THE PROBLEM OF THE HOME joq 



the circumstances that drive one to it ; but should 

 a. man or a woman with every prospect of hand- 

 ing down a deadly disease, and perhaps adding to 

 its power, simply for a few months or years of 

 personal satisfaction, open the door for that dis- 

 ease to work havoc in a new generation ? Our 

 responsibility for those who are to come after us 

 cannot be evaded. This principle should not, 

 of course, be carried to extremes, for disease is 

 a part of the common human heritage ; but those 

 parents who are wise and Christian will not allow 

 it to be ignored by their children. 



What is true of tendency to disease is true also 

 of tendency to vice. As we have seen, the evil 

 of one generation is almost sure to reproduce 

 itself in the succeeding, unless in some way the 

 tendency toward it is checked or turned aside, as 

 often it may be, if not in the first generation, then 

 in the second. Often people say, " I do not see 

 how it is that my son should have a tendency to 

 vice. I do all I can for him. Neither of his 

 parents has a taste for liquor, but he drinks for 

 the love of it." How about his grandparents ? 

 The principle of atavism is not to be forgotten. 



The tendencies toward intemperance are not 

 resistless ; they may be kept from growth ; but 

 they are real, and must not be ignored. Hence 



