The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1875-03-24
MOTHERS MARKS.
The Most Renfn' lSable Case on Recoro
An MD IS Opinion of Mental In
fiu.nces on Physical structure.

An Nj. u. IS Opinion or Mth'"A All
fiu-nces on Physical structure.
"a W1NxEMUrcA, March 20, 1875.
EDITOR SILVER STATE: The account
of marked child which appeared in a
recent Issue of yonr paper reminds me
of prominent instance OF that snbtle
Influence held by the parent toward
the unborn child. In October, 1868,
there was born to lady in Someryllle,
Mass, we'll grown female child.
When received by the nnrse, the hitter
God save the mark) noticed certain
peculiariiies . in the child which
summed MP as follows The front of
the child was as black as tbony-its
features distinctly African. The back
was pc rfrctly white. and across its back
from shoulder to shoulder 4as n dark
purple strip abont four inches in width,
hearing the imprint in plain letters
:. Webster's Unabridged In about
four hours after its birth, while lying
in its grandmother hap. il opened its
eyes, looked around the room. and
while fixing lis eyes on its grand
mother. said: MY respected octogen-
arian relative. with yonr kind permits
sion and necessary assistance. | VIII
par'akp of small quantity OF that DO
l,st,un which nature so wisely deerees
shall! precede the secretion of milk IN
the mammery glands of nv mother,
and which l have no doubt will III
few hours relieve me of my m1conlnm.
In the present instance we Will waive
the inception of the t:aditionarv cat
nep." The precocity of the child in
creased with each honr of its life, until
when u week old it familnrrly qnoted
Plato, Aristotle and other ancient
writer's. 1t seemed particularly fond
of Shakespeare. and frequently when
meditating, would repeat, as if uncon-
scions of speaking. To be or not to
be: that is the question" These freaks
Of nature were accounted for by the
scientists in that locality as follows:
Some time in March, of that yeur. the
father was away from home, and in
letter which his wife wrote to him she
misspelled the word =" separate. Her
husband was annoyed thereat. for Mas.
sachusrtts people are proud of their
educational facilities, and admonished
his wife in II kind manner, to wit: " My
dear. if you will consult Webster's Un-
abridged you will probably never again
spell separate with three IS" She
referred to the dictionary. discovered
her mistake. and the errGr so wounded
her pride that she hrOoded over il until
she marked her babe. Regarding the
other peculiaritirs of the child. it was.
found that its father WAS il prominent
politician, and. as all the Massachusetts
politicians ever have been, extremely
r tdical. He was among those who
from the first declaration of war sought
tn make it war for the negro. and not
for the Union. On Jonnary LIST. of
that year. the Emancipation Proclaim
ton was issued, his highest political
hopes were realized, ard in the exuher-
ance of his spirits bis child WAS begot-
ten. 1t WAS named Emancipation Pro-
clamation W.
We have read of many well anthenti-
Gated instances of mothers marks. "
but this is the first instance within our
knowledge Of father influencing the
physical structure of his child by prom
inent mental peenliarities.
We have no doult that MANY per.
sons in Somerville may be found who
were coguizapt of the above facts, and
can snbstantiate thu N.
oST Hoe. PROPTER HOG.