San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-10-04

great effort. If it be bad, j
the boundaries to ones pos
sibilities.
Tam speaking of the rule
not of the exceptions. Many
have become degenerate il
spits of inheriting the stimulus 4
better things, and few have, to a de
gree, overcome handicaps OF their III
and early environment
II one is tempted to boast that N
3 self-made, few question will pune
ture his pride. Let him analyze him
self. separate all that has come TO him
Into three factors: one representing
that which has come to him by inhen'
tauce, another representing that which
has entered his life through environ
ment, and the third representing what
he can fairly credit to himself-thaf
which is not based upon their inher'
lance or environment. The third lac
tor win not be large enough to flatter
his vanity.
LIFE hEAD1-MhDL
The child comes into the world
without its own volition, containing
within himself capacities and weak
nesses for which he is in no way re-
eponsible. He finds himself in an
environment which he did not choose
and cannot control. His first impress
eions come to him with breath and
food, and his life 10 largely moulded
for him before be has the intelligence
to choose, or q standard BY which to
measure effort if he could choose.
1t is q consciousness OF the help.
lessness of the newborn babe and OF
his independence upon an unknown
past and upon surroundings that pc
cannot comprehend that makes me in
creasingly grateful for the parentage
with which the Heavenly Father
blessed me, and for the home In which
my life began.
GRATEFUL TO FORTUNE.
Ny gratitude for that which meant
30 much to me, and yet for which i
can claim no credit suggested TO me
the title which have chosen for these
memoirs. / have been q child OF for
tune from my birth as i shall show
In the narrative Of my life.
Ny father was of Irish extraction.
How far removed he was, j do not
know. Neither do know from what
part of Ireland his ancestors came.
William Bryan is the most remote an
cegtor of whom / have knowledge. He
lived in what was then part Of Gull
pepper (now Rappahannockl county,
Xrs.-c.e. thu rnUn nj SnfrrT-
Vile.
He owned a tract Of timber land in
the Blue Ridge mountains, which we
learned of when / was young, man
because of a 99-yesr lease which e1-
pired about that time. We know
nothing of his parents, brothers or SIS
tiers. He belonged to the Baptist
church in that neighborhood, whlch
was known as the Bryan MeS1ng
House. This William Bryan was my
fathers grandfather.
BRYAN VS.. 0'BRIEN.
/ digress at this point long enough
10 relate the experience that L nave
had with the name. / had scarcely
entered upon the practice Of law when
nv business brought me into acqualnt-
arlce with a considerable number OF
people of Irish birth, and j was fre-
ouently addressed as Mr.. O'Brien.
was at first in doubt whether i should
correct this mistake or allow II TO
mass unnoticed, but decided that hon
esty was the best policy, and said 70
. very typical son of the Emerald
Isle:
aMy name is not oBrien, but Bry-
an"
aIrs an the same" he replied.
"When Bryan Bou became king, ms
descendants put on the 90 and the
Organs are Of the same stock, but just
common people"
/ have had frequent occasion 70 use
this explanation when a similar ques-
fion was asked. TIE most notable OPP
portunity of this kind was at the din
ner rendered me by the mayor Of Dub
lin in ireland in 1908. One Of the
npeakers jestingly called upon me TO.
tell them when an why / dropped
the 90" I replied by asking whether
anv of them ever knew of an O'Bren
prior 70 the line of Bryan Boru. When
No one could name an earlier OBren
4 explained 10 them that Bryan was
the original name, and that the ~,
had been added by them, and moi
eliminated by my ancestors.
FRIENDLY LIAR.
After the campaign Of 1896 ] re-
reiyed a letter from a man in Cali
Iornia named Bryan. He sent me an
interview which he had given TO the
4. pers. 1t seems a story had been cir
ruiafed bv someone who claimed 20
have seen my name printed as 0BrienI
when / began the practice OF law at
Jacksonville. III. My correspondent
had riyen out an interview saying
Ihsf he was o relative Of mine, an
denyinr that there had been any
.hsnre in my name. BE explained to.
ne that he was not relative but
.dded. sTt is a poor friend who can
rot lie for another"
Nv father was the son OF John
Bryan and Nancy Lllard, and was
BORN In o log house near SperryYlle
,n November 4, 1922. =,
Soon thereafter his parents moved
q 4 farm at Point Pleasant w. Va,
near the mouth Of the Kanawha river,
= mere Nancy Lillard Bryan died IN
1854 and John Bryan in 1896. My
i Their nfferward lived with his uncle,
William, at Troy, Lincoln County
Mo-, and with a sister in Marion
County. III.
FATHER'S EDUCATION.
Nv father early developed an am
nifion 20 secure an education, and
ssv,ns 70 make his way, he worked
= a farm hand between times while
- went 20 school. Later he alternated
,stwcen reaching and going to school