Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1879 — Heriditary Depravity. [ARTICLE]

Heriditary Depravity.

The great majority of people seldom consider that their lives are but a continuation of the lives of their progenitors—that they are liviug inherited lives, and, as Emerson says, they cannot escape the “drag of temperament” which Is bom with them. As illustrating this view, we give the following from the Chicago Express: “Last week Miss Maggie Thompson, the accomplished adopted daughter of Doctor Thompson, of Union City. Indiana, was arrested on a charge of Laving stolen SSB. from a safe in the residence of Mr. Siinger, of Muncie, while visiting them. She has confessed her guilt, but her friends say that there are extenuating circumstances which will be developed hereafter. About sixteen years ago Dr. Thompson adopted her from a New York Orphans’ Home. She was then a four year-old girl. She has ever since been treated like an own child, and given a collegiate education, and has been surrounded by all the advantages which wealth and refinement could bestow. No doubt many people will look upon this case as another proof that “blood will tell.” And is it not hard to account for the crime, except upon the theory that the elevating influences of education and good associations cannot counteract the evil propensities inherited from criminal ancestors? There is food for thought in the idea. Hereditary and parental influence is a subject of vital importance, and the in-vestigator-will be startled to find how surely the ‘children’s teeth are set on edge’ because the parents have ‘eaten sour grapes.’ ”