Don't imagine that I undervalue descent.

It is not for nothing that a great man leaves posterity.
But who is more likely to inherit the fire--the elder son with his flesh-pots or the younger son with his fortune to find?
Just think of it! All the younger sons of younger sons back through the generations! We none of us know our ancestors beyond a little way.

We all of us may have kings' blood in our veins.

The dago who blacked my boots at Vancouver may be descended by curious byways from Julius Caesar.
"Think of it!" he cried.

"The spark once transmitted may smoulder for generations under ashes, but the appointed time will come, and it will flare up to warm the world.