THE NEXT GENERATION 



CHAPTER I 



FATHERS, MOTHERS, AND CHILDREN 



At our county fair recently the. animal that drew the 

 crowd and won the prize was a huge Poland-China pig. 

 He weighed twelve hundred pounds, measured seven full feet 

 in length, was coal black with white feet and a white face, 

 and had ears that flapped low. He had a turned-up nose, a 

 curled-up tail, legs barely long enough to hold his body from 

 the ground, and he cost exactly three thousand dollars. 



" But why did you pay so much ? " we asked the owner. 



" For three reasons," he said. 



i. " The pig has a fine line of ancestors. 



2. " He shows it in every part of his body. 



3. "His descendants are sure to be like him and to bring 

 fancy prices." 



From this man's point of view it was indeed clear that for 

 the sake of the next generation even pigs must have the 

 right sort of ancestors. 



And what about human beings, we wondered — the people 

 next door and the rest of us ? Does the law apply to us all ? 

 We thought them over, one by one, — neighbors to the north 

 and to the south, to the east and to the west of us, — men, 

 women, and children who are set apart in families, with each 

 family, quite different from all the others. 



