Litchfield enquirer., 1857-10-15
Inheritance of Talent.

i A cotcmporary says, that great men usually inherit tl.eir talents from their mother. TIis
 Is the popular belief, hut none the less crroue-
 ouS. Ihe mistake has arisen from attending to those cases in which the mother had a sll- i perior mhd, to the equally numerous where the father possessed remarkable abilities. All | quote tine fact that Napoleon derived his gen 1 jus from his mother None mention that the DO t Bur!i> owe his va t alb ties to his father. A traveller "n;,,Ii commit a similar thunder who should describe all Americans as lgh, haired, or say that every Ph;ladep was i Quaker. Tie rue, for d rue there is, lies deeper
 Great abilities in word, arise from such q fortuhate union of the mental characteristics Of the parents as renders the progeny genus, thongh neither luther nor mother, perhaps. were such. The catalogue of eminent men, If carefully made up and honestly scrut!nizcA with view to cnc;dailng the t,Eth, would e>- ta'I!sh this, we have no q -ubt beyond contro- ver>y. For it is already known that the chilt;, 'k"s its meutal nature in ahout cGual portions from it's parents, anC, this fact at once leads to our coucluS:on, as well as explains why brilliant pureuts often have dunccs anong their of. spring.
 Let US illustrate this X man has the purely intellectual characteristic in great force, tut i> wanting in will he is consequently a dreamy philosopher, or a visionary spccu.#tor
 He marries a woman, who with but ortuary intellect, has immensc euer~y. One child Of this pair may combine the weakness of both claimable fool But another may inherit tEe ,nnt hnr'r will wit f, 50 t!'> child, unless runed by bad education, S c'rtan to become GiStingll sled
 Or take auotier example. \ woman of 10 remarkable abilities, but with fine moral na- ture, is married to man without principle, but possessing shining abiliti"S One child of this pair may inherit tl," good qualities of both p"rrllts. and b come a Bunyan, Ntstor or even a Washington. But another may inherit the q Helene s> of both, and grow up. unless c,retn!'v guard d, to become brilliant V an Or take a third instance One parent has much imagination. but nothluy else: and the other nothing remarks able, but great rrcrptive faculties. TAe union Of these two character i>t:cs i'll a child will produce a poet. The traN>mlssion Of cithcr in excess, unless balanc- ed I'y strong rel.o"iny power may make only human monkey or romantic fool.
 This law explains also why so few eminent men i' iong to one family. There have rarely been two distinguished poets, painters, gcnol- ais, or even statcsmen, who Were father or son. OF cT.n brothers. TI!t elder and volnger Pitt t"ougi both Prime Ministers, and both famous S.'": f>"rs, Were stritrg,y q S mar in mental cnl:> tuition so that this example. wIsic, seems Ht tlr"t to oppose onr theory, really slStans it. in fact, w:ian we consider that the miud has so nlAuy ald so distinguished ingredients, idle alty, cASu'lity, 5cnrvocncc, reverence, tlcstruc- tNcncsS, and that they arc combined n millions O. vHrietles ln as many million persons, the won''cr Is not th.t two ild.s i;ualS, even of the same families >lUGld rrscluhe each other so much. Given ,le score and odd of s.parat,. b"nps, into " iich rhrcloIogy t!v:ics the blap ;s..1 take tic ci:'d of any two per,ois whatever -and who >htI say in what exact proportions oaf of the ten thousand possible ones, these qualities ought 10 un.tr2
 There is tso 'nrch fAIsity taught for truth, "n this and similar objects, not only in the w>pArcrs, but in elaborate books. The req son is that few persons think sound'y or dare to deny the Irc-conce"cd or popular ideas We would, however, have every man reflect for himself, and hold fast to the good