Sentence:  Yet if the only form of <WSD>tradition</WSD>, of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes, "<WSD>tradition</WSD>" should positively be discouraged. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A part of culture that is passed from person to person or generation to generation, possibly differing in detail from family to family, such as the way to celebrate holidays.