The Washington herald., 1918-08-21

mating accomplishment, equally adapt
ed to both sexes, it strikes. in a way,
our balance sheet with life 1t is the
final auditing OF our account. 1t tells
the net result OF all Of our efforts,
whether We have anything to show
as the result of all of our toll and
sweat and striving. or whether We
have worked all our days just for the
days wage, that sufficed only for the
day, and that We go out Of the world
with hands as empty as those with
which we came in.
Nor is this all. Love enters into
will making. too. When we think of
death there is no more comforting
thought than that we can leave those
who are near and dear to us safe
from want, nor Is there any other
thought more torturing than the
knowledge that IL we, who are the
bread winners OF a family. should die.
our only bequest to those nearer and
dearer to us than life itself would be
want and poverty.
This is what makes the rich man
exult in making his will, and what
makes the poor man curse fate that
he has nothing to leave his children.
are not always expressed in dollars
and cents. and it is within the range
of easy possibility for the day Iaborer
to leave his children a far more valu-
able beQuest than any mere million
aire can will to his.
Money is not to be despised, and it
is good thing when parents can
leave their children enough to tide
them over a rainy day, but even this
is Of small worth unless il is ac-
complished by a spiritual inheritance.
whose value is not to be estimated by
any tax assessor.
Therefore, it behooves every father
and mother to stop and ask them
selves this question: what shall 1
leave my children when ! die?
"Win leave them a stainless
name? When people talk of my
children. will they say: That is
young John Brown, son of old John
Brown, who was the straightest and
most honorable man I ever knew. His
word was as good as his bond. Never
lid shady thing in his whole life"
Or will they say: THAT is young John
Brown, son of old John Brown. who
made a lot of money in queer ways.
Slick as a peeled onion. Used to rob
the widows and work children in his
factory and grind down the faces of
the poor. Left a big fortune behind
him, and every dollar Of ii drips
blood"
Will they say of your daughter:
MARY Jones is the daughter Of the
sweetest, gentlest. noblest, most high
minded woman ever knw." Or
Mary Jones is the daughter of that
fighty little Mrs. Jones there used
to be so much talk about. Her
skirts were pretty well despatched
with mud. and she literally killed her
husband with her selfish extrava-
gance."
You will leave a good name or a
bad name to your children. Which
will 1t be?
Will you leave your children truth
and honor? Will you have taught
them by precept and example to speak
the truth, and to play the game OF life
fairly and squarely, or will you have
taught them to be liars and cheats?
II your children have seen you do
underhanded things, If they have
heard you tell falsehoods, II they have
seen you give false weights and meas
ures. and take advantage of the ignor-
ance of others; IL all your stories Of
cleverness reveal you as robbing some
one less sophisticated than yourself.
then you have given your children an
inheritance of dishonesty.
But IL you have taught them to
speak the truth and despise a lie. IL
you have held up before their young
eyes a shining ideal OF stainless honor.
If you have made them feel that IL
isn't sporting not to give the other
fellow an equal chance. and that to
soil ones hands by taking what does
not belong to one is to reach the low
est depths of degradation. then one
has given ones children an inherit
ance of honesty and honor.
Which are you leaving yours?
Are you leaving your children an
Inheritance Of courage and grit? Are
you making Of them successes or fall
ures in life? Are you teaching them
to be winners and cutters. or to be
the sort of heroes that go over the
top and fight adverse circumstances
to a standstill?
II you are plying your children
because they are poor and have to
work, you are making of them weak
lings. II you weep over them every
tiiAC NAlCy hoNC hoAN ~ w.
you make them so soft they succumb
to the first misfortune. If you talk
to them all the time about the diff
culties that lie in their way, you kill
hope. and with that energy and in
itiative. You give them an inherit
ance ofJfear and cowardice that fore
dooms them to failure.
But IL you hold your children to
the hard Jobs that come their way,
you strengthen their mental and
moral fiber, and make them fit to fight
every difficulty with which they meet
in life. II you cheer them on with
brave and hopeful words when they
falter. you put that in their souls
that sends them on to victory. II
you buck them up when they are dis
couraged and force them out to try
again, you put the iron into them thai
turns them into successful men and
women.
Which inheritance are you givini