no HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



parents must face this question, Are we willing 

 to have our child wed one of intemperate parent- 

 age, however acceptable personally ? A question 

 of grave import ; for the morbid craving may 

 yet be excited in the one who now seems to be 

 without it, and may reappear in full power in 

 the children. If this seems cruel and unjust, 

 none the less should it be made prominent, and 

 kept prominent. 



All suffer more or less for the wickedness or 

 weakness of others, and this fact is perhaps no 

 more cruel than many that seem less so, but, 

 whether cruel or not, it should be faced. It is 

 certainly no more cruel for a young woman to 

 find herself compelled by conscience to deny her- 

 self a home, than for a married woman to be 

 compelled to suffer for her husband's wickedness. 

 Much sorrow in this world would be saved if there 

 were less unwillingness to see things as they are. 

 One of the things needing to be thus seen is that 

 some persons ought never to become parents. 

 Years ago I met a woman who was unusually 

 beautiful and accomplished. Her hand was 

 sought again and again by those who admired 

 her exceptional gifts and graces ; yet she never 

 married. Her reason, given to a friend through 

 whom it reached me, was this : " My grandfather 



