time passed
on and the children grew up to man
hood and womanhoOd When the eldest
boy reached the age at which his father
died he killed himself in the same way
At the same age the second son killed
himself with razor in warm bath