~13. A Legacy.~--Do you know what a legacy is? If your father should die
and leave to you a fine house or farm, or money in the bank, or books,
or horses, or any other kind of property to have for your own, it would
be a legacy. When a person gets anything in this way from a parent we
say that he inherits it.

~14.~ We inherit a great many things besides houses and lands and other
kinds of property. For instance, perhaps you remember hearing some one
say that you have eyes and hair the same color as your mother's, and
that your nose and chin are like your father's. So you have inherited
the color of your hair and eyes from your mother and the shape of your
chin and nose from your father.

~15. The Alcohol Legacy.~--The inside of a boy's head is just as much
like his parents' as the outside of it. In other words, we inherit our
brains just as we do our faces. So, if a man spoils his brain with
alcohol and gets an alcohol appetite, his children will be likely to
have unhealthy brains and an appetite for alcohol also, and may become
drunkards. Is not that a dreadful kind of legacy to inherit?

~16.~ A child that has no mind is called an idiot. Such a child cannot
talk, or read, or sing, and does not know enough to take proper care of
itself. This is one of the bad legacies which drunken parents sometimes
leave to their children.

~17. Effects of Tobacco on the Brain and Nerves.~--The effects of
tobacco upon the brain and nerves are much the same as those of alcohol.
Tobacco, like alcohol, is a narcotic. It benumbs and paralyzes the
nerves, and it is by this means that it obtains such an influence over
those who use it.