Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-12-12
Possibly he may develop into strong

'NNEA fAoiA va JUG VI lueLnt Uut ne lived
long enough to see that his hope was vain
Daniel Webster's son Fletcher was a quiet,
some hat1scholarly gentleman, without a
single suggestion OF the possession OF his
lather's great ability. He was a gal
lant ofhcer during the war, and
was killed in service. Not one, we
Delleye 1t safe to say, OF the men
who SO ably made history for us in the
past, left sons who took up the work their
fathers left off, and carried it on with
signal ability. The names we now hear
ana nave heard for generation are new
names. None of them suggests the giants
ofold. The brilliant Tom Ewing's son ia
now quiet lawyer in New York. Tom
benton's grandsons are youths of charac-
ter, but Of no conspicuous ability. Clay
ton, Dallas, r. NJ. johnson, Wright. and
Marcy, the Clintons, these and many
otners have bequeathed none of their
ability.
Mr.. Carlisle has two sons who are prac-
tlclng law in the growing town OF Wich-
lta, Kan. One of them is thought to give
promise or becoming great lawyer. Mr..
Blame has three sons. One is in the rail-
way business in Chicago; One, Walker, has
oeen able to adopt the habits and life of
people who move in good society with
dlntlnguished success, but not as vet has
ne developed any of the wonderfully
magnetic and stirring qualities
that have made his father pre-
eminent. Another, young Jim, as
he is called, is thought to have some of
Mr.. Blaine's ability, though his exuber-
ant youthful spirits have not permitted
MN to make much manifestation of it,
II 1t be so. That eccentric but gifted war
r1or, Gen. Sherman, had looked for q ca
reer for his son which in other fields
might equal his own, but the young man
mas given himself to the lie of priest in
the Church of Rome. John Sherman has
no children. Through the Ewings,
the Shermans and Blaine are related,
so that 1t is likely that to the
Ewing blood these able men can in
measure ascribe their gifts. Senator
Bayard will probably be the last of his
family to hold conspicuous public office,
at least in consecutive line. His son is
an amlable, conscientious young man,
but with no taste at all for those pursuits
which made his father, uncle, anu grand
father famous. Though appointed to the
place OF Territorial Secretary by Presi-
dent Cleveland, the office and politics gen.
orally are not congenIal to young Bayard.
The late Gov. Hubbard of Connecticut,
though not well known outside the State
except to the bar OF the country, was re-
garded as one OF the most brilliant minds
the State has produced of recent years.
He was very able lawyer, and a most
delightful orator. His son inherits neither
the tastes nor capacities. He is brisk
little business man, and buys and sells
stocks on Change. Hawley, Edmunds,
Sherman, Conkllng, now or lately of the
Senate, have no sons. COnkling I'M
questionably inherits some of his gifts,
HIS father, Judge Conkling, was an able
man. Platt, who is not a conspicuous
Senator, but Is regarded by his colleagues
as very able man, has son who, though
fair average lawyer, is not thought to
possess his fathers abilities. Mr.. EYarts
has large family of sons. Some of them
are in business, one is lawyer, one in
the church, but though some of them
physically suggest the father, none of
them seem to have inherited from him
exceptional powers of mind. Malone.
who certainly in some respects has had
a remarkable career and Is unquestion-
ably man of force, has a son for whom
he has cherished most ardent hopes, but
who has sadly shattered them thus Tar.
Alexander Hamilton seems to have be-
queathed none of that wonderful genius
to which so much IN our government
stands as monument, to his children.
Hamilton's destroyer, Burr, was a man
of ability and, many thought, of genius.
There was unquestioned Inheritance in
his case, as he was on the mothers side
descendant of jonathan Edwards. Burr
had no sons, but his daughter was most
brilliant and accomplished woman, whose
strange romance became a matter of pub
lie n0toriety. Another descendant of
Jonathan Edwards was Theodore Win
throp, whose literary ability and promise
were not discovered until he won fame as
the writer OF the brilliant article descrip-
tive of the Seventh regiments march to
Washington In 1861. Two months later
Winthrop, as the first victim of promi-
hence OF the battlefield in the war,
achieved an incidental fame, which was
preserved by the publication OF several
volumes of novels.
Those Americans who have won re-
nown through literary efforts seem to
have transmitted, only in exceptional
cases, their abilities. Irving was bach
elor but Paulding, and Hoffman, and
Cooper, and Willis, and Perolval, and
Emerson, and Everett, who were of that
early literature, transmitted no ability OF
that kind. Lyman Beecher, who was a
didactic and rugged preacher, unques-
tionably bequeathed talents to his chill
dren, and President Dwight, of Yale, is
the grandson of former President of the
college, and a man very like his grand
father in scholarly ability and delight
full sense of humor and ability to CRAFTY
that sense in others. Oliver Wendell
Holmes son is grave Judge in Mas
sachusetts, with legal mind and
no suggestion of the father in him. Gen.
Francis A. Walker unquestonably shows
heredity in his ability as an economist,
for his father, Amasa Walker, was pro-
life and thoughtful writer on economic
subjects. The late Prof. Hadley, OF
Yale, was a man Of great and varied
powers OF mind, of whom it was said that
he could have written his Greek gram
mar in Latin while he was instructing q
class in advanced mathematics His son,
Arthur Hadley, IS beginning TO win some
prominence as a writer on the railway
aud labor problems, and is at the head OF
the Connecticut Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics. Joe Jefferson is one Of a family
gifted with great talent for the
stage, but his sons seem to inherit little
of 1t. Tom Jefferson has acted in
minor parts, but is now engaged in the
management of a dramatic company with
his brother Charles, who is no actor at
all, but very good business man. Mr..
Howells is said to have a daughter who
reveals some literary promise, but his
sons bent is eminently practical, and he
is preparing for a career as q scientific
man, The late Lieut.. Derby, better known
as John Ph9nix, was not a man OF spe-
cial promise in the army, but his genius
for humorous writing, which was quaint,
original and spontaneous, was widely
recognized. He has left son, another
Lieut.. Derby, ~ whom the conditions are
reversed. for the young man is OF great
Lao tN1fIt IN ~ or o.