Good genes don't appear but bad genes cannot be destroyed

One of the favourite idioms of the Foochows is this : good genes are hard to come by and bad genes are hard to destroy.

One story helps to explain this.

One man had a daughter who was very timid and socially challenged at the same time. When his wife passed away, he took a new wife who did not like the step daughter at all. She scolded her every day and called her "good for nothing", "able to eat only" etc.

One day she found out that her daughter was expecting and she threw a fit. Immediately the the neighbours who were very good helped her to get ready to be married at once to the culprit who was in fact not willing to marry the girl and even denied his misdeed. As a last resort, the girl's father threatened to kill him if he did not agree to the marriage failing which he would get the police to arrest him and put him in prison. That was quite a great effort on the part of a man who did not really care about his own household!!

After a great deal of verbal abuse the girl was married to the man. Only her neighbours made some new clothes for her. She received

When the baby boy was born, the baby had the same defect as the father - clubbed feet. And the baby was an exact copy of the father in looks too. It was thus undeniable that the man was the father of the child.

Later when twin daughters who were normal were born, he sold them off because he said that he could not afford to have daughters.

Perhaps providence was omnipresent as the silly man was not given a very long life. He died at quite a young age.

However his widow was given a new lease of life when she met and married a very good man. This second marriage was a good one and she had some very fortunate years.