elations was characteristic of the entire family,
as will be seen later, when the nature of the business connections
between Isaac and his brothers has to be considered. Far from
weakening the natural ties, or impairing their proper influence, it
seems to have strengthened and perfected them. Asked once towards the
close of his life how it was that he had never used tobacco in any
form, he answered: "Mother forbade it, and that was enough for George
and me. I was never ruled in any way but by her affection. That was
sufficient." The parallel fact that he never in his life drank a drop
of liquor at a bar or at any public place was probably due to a
similar injunction. The children were brought up, too, with
exceedingly strict ideas about lying and stealing, and all petty
vices. Throughout the family there prevailed an extreme severity on
such faults. "I have never forgotten," said Father Hecker, "the
furious anger of an aunt of mine and the violent beating she gave one
of my cousins for stealing a cent from her drawer. That training has
had a great and lasting effect upon my character."

In such antecedents and surroundings it is easy to see the source of
that abiding confidence in human nature, and that love for the
natural virtues which marked Father Hecker's whole career. They had
kept his own youth pure. He had been baptized in infancy, however, as
the children of orthodox Protestants more commonly were at that
period than at present, and in all probability validly, so that one
could never positively say that nature in him had ever been unaided
by grace in any particular instance. It is the conviction of those
who knew him best that he had never been guilty of deliberate mortal
sin. One of these writes:

"During all the intimate hours I spent with him, speaking of his past
life he _ever once said that he had been a sinner_ in a sense to
convey the idea of mortal sin. And on the other hand he said much to
the contrary; so much as to leave no manner of doubt on my mind that
he had kept his baptismal innocence. He was deeply attached to an
edifying and religious mother; he was at hard work before the dawn of
sensual passion, and his recreation, even as a boy, was in talking
and reading about deep social and philosophical questions, and
listening to others on the same themes. He expressly told me that he
had never used drink in excess, and that he had never sinned against
purity, never was profane, never told a lie; an