702 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



this same article from wliich I have been 

 quoting: 



JONATHAN EDWARDS AND HIS DESCENDANTS. 



ByVay Of contrast, a similar research has been 

 made into the history of the famous Edwards fami- 

 ly, of New Kngland. This family, descended from 

 strong religious ancestors, embraced many of the 

 distinguished characters of our national history, 

 and all of them were upright and useful citizens. 



Jonathan Edwards was born in East Windsor, 

 Conn., in 1703; 1394 of his descendants were identi- 

 fied in 1900, of whom 295 were college graduates; 13, 

 presidents of our greatest colleges; 65, professors in 

 colleges, besides many principals of other imi:)or- 

 tant educatlanal institutions; 60, physicians, many 

 of whom were eminent; 100 and more, clergymen, 

 missionaries, or theological professors; 75 were offi- 

 cers In the army and navy; 60, prominent authors 

 and writers, by whom 135 books of merit were writ- 

 ten and published, and 18 important periodicals 

 edited; 33, American States and several foreign 

 countries, and 92 American cities and many foreign 

 cities, have profited by the beneficent influence of 

 their eminent activity; 100 and more were lawyers, 

 of whom one was our most eminent professor of 

 law; 30 were judges; 80 held public office, of whom 

 one was Vice-president of the United States; 3 were 

 United States senators; several were governors, 

 members of Congress, framers of State constitu- 

 tions, mayors of cities, and ministers to foreign 

 courts; one was president of the Pacific Mail Steam- 

 ship Company; 15 railroads, many banks, insurance 

 companies, and large industrial enterprises have 

 been indebted to their management. Almost if 

 not every department of social progress and of the 

 public weal has felt the impulse of this healthy and 

 long-lived family. It is not known that any one of 

 them was ever convicted of crime. 



The comparison of these two families, the "Jukes" 

 and the Edwards, to be found in Boies' " Science of 

 I'enology," forms a most striking instance of the 

 strength of heredity in perpetuating ancestral 

 traits, both virtuous and criminal. 



May God be praised that such a man as 

 Jonathan Edwards ever lived, and that he 

 was enabled to bless the world with a large 

 family of children, grandchildren, and great- 

 grandchildren, and so on down. 



The above illustrations, are not singular 

 nor the exception. Look about you and 

 you will see the same thing going on in ev- 

 ery community and neighborhood. At the 

 present time, however, I am sorry to note 

 that our educated, intelligent, and Christian 

 people are having only small families — one 

 child, two, and sometimes three — while the 

 drinking and ignorant man, next door, per- 

 haps, is blasting the life and happiness of 

 the poor wife by obliging her to bear a dozen 

 children and sometimes more. Mind you, 

 I do not object to large families. A man 

 and woman in good health, living outdoors, 

 may, perhaps, give life and health to ten or 

 perhaps a dozen children. The celebrated 

 Benjamin Franklin says he was one of sev- 

 enteen children. The protest that I make 

 is against letting the ignorant and vicious 

 and half-witted ones people the earth with 

 creatures of their kind, and burden our 

 Christian people with the task of building 

 asylums, jails, and penitentiaries to care for 

 these degenerates. Let me remind you once 

 more of what is being done with criminals. 



Friend I^eonard has made the discovery, 

 or at least he thinks he has, by which he 

 can pick out from a flock the hens that lay 

 toward 200 eggs a year, or probably more 

 than that. Let us suppose it is true (al- 

 though it has not yet been fully proven) , 

 that the hen that lays two eggs and then 



skips a day is the one that will probably 

 furnish a large quantity of eggs in a year, 

 and belongs to a strain of fowls that is de- 

 sirable. Every one of these 200 eggs this 

 hen lays can be put in an incubator or un- 

 der hens, and in this manner we shall be 

 rearing all or nearly all valuable fowls. The 

 loafers that lay once a week or less, and the 

 hen that is said to be found in every farm- 

 yard that never lays at all, although they 

 are kept year after year, will be eliminated. 

 This will be a great gain. The person who 

 is the possessor of a pen of choice prolific 

 layers can make money right along, for he 

 does not have to board and lodge useless 

 drones. I have told you several times of 

 what is being accomplished in selecting seed 

 corn. The world is making wonderful 

 strides in furnishing good wholesome food 

 at a more rapid rate on a given area of 

 ground than ever before; but in the case of 

 breeding (if I may be excused for using the 

 term) bright boys and girls to bless the 

 world, nothing, comparatively, is being done 

 at all. Indiana has made a start, it is true; 

 but it is only a drop in the bucket thus far.* 

 Ijct us take another glimpse of the affairs 

 of our State and nation. Texas voted wet 

 by a small majority, just because there 

 were more patrons of the slums and saloons 

 than there were good people. Ma'ne has met 

 almost a similar fate. As I write, it appears 

 that Maine really went dry; but the drys 

 were honest and fair in their election, while 

 the wets hesitated at nothing, for they fear 

 neither God, man, nor Satan. Their sole 

 object and aim, as they virtually admit, is 

 to make money. They do not care how they 

 get it, if they only can get it out of the 

 pockets of their fellow- men. Now, Maine 

 as well as Texas is cursed with too many 

 enemies of all righteousness. We can 

 scarcely hope to outnumber them or make 

 them obey our good and righteous laws if 

 we let this thing I have been talking about 

 go on. The editor of our Medina Gazette 

 (who was one of my Sunday-school pupils 

 years ago), just told me that this matter I 

 am urging should be put before our legisla- 

 ture at Columbus, and that our State of 

 Ohio should be vehemently urged to follow 

 Indiana in restraining the birth-rate of "un- 

 desirable citizens." Almost as I dictate 

 these words I am told that two counties in 

 Ohio bordering on the Ohio River — counties 

 that have been dry — have voted wet. The 

 W. C. T. U. has just had an enthusiastic 

 meeting at Portsmouth, Scioto Co., Ohio.t 



* Alter dictating the above I found in a recent 

 copy of the Plain Dealer an account of the meeting 

 of the reformatory judges of the different States re- 

 cently held. See the following: 



" Dr. H. C. Sharp, of the Indiana State reforma- 

 tory, gave a vivid account of good resulting from 

 sterilization of imbeciles and degenerates. Dr. 

 Sharp declared that he is using the method in pri- 

 vate practice. This was another reform which did 

 not escape from an Ohio legislative committee last 

 winter." 



t Judge Blair, who made his name famous for re- 

 buking and punishing the buying and selling of 

 votes in Adams Co., Ohio, also worked tremendous- 

 ly to keep Scioto Co. dry. 



