Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1877-06-27
From the New York Times.
Old Families.

of blood. No doubt good blood is desira-
BILE, even essential. 10 contentment and
success. meaning by good blood that
which is heallhful, has flowed in honest
veins. has supported intelligent, generous
minds, and nourished kindly hearts. Our
progenitors largely determine our destiny
in advance. As they live and are, we
shall live and be, with certain modifica-
tons; for transmission is most important
"A law of nature that cannot be ignored.
We have reason to feel proud of ancestors
of the right Kind, and to ielicitate our
selves that they have given us no physical
or moral faint; TO have a sound body is
one of the best of fortunes and it were
foolish not to rejoice thereat.
But this is not the sort OF good blood
that most persons plume themselves on
and boast of. 1t is not the blood OF integ-
r.ty, of earnest endeavor. or noble purpose,
but the blood which. having, at some re-
mote period, achieved distinction or borne
title. they fondly imagine justifies its
heirs in inactivity, arrogance, and pre-
tense. Instead of holding that the honor
gained by their forefathers should cease
lessly stimulate them to try and equal it,
or that it should prevent them from doing
aught unworthy, they are apt to imagine
that it relieves them from the need of as
piration and exertion, and is species OF
sanction for inefficiency and meanness.
Even in countries the most aristocratic op-
Unions have undergone vast changes since
the feudal period, since the old Spaniards
really thought that what they called their
blue blood (sangre AUD was blue. in con-
tradistinction to The crimson stream of the
plebeian millions. Nevertheless, the no.
tons of lineage current in Europe in this
day are absurd enough to excite pity or
contempt in the mind of any natural man.
Taking them at their full claim. they rest
on a very slender foundation. The noblest
families soon run out. 1t is related, if we
remember, in Burke's Anecdotes of the
Peerage that an effort was made, in the
latter part of the past century, to discover
the descendants of the ilustrious houses
of Plantagenet and Neville. Only two
offshoots of the historic stock could be
found-the heir of the Plantagenets was
common cobbler in an English village,
the degenerate Neville had charge of
toll-gate.
The highest-blooded families in Great
Britain can hardly ever trace their line
backward more than two or three hundred
years at most and the last detachable an
cestor is usually said to have come over
with William the Conqueror-himself an il
legitimate son of the Duke of Normandy.
SIS well as pirate and cutthroat. A
large portion of the Irish, both at home
and abroad, have, as they aver, sprung
from kings; but in a chaotic land where
every other inhabitant was a King. the
distinction is not SO great as it at first
appears. ANY number of German Barons
aud other bearers of Teutonic titles got
their rank by means which deicacy would
forbear to inquire into. French Counts.
Italian Marquises, Russian Princes, even
when they are genuine, will rarely bear
Investigation. as many silly American wo-
men have learned to their connubial cost.
Under monarchial Governments, where
caste is natural and almost necessary,
where society is imperatively artificial,
the assumptions of blood can be tolerated
by those having no respect for them. But
Ia democracy like ours, all talk of fam
lily, all parade of coats-of-arms, all aping
OF aristocratic customs, is not out of place
alone, il is silly and contemplate. Being
politically equal here, we try very hard to
make ourselves socially unequal. II we
have no reason Tor this inequality, many
of US put forward pretext, and count the |
poorest pretext better than none.
Europeans have Frequently noticed and
commented on our desire to represent our
selves as in some way better than our fell
low-citizens, and have deduced thence the
naturalness of aristocratic feelings. Nat
Vial VI HOl, ils LHdullesLdiiOll III republic
Is a satire on our institutions aud serious
reflection on our common sense. AS not
many Of us have any knowledge of our
remote ancestors-being generally quite
content with a moderate amount Of in
formation concerning our grandparents
1t is difficult to lay any claim to the most
Indirect connection with titles or titled
folk. Our usual substitute for titles is old
families; the presumption being that
everything Is good which is old. In re-
spect to family. age has advantage. be-
cause we can boast of the capacities and
virtues of the dead and forgotten without
fear of contradiction. We can do any
quantity OF romaneing about our great
great-grandfather, and have no fear of
detection. We can speak of his culture,
his generosity, and chivalry unabashed.
although assured by records and traditions
that he WAS ignorant, mean and despica-
BILE. Then, In so new a country, it is