16 chapters
2 hour read
Selected Chapters
16 chapters
To HIM
To HIM
Who, more than any other, has taught us how to afford opportunity for neglected, unfortunate and wayward boys and girls to transform themselves into industrious, virtuous and upright citizens through the most remarkable institution in the land, WILLIAM R. GEORGE, FOUNDER OF THE GEORGE JUNIOR REPUBLIC, THIS STUDY IS DEDICATED....
14 minute read
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
Of all the problems which America faces on the land and on the seas, no one is so important as that of making regenerates out of degenerates. The massing of people in large cities, the incoming of vast multitudes from the impoverished masses of several European and Asiatic countries, the tendency to interpret liberty as license, the contagious nature of moral, as well as of physical, diseases combine to make it of the utmost importance that American enterprise and moral force find ways and means
1 minute read
THE JUKES
THE JUKES
Education is something more than going to school for a few weeks each year, is more than knowing how to read and write. It has to do with character, with industry, and with patriotism. Education tends to do away with vulgarity, pauperism, and crime, tends to prevent disease and disgrace, and helps to manliness, success and loyalty. Ignorance leads to all those things that education tries to do away with, and it tends to do away with all the things that education tries to cultivate. It is easy to
8 minute read
A STUDY OF JONATHAN EDWARDS
A STUDY OF JONATHAN EDWARDS
The story of the Jukes as published by Mr. Dugdale has been the text of a multitude of sermons, the theme of numberless addresses, the inspiration of no end of editorials and essays. For twenty years there was a call for a companion picture. Every preacher, orator, and editor who presented the story of the Jukes, with its abhorrent features, wanted the facts for a cheery, comforting, convincing contrast. This was not to be had for the asking. Several attempts had been made to find the key to suc
5 minute read
THE INHERITANCE AND TRAINING OF MR. EDWARDS
THE INHERITANCE AND TRAINING OF MR. EDWARDS
No man can have the intellectual power, nobility of character, and personal grandeur of Jonathan Edwards and transmit it to his children's children for a century and a half who has not himself had a great inheritance. The whole teaching of the culture of animals and plants leaves no room to question the persistency of character, and this is so grandly exemplified in the descendants of Mr. Edwards that it is interesting to see what inheritances were focused in him. It is not surprising to find th
10 minute read
THE CHILDREN'S START IN LIFE
THE CHILDREN'S START IN LIFE
The eleven children of Jonathan Edwards had an unenviable start in life so far as their environment was concerned. The oldest was still in her teens when serious trouble arose in the parish at Northampton. Mr. Edwards was pastor at Northampton for twenty-five years, and a more fruitful pastorate or a more glorious ministerial career for a quarter of a century no man could ask. He made that church on the frontier the largest Protestant church in the world, and it was the most influential as well
8 minute read
MRS. EDWARDS AND HOME TRAINING
MRS. EDWARDS AND HOME TRAINING
Much of the capacity and talent, intensity and character of the more than 1,400 of the Edwards family is due to Mrs. Edwards. None of the brothers or sisters of Jonathan Edwards had families with any such marvelous record as his, and to his wife belongs not a little of the credit. At the age of twenty-four Mr. Edwards was married to Sarah Pierrpont, aged seventeen. She had an inheritance even more refined and vigorous than that of Mr. Edwards. She was descended on her father's side from the choi
4 minute read
CAPACITY, CHARACTER AND TRAINING
CAPACITY, CHARACTER AND TRAINING
In view of what has been learned regarding Jonathan Edwards, his ancestors and his children, his grandchildren might have found some excuse for presuming upon the capacity and character which they inherited. In their veins was the blood of famous lines of noble men and women; the blood of Edwards, Stoddard, Pierrpont, and Hooker was thrilling in their thought and intensifying their character. They had inherited capacity and character at their best, but they did not presume upon it. If ever inher
2 minute read
AARON BURR
AARON BURR
Undoubtedly some readers are already impatient at the delay in dealing with Aaron Burr. There was a time when it was the fashion to refer to Colonel Burr as sufficiently infamous to prove that heredity was of no appreciable value. As a matter of fact it is rather refreshing to have one upon whom the imagination can play. It simply intensifies the white light of the rest of the record. Colonel Burr was not a saint after the model presented by his father, the Rev. Dr. Aaron Burr, the godly preside
10 minute read
CONTRASTS
CONTRASTS
It has already been emphasized that the Jukes always mingled blood of their own quality in their descendants, and that the Edwards family has invariably chosen blood of the same general tone and force. Who can think for a moment that the Jukes would have remained on so low a level if the Edwards blood had been mixed with theirs, or that the Edwards would have retained their intellectual supremacy if they had married into the Jukes. The fact is that in 150 years the Jukes never did mingle first-c
8 minute read
TIMOTHY EDWARDS
TIMOTHY EDWARDS
To make more clear, if possible, the persistence of intellectual activity and moral virtue, let us study samples of the family. Take for instance the eldest son, Timothy. He was a member of and leader in the famous Massachusetts council of war in the Revolution, a colonel in the militia, and a judge. His descendants have been leaders in Binghamton, Pittsburg, Indianapolis, Bangor, St. Louis, Northampton, New Bedford, San Francisco, New York, New Haven, and many other cities and towns in New Engl
6 minute read
COLONEL WILLIAM EDWARDS
COLONEL WILLIAM EDWARDS
Fascinating is the story of Colonel William Edwards, grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the inventor of the process of tanning by which the leather industry of the world was revolutionized. In no respect did the intellectual and moral inheritance show itself more clearly than in the recuperative force of the family of Colonel Edwards. Attention has already been called to the remarkable way in which the father, Timothy Edwards, re-established himself and educated his large family after his great finan
7 minute read
THE MARY EDWARDS DWIGHT FAMILY
THE MARY EDWARDS DWIGHT FAMILY
After studying at some length the family of the eldest son of Jonathan Edwards, it is worth while to study the family of one of the daughters. Mary, the fourth child born at Northampton (1734), was married at the age of 16 to Timothy Dwight, born in Vermont (1726) and graduated from Yale in 1744. It is interesting to find a daughter of Jonathan Edwards marrying a Yale graduate, who "had such extreme sensibility to the beauty and sweetness of always doing right, and such a love of peace, and rega
13 minute read
A MODERN INSTANCE
A MODERN INSTANCE
It was known that John Eliot Woodbridge removed to Youngstown, O., about one hundred years ago, but no trace of him was found until these chapters were in type when it appeared that this undiscovered remainder was a most important branch of the family. Congressman R.W. Taylor, of Ohio, chairman of the committee to pass upon the case of Mr. Roberts of Utah, is a descendant of Jonathan Edwards through John Eliot Woodbridge. His masterly treatment of the case is recognized throughout the country. H
1 minute read