“Do you mean, mamma, that I have a quick temper because you had one?”
“I certainly do; and if I had known, when I was of your age, what I know now, I might have given you a different disposition.”
“Will my children have a temper because I have one?”
“There will be a greater probability of their having quick tempers because you have one.”
“How can I help it, if I got my temper from 73 you and just passed it on to them? Certainly I am not to blame.”
“Many people excuse themselves for their faults in just that way; but that is to give evil greater power than good, and we don’t believe in that, you know. Each one has the power to make himself over, and in the process he may change the direction of the inheritance of his children.”
“You mean that if I overcome my temper, my children will not be so likely to have tempers?”
“Yes, by controlling yourself you will have given them greater power of self-control; that is worth working for, isn’t it? If, when I was of your age, I had begun to govern my temper, I should have been helping you. So it is in every field of effort. If you are a good student and cultivate your mental powers to the best of your ability, you will make it easier for your children to be good students. Now, in your young girlhood, you are working to help future generations.”
“But maybe I’ll never have any children, mamma; what then?”
“None of us can see our future, but if we are wise we will prepare for the probabilities. At your age I could not be sure that I would ever be a mother, and now I have several children to call forth every power that I possess through inheritance or by education. You are not sorry that in many ways I was wise enough so to cultivate myself that you have inherited desirable qualities; and you have cause to regret that I did not know 74 now to do better for you. You can learn through my failures, and be kinder to your children than I have been to you. I can assure you of one thing,—even if you never have children, you will never regret having cultivated yourself in every talent and virtue, but you may have great cause for sorrow if you fail to develop the best in yourself. There is no grief in the world like that caused by wilful or wicked sons and daughters. Their waywardness brings not only sorrow but self-condemnation on the parents who must feel that in some way they have been to blame, either in the inheritance they passed on or the training they gave. And there is no happiness equal to the just pride felt in honorable children. As Solomon says: ‘Children’s children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children are their fathers.’”