The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1886-11-05
AUTHORS CHILDREN.
LITERARY GENIUS SELDOM TRANss
MiTTED By PARENTS.

People Seem to Have Little Aspiras
ton In the Parental Direction-A Few
Exceptions.
Richard Henry Stoddard has but one sur.
viyins child n son, who, though his mother
is "a poet likewise, and n woman of rare In.
tellect, bctrays no sympathy with literature.
He .nanifcSts, however, considerable artistic
taste, especially in the line of decoration, but
he is not disposed to develop it, His bias Is IN
favor of the stage, albeit he has shown no
histrionic ability whatever. He has been for
two seasons with Lawrence Barrett's com.
pany, though wholly in II subordinate capac.
lty, seldom having any words to speak. He
seems to be indolcnt, and Incidence frequently
goes with the artist; temperament.
Louisa NJ AlcOtt, us an instance, is strictly
domestic. The eldest of Il number of daugh-
tiers, with transcendcntal father-A. Bron-
son Alcott-irlcmedially. impractical, an In.
cessilnt dreamer and an invalid mother, the
care of the household even to the earning Of
money for its daily needs, devolved on her.
he had no sons, but he impaired to his daugh-
ter Louisa some of the qualities of his mind,
balanced by common sense and an under
standing of the world. For her to have mar.
ried when she was young-she is 53-would
have been to desert her family, to leave her
father either TO starve or to the charity Of q
few admirinS and sympathetic souls.
LONGFELLOW'S CHILDREN
One of his friends was Longfellow, also q
genial student, a man of constant meditation.
almost cloistered spirit, but one who know
that money is essential to existence, and be-
lieved that the aborer is worthy of hie nire.
He had three daughters and two sors, among
whom there is not an author or poet of any
hind. Ernest W., is an artist o: repute; and
the other, Charles, W.. iii officer in the
Union army '::r'ng inc civil war, and has
since been a gentleman of leisure living ON
his income. The sole unmarried daughter,
Miss Alice Longfellow, l., decidedly of a schol.
arly turn, pursuing at home and abroad vari-
Gus advanced studies
Bret Harte has sons, the eldest of whom Is
ON the stage, having become eniluoreu OF the
footlights, without any reasonable prospect
of ever shining behind them as they shine be-
fore him. Another has, or had, some kind
of connection with Il weekly newspaper in
the city, but has come 10 nearer to any form
Of literature Harte has never, suspect.
tried to cultivate in his children any disposi
ton toward his own trade, which has not
PiCNCHCCu IliiI, VilcI lllOoU uCUltely culCl.
waited, from mourning heavy burden of
debt. He is not painfully domestic in his
habits
Thomas Bailey Aldrch has SONS, twins, now
about 20 years old They are said to be intel
lectual and witty, like their father, but, at
latest advices, had exhibited no alarming
tendency to manuscript making. Their papa
may prefer that they should confine their
xvr.i tn sic ofIp,a Of ,,hc
not likely to secure, as he has done, a rich
patron Henry l.. Pierce, of Boston,, who,
being bachelor is so munifcent in his gifts
as to furnish liberal income. But for him
the world would not go so pleasantly with the
Aldriches
+. c. sTEDMANs TWO SONS
Edmund G. Stedman has, also, two sons.
One of them, Frederick, through the impr1ld-
ence and overcontidence of young man ad-
mitted to partnership with his father, was in
strumental in getting the brokerage firm into
serious trouble three years ago. Since then
he has retired from Wall street. pursuing an
other sort of business. His nearest approach
TO literature was acting for brief time as
salesman i'll a Broadway bookstore. His bent
S financial, and authorship surely has but
slender relation to finance. The younger son,
Arthur, graduate of Yale, has been for sew
raj years his fathers private secretary and
literary assistant, and is understood to have
SEPARATIONS in the paternal direction
William D. Howels has, believe, one son,
vho may be induced to make writing pro-
ession in due time by the remembrance that
It present his papa earns not far from $4,000,
t least fve-fod what most clever and noted
uthors can earn by the greatest diligence
nd determination.
Joaquin Miller has two daughters by two
wives, but no son on whom he may practice,
S he has tried to practice on the general
ublic, the transparent sham of being gifted
all genius and no kind OF educa-
ion. He is really shrewd and very practical,
nd his atfectut!on of popularity, with his
erpetual insstence on his assumed idiosyn-
rasieS, do not add to his attractions
Mark Twain Clemens has sons who will
9 more likely to initiate him in his love Of
honey getting by mercantile methods than
| being funny at the highest prices
Among all the authors l am acquainted
18th Henry James and Julian Hawthorne
re among the very few who have inherited
terary talents from their fathers Julian has
ade more in a year than Nathaniel Haw-
lorne made in his whole life, and yet he has
sver been able to meet his expenses without
,pending on very elastic credit system.
e has six or eight children, mostly girls
essimo in Chicago Times.
Va.