The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-07-03
BY WINTFRED BLACK.

The breeding OF good human
stock is the highest work of the new
humanity says the Rev. Mary An
drews. Unitarian preacher and soclol-
ogist.
The time is coming, and coming
fast. when We will exercise as much
care eyoluting men and women as We
do now in evolving stock.
Our children may marry because
they fall in love, but our grandchil-
dren will not Our grandchildren
will be examined TO see whether they
are fit 10 marry, and If they are not
fitted TO be parents they will not
marry. that's all. SO shall the high
err race be evolved.
Great idea, splendid plan-no
more criminals, no more -'Weaklings.
no more DEGENERATE no more Dunk
ards. no more fools, no more Williams;
everybody good. everybody clever
everybody prosperous, everybody SEN
sible, everybody prosperous, every
body happy. everybody sane, every
body normal,
Be good says Doctor Andrews
and her followers. Not because it
is right to be good, but because you
had the rigth kind OF grandfather.
Be kind. not because you are hap
pier when you are kind, not because
YOU wish to make others happier too,
but because you had kindly grand
mother. and that's why your grand
father married her, not for her sake.
and his own, but for yours. Wasn't
1t nice of him?
What you are is nothing, but what
your grandfather was is the main
thing Look up his record and see
what you've got to be willy nilly.
What. The son of the village
drunkard in your town is the presl-
dent of the temperance society-says
his fathers example started him on
the right path Tut. tut, that's just
an accident--don't even remember 1t,
1t isn't scientific to do that.
What kind of woman was your
grandmother? A giddy thing with
an eye for fine feathers and not an
idea of economy in the worlde
Take OFT that sober frock, throw away
Your daily account book-you've got
to be what your grandmother was,
il 8 scientific,
Courage, will. principle, the right
kind of home training are nothing,
not thing In the world to do you.
it's grandma and grandpa that
do ii all. That is the rule with
horses and dogs, SO, of course it
must be the rule with human beings
too. There is no difference between
the capacity of man to rise above
his natural inclinations and q mon
keys, any authority on hereby will
tell you that or imply it anyhow.
Where do all our great geniuses
come from? That's a little confus-
ing. I'll admit.
Caesar, Confucius, Calico. Napo-
leon, Mahomet, St Paul. not one of
them normal" not one of them in
good health, not one of them the right
kind Of folks, and their parentage,
oh, they won't bear investigating at
all. This new rule won't work back
ward a bit
Just stretch out your hand and
pick few names from the great roll
of honor through the centuries. Pick
them out at random, from every eli
mate, every race, every field OF en-
deavor.
Thomas Carlyle, Daniel Webster,
Wagner, Joan of Arc. Robert
Louis Stevenson, Edwin Booth, Bret
Harte. Richard Mansfield, Sarah |
Bernhard, Robert Burns, Lord By
ron, but what's the use, not one OF
Them would pass muster at a "scIen- |
tific examination" for a right to live.
wro gnwith every one OF
them, not one OF them bred right,
not single one, from a scientific
point of view.
oh! Yes I suppose some little cut |
and dried professor in some little
cut and dried school, is worth more |
10 the world than Napoleon and with
mis- record OF bloodshed. and yet
Leonard Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, |
Raphael, Abraham Lincoln. Oliver |
Cromwell: who were the fathers OF |
his brood ct gisntg! -