CHAPTER II.— Parentage.
ONE of the greatest blessings to any person is to be the child of a healthy, intelligent, and moral parents; and one of the richest gifts that parents can bestow upon the world are well trained children, physically strong, intellectually bright, and morally virtuous. Not only is heredity a great factor in the fauna and flora kingdoms, but also in shaping the destiny of the human race. The old adage, "blood will tell," and the Welsh proverb, "anhawdd dwyn dyn oddiar ei dylwyth," are terse expressions of this fundamental truth. Henry Ward Beecher said that all our ancestors look out through our eyes sometimes.
The fair inheritance of Risiart Ddu was a sound heredity. His father, Mr. Hugh Edwards, was born April 4, 1796, at Ffynhonau, Llanefydd, Denbighshire, Wales. Being the only child of well-to-do parents, he was sent first to the St. Asaph diocesan school, and afterwards to the then celebrated boys* school at Chester.
In 1826, he married Miss Mary Foulkes, Llechryd, near Denbigh ; and they spent over twenty years of their married life in the Vale of Olwyd. Mr. Edwards kept excellent discipline in his family: children and servants alike had to obey his orders. He did not say much, but every word counted. An incident in the life of Risiart Ddu, when a lad, delightfully explains this discipline. One day the young poet was driving the late Dr. Pierce from Denbigh to Plas Llanychan. Between these two places there is a lane which is much shorter than the regular road;
