Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-07-13

They were not fishermen, defying the
storms or the banks Of Newfoundland.
But these ancestors were quiet mer-
chants OF the city. What il the result7
The country boy who roams over the
fields barefooted laughs at the city boy
as coward. By birth and education
he Is in direct contrast to him and is
afraid Of nothing. The horses hoofs
and the barking dogs and the squlrm-
ing snakes and the deadly tarantulas
mean no more to him than so many
harmless doves or fleeing cottontail
rabbits. In the one case the child both
by birth and by education Is q cautious
child, while in the other. the country
boy, by birth and education, knows not
what physical fear means.
But let Us go further and find this
inherited tendency In the moral and
the spiritual life. Here, for instance,
is-a child born the son and the grand
son and the great-grandson of crimi-
nails Oh, yes, those ancestors may
have been physically brave. They may
have been brave as bighwaymen< to
halt the stagecoach at the point of the
revolver or brave as unarmed crimi-
nails to wrench the pistol out Of the
grasp OF the officer who came to ar
rest them. But for years those ances-
tors may have been living In the VIII
ating atmosphere OF immortality and
sin. Now, can any one affirm that that
child, coming from such morally dis
eased ancestry, has as much disposi-
ton to live q good, moral life as has
the child who is the son and the grand
son and the great-grandson of Chris
tian parents? No, no! Their inherited
dispositions are different The one dis
position almost sweeps the child Off his
feet and leads him like running
stream away from God. The other I'm
herited disposition. like a swift moving
current, carries him toward God. The
body is Unbeatable. The mental acu-
men is inheritable The dispositions of
that body, mind and soul are also In
heritable.
Make Allowances Fer Them.
The sins of the fathers and mothers,
as well as their virtues. are visited up
on the children even to the third and
the fourth generations. believe his
tory and statistics prove ii. Now,
what are to be the great practical de-
aotoOhSE III tnC pidCt. WOuiu
charge you to have sympathy with
those who prenatally as well as by en-
vironment In childhood had a bad
start In life. Do not be too harsh upon
the hayward ones unless you find out
who was their father and who their
mother. IL even with all the good
physical and moral ancestral blood
flowing in your veins you have had
such hard time to do right. how
much harder must it be for that man
to do right who was born wrong and
whose early parental training has not
boon what it ought to have been? BY
the law of birth you have no right to
judge all men alike. 1t Is not fair or
just or right Why are we not ready
to confess the difference Of man from
physical sense?
In almost every family there are GER
tain moral or spiritual delinquencies to
be found In the ancestral records We
do not speak much about their short
comings in public. The family skele-
tons are nearly always put in the far
thest corners OF the darkest closets.
We not only shut the doors of these
closets, but doubly lock them with
two different locks. Then we plug up
the keyholes.
Now, my friends, do not want you
to publish your past family difficult
ties. But what do want is for YOU
never to forget the moral weaknesses
Of that ancestor. Just ms you should
guard your body against the tendency
to consumption which you may have
Inherited from your mother you should
guard against the special moral or the
spiritual weakness which you may
have inherited from your father or
one of your grandparents. Brother,
you cannot afford to trife with that
intoxicating glass. You cannot afford
to do Ii any more than could Henry
Wilson, who was once vice president
or the United States. For years he
was one OF the very few prominent Of
fcials In the city of Washington who
would turn down his glass ut the pub
lie banquets. One day some one asked
nam why he was so pronounced upon
the temperance question, and he re-
piled: Il was brought 70 in the home
or drunkard. In order to be free of
the sight OF drunken father. as q lit
tie boy 1 ran away from home and
changed my name The blood of a
drunken parent Is In my veins, and /
cannot afford to trifie with this evil"
Henry Wilson was not the real name
OF the vice president of the United
States In 1879. My friend, If the in
toxicating fires are In your blood, be-
ware how you tribe with the curse
which destroyed the manhood of that
noble parent.
BEWARE Of Speculation.
| You, on the other hand, cannot az
ford to enter any speculative business.
Your father may have lost fortune
In Wall street. He may not have been
a gambler with cards, but he was with
stocks. You cannot afford to take any
business position away from home.
You have noble Christian wife and
three children. As long as you are In
their surroundings you are all right.
But beware of that moral delinouen-
cy Of your ancestor. Better give up
that membership at the club. You may
have greater opportunity there to yield
to that evil tendency. You know it.
Beware! You are all right If by the
help OF God you turn and flee that
danger as you would run from a mad
dog. But do not stand and hesitate.
Do not let that evil temptation which
overthrow one OF your ancestors put
Its fatal hand upon you, else you are
gone. Run from that temptation. In
1 (fOdfS nomQ rim rx,r rupt
Nor do ! wish to discourage you.
These evil propensities in your nature
may be turned to useful purposes. The