66
THE QUEST OF ANCESTORS.
"Of all the notable things on earth,
The queerest one is pride of birth."
A few years ago a well-known Bostonian, the descendant of an honored family, began the ancestral quest with expert assistance. All went merry as a marriage bell for a time, when suddenly he unearthed an unsavory scandal that concerned one of his progenitors. Feeling a responsibility for the misdeeds of his great-grandfather, he ordered all investigation stopped, and the disagreeable data destroyed; but he had delved too far. His genealogist had told a friend, and the secret was out beyond recall.
—D. O. S. Lowell.
67
MERIT FROM ANCESTORS.
Were honor to be scann'd by long descent
From ancestors illustrious, I could vaunt
A lineage of the greatest; and recount,
Among my fathers, names of ancient story,
Heroes and god-like patriots, who subdu'd
The world by arms and virtue.
But that be their own praise;
Nor will I borrow merit from the dead,
Myself an undeserver.
—Rowe.