Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-05-16

Ancestors Helps Us to Greater
Thing-Distance Lends Enchant-
nent to the Age Of Our Fore
Fathers-No Age-sMore Golden
Than the Present--saints aad
Heroes as Numerous as Ever Befofe.
y-s.-is a. -zars wa, vol
BY LUCY EELMHs4&AfI Ecke.'s'
Editorial Writer for the Youth comp In
49, ..,iars ass s-~-s > ~ .r
A young coilege'- gi7f cSfth common
sense and aetastesl6dE mathematics lis
tened one DAY. to-fHssaD5asr;,. woI4en
talking of their privileges as Colonial
Danes, and fsenti A. g IT, v.s ~ Inns
of certain acquaintaDees-rxehO@A mo
ancestors.
How many ancestors --Inay Der
son have. going back 20 generations?"
she asked; 81 have just been working
it OUT
"A good many. suppose was the
reply.
YES" she laughed back: "over a
million. Surely among so many we
must all average about alike in dis
tinction.''
Surely! The fact that a certain
hereditary patriotic society expended
over $4,000 few years ago in the
pageantry of browning its queen,
marked the folly, but added to the
mirth of society.
True kingship and queenship are
shown by daily deeds and character,
rather than by hereditary ribbons and
long list of ancestors When we
join patriotic societies and roll under
our tongues what our great-grand-
father did at Lexington and an earlier
ancestor on board the Mayflower, our
common sense flies away and we may
well restore our balance and our sense
of humor by recalling laughable pre-
tensions of others.
One day man came to ask aid of
the witty duke of Richelieu, saying
that they were related
"How?" asked the duke.
'Sir, by Adam"
Give this man a penny said the
duke to gentleman; and if all his
| relatives give him as much he will be
richer man than I am"
Horace Walpole, whose father was
one of England's greatest prime minis
| tiers, told a friend that a certain an
cestor of his was hanged, adding hui
morCusly:, "But that is misfortune
that will attend very illustrious gene
alogies. 1 have had at least a dozen
greats reat-grandfathers that came to
untimely ends!" He delighted in the
| 1,to o1a r g.
lily who ''call themselves cousins to the
| Virgin Mary and have an absurd pic
ture representing Noah going into the
| ark carrying under his arm small
| trunk labeled "Papiers de la maison de
| Lewis"
Yet while we laugh at pretensions
of pedigree, we nevertheless believe
that the individual or the people
which takes no pride in the noble
| achievements of remote ancestors will
be unlikely to achieve anything
worthy to be remembered by remote
descendants.
1t was the pride of race which helped
the beautiful Princess Lamballe, who
in prosperity tainted at the sight of a
lobster, to go through prison and
death heroine. 1t was pride of race
which led Livingstone's poor old an
cestor to call his children about his
deathbed to address them thus:
Il have searched diligently through
all the traditions of our family, and
l could never find that there was a
dishonest man among them. If, there
| of CHI
honest ways, it will not be because il
runs in our blood. 1 leave this pre-
cept with you. Be honest"
Let us try not to contradict the pa
triotic ancestors we commemorate in
our Revolutionary and Colonial Sons
and Daughters. The human creature
who does not try to live up to the
ideal that his forefathers- have be
queathed, contradicts the voices Of the
dead.
1.-THE question is not art thou in the
nobility" said Schiller, but is there
nobility in thee?"
MY nobility is here" exclaimed
Beethoven, pointing to his head and hi:
heart.
MY coat of arms replied FRANKLIN
Pierce to an inquisitive caller, lis m!
fathers shirt sleeves worn at Bunke
HILL"
The pedigree matters little to maj
who is the maker of his own name
Doubtless every man would like t,
come of an honorable and ancient race
AS you like your father to b
nv mr.
your grandfather and his ancestors be
fore him? But if we cannot inheri
good name, we can. as Col. Newcom
reminded Give, .do our best to leav
one" We may strive with Pindaru
of old
To match our noble ancestors in prov
ess of our own,
And NV oalr fruits commend the Sfne.