A stranger might have taken her at such a
time for a devoted Christian; but alas! her religion was only that of a
wretched inebriate.
Now who can think it strange that such a mother should have had such a
son? Not only may the general corrupt character of the son be accounted
for by the general corrupt influence of the mother, but the particular
traits of the son's character may also be traced to particular
characteristics of the mother, as an effect to its legitimate cause. The
single fact that she was intemperate, and that her religion was confined
to her fits of drunkenness, would explain it all. Of course, the
education of her son was utterly neglected. No pains were taken to
impress his mind with the maxims of truth and piety. He was never warned
against the power of temptation, but was suffered to mingle with the
profane and the profligate, without any guard against the unhallowed
influences to which he was exposed. This, of itself, would be enough to
account for his forming a habit of vice--even for his growing up a
profligate;--for such are the tendencies of human nature, that the mere
absence of counsel and guidance and restraint, is generally sufficient
to insure a vicious character. But in the case to which I refer, there
was more than the absence of a good example--there was the presence of a
positively bad one--and that in the form of one of the most degrading of
all vices.
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