The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-15
T os ANGELES. July s.-Heredity and
its potent influence in molung life

its potent influence in molalng life
- and character is discussed by the
preacher, who points out the only way in
which an evil inheritance from ones an
cestors may be overcome. The text Is l
Samuel xvii, S., Whose son art thou,
thou young man?"
If you were to ask the average Ameri-
can, "Would you like to live in Europe?p
in ninety-hfnef cases out of hundred he
would answer, No" emphatically no.
Europe is not the place for poor man or
for the son of a poor man, but only for
the aristocrat. If man has not had a
father and a grandfather and great
grandfather belonging to the nobility he
has but little chance of social recognition.
There the question which man asks man
is not who are your" or What have
you done?" or What do you know but
"yy-ho was your father?" "Who was your
mother?" People across the seas seem TO
think more about the cradle in which you
were rocked as a 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 inter
national marriages. Many of the poverty
stricken titled families of Europe want
the American ducats. Their palms are
itching after the American gold. But Wheh
the dukes and the earls and the mar
quises WOO Americas fairest daughters
and take them to their dingy ancestral
halls the titled mothers-in-law and SIS
ter-in-laws and cousins-in-laW patronlze
and slight the foreign interloper. lhousn
their wedding robes may be mace Out VI
pearls and their dowries be as big as inc
opened chest of a Monte Cristo, yet ne
cause their blood is not 'blue" the old
families will have as little as possible 70
do with the American brides. Oh. the
absurdity of bringing before blood! On,
the righteousness of making a passport
for social success out of the mildeWed
epitaphs of ancestors whose bodies turned
to dust one century, two centuries OF
even four or five centuries ago!
Wrong Ancestor Worship.
Yet. it is absurd to worship at the
graves of ancestors, as do some OF the
titled families of Europe. When In Janu-
ary 1850 the ancestral bones of the Ho-
henzollerns were being moved into the
new crypts of the great cathedral, where
they now sleep Frederick the Great, VINO
had a deep reverence for his grandfather,
Frederick William, the great elector, had
his ancestors coffin opened Then ne
looked with alteration upon the race oil the
dead. He patted the hands moldering INTO
dust as he turned to his courtiers and
said; "AhS gentlemen, these are the hands
which did the great works. These are the
sacred handsi" So some people reverence
their dead ancestors and never cease 10
hold high their heads in pride OF what
their at-grandfathers did, though their
own hands have never done anything re-
markable and though they have been all
| their lives mere parasites depending on
| others for their support and advancement.
But though Europe may err in too mueh
reverence for the dead, I believe Amerl-
| cans err Just as much on the other side
| when they pretend to despis the sources
1 from which their family blood is derived.
| The sins Of the fathers are visited upon
| the children, even unto the third and
fourth generations, BY the same law OF
| heritage the virtues of the parents are
| also transmitted through the blood. | want
| you this morning to analyze your blood
| In the gospel Laboratories. l would put
your eye to the gospel microscope and
| invite you to examine your ancestral cor
1 puscles. | want You to find your llmlta-
| lions physically, mentally morally and
| spiritually And as some of us learn how
| narrow our horizons may be on account
| of our family blood I would also have
| some of us learn how great our opportun-
| tiles of life are on account of father ana
mother and grandparents and great
| grandparents whose qualities we inherit.
I would have you do this for your own
| sake and for the sake OF your children.
| These evil propensites may be checked.
| These evil tendencies may be controlled.
When you learn from your selif-examina-
| ton and from your knowledge of your an
cestors what your dangers are you know
| where to station your guard and what
| ton faf avoid. NAV
overcome your inherited faint. Most of the
| philosophers declare that environment and
education are more potent in the forma-
| ton of character than the strongest he
reditary influence. You may have the
glory of reversing a bad heredty and
transmitting to your children an inherit
| lance purified and cleansed.
Reversing the Inheritance.
I would take you in the first place and
examine you in reference to your anees-
tors in a physical sense. I would ask you
| such questions as the life insurance doc
| tor does when you are about to take out
a new policy Are your two parents
alive? At what age did they die? OF what
| disease? Are your uncles and aunts alive?
At what age and of what disease did they
| die? How long did your grandparents on
your mothers side live? How long did
your grandparents on your fathers side
| live? What were the diseases or Wnlcn
they died? Are your brothers and sisters
all living? What did your brother and two
| sisters die Of? You look up sharply and
say to the insurance physician: doctor,
| am not here to get my family or my
| dead ancestors insured | want to get
my own life insured. Why are you ask
ing me all these questons?" The physi-
| clan will answer: 1T is very important
| for me to ask these questions? ] want to
find the family weaknesses. If 1 find that
your blood is tainted with the consump-
| ton microbe or that your parents died
I very young on account of some nervous
complaint or if | find too many cancers
among your ancestors, l shall not recon-
mend your proposal. You must not only
submit to a rigid physical examination
of your own lungs. but you must also tes-
| tify concerning the lungs of your father
| and grandfather" Why Will we not be
as rigid in dealing with our own physi-
| cal health and in recognizing our own
physical limitations as are the life insur-
anee companies when we come to them
for Insurance?
| When we examine the records of your
family we find that several relatives have
died of consumption. The mother had II
before you were born. For years you
have had a weak throat and have been
| kept in the house every winter for months
on account of a cough. Now. what is the
use of trying to live in New England
or in Chicago or Minneapolis? What is
the use of you taking a clerkship In
a dark store, out of the sunlight, where
you have to be housed in day in ano
day out. Why not go to Texas or Florida