e Mayflower. The descendants of the passengers of that ship
look upon the picture of the Mayflower as a sort of seal or guarantee
of the good qualities of their forefathers, and consequently, being
direct descendants they take unto themselves a lot of credit for
something in which they had no hand in the making.

The Mayflower was afterwards used as a slave ship, but our disciples of
birth do not want to know about this. Some of the passengers in the
Mayflower performed acts and violated laws and conducted themselves in
such a manner that would cause people of these days to be put in jail
for the same offenses. Some of these good ancestors of the present
descendants of birth burned witches at the stake.

Time wipes out a lot of things, and this is probably as it should be,
but certainly it is true that the world is progressing and the good man
of today is probably better and broader than some of these glorious
ancestors to whom so many take off their hats. Some of our forefathers
in Europe were little less than pirates and buccaneers. Their
descendants today knowing that they can make great claims with little
fear of contradiction, extol the virtue of their forefathers and
complacently take on a superior air. They have thought over the matter
of birth so much that they really think they are superior beings.

Grizzly Pete of Frozen Dog, Idaho, doesn't take much stock in the
aristocracy of birth. He says, "It ain't what's on a man and it ain't
what his father was that counts. The only thing to judge a man by is
what's in him and what kind of brains he has."

One thing about this glorious Western country of ours is that a man
gets credit for and he is punished by his own individual acts. It
doesn't make any difference how far back his pedigree runs, if he
doesn't make good himself, people have no use for him.

The heritage of birth is mighty thin fabric and mighty weak material
for a man to use in making a cloak of exclusiveness to put around him.

We anticipate that some of our readers will take exception to our
attitude on the matter of birth. We wish to be plainly understood that
the matter of good birth and good ancestors is a good thing to have.
The writer has a pedigree that would be his passport into the
aristocracy of birth if he chose to belong to that lodge. Your good
ancestors is no handicap. It is a credit to you, but mark this down
well: You, yourself, are entitled to no credit for any acts of your
ances