The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-10-23

! ceptive powers, which give him the
/ breadth of comprehension and facility
for mastering detail that have always
/ distinguished him. His combativeness,
| Just back of the crown of his head, is
also remarkably developed. He was
youth of keen vision, fiery, inquisitive
fearless, with an ardent curiosity to
know and perfect memory to retain.
Even in childhood he mastered the whole
of the four Gospels, mot even except
ing" says he, 1.-The first eighteen verses
of the first chapter of Matthew, where
everybody begat everybody else"
General Butler himself is strong be-
lever in heredity, and contends that a
strong and virile ancestry is necessary
to produce a man of ability. He further
believes that ability depends largely
lupon the conditions under which ones
parents and forefathers lived 1t was
the struggle Of the Puritans amid utter
ly new conditions of life that developed
the iron resistance and splendid charac-
ter of their Revolutionary descendants.
Those whose fathers had fought in the
French and Indian wars were born to
fight the mother country. Then, too, he
argues, the intermingling of the blood
of temperamentally different people is
highly productive of ability. Scotch,
Irish, Welsh and English all came to-
gether in the colonial days and the prog
eny Of their children were much ADLER
than the immigrants themselves.
"There is another rule" says General
Butler, (which it is believed is we'll es-
tablished, that the first born inherits the
highest qualities of the capabilities of
the father and mother. The colonists of
New Hampshire (his birthplace) pos
sessed very largely these qualities which
| have ascrbed TO the intermingling of
distinct races. They were surrounded
in their everyday life with conditions of
the strongest excitement, because of the
incursion of savage foes Every faculty
of mind was on the alert, and every
function and sinew of the body was
called into constant and intense endeavor
to support life and defend themselves,
their wives and their children. Thus
they lived IN that state Of mental and
physical excitement which | have
claimed causes the transmission of the
best faculties of the parents in the full
est development of their offspring. They
dwelt in an atmosphere of continual
warfare for almost 200 years, no genera
ton escaping either an incursion of saw
ages at their doors or a general war
Does not history show that such condi- |
tions have in all times made braver,
stronger and more capable founders of /
states:'
His grandfather, Zephaniah Butler. !
fought with Wolfe on the plains of Que |
bee and in the Revolution. and his old /
powder horn, bearing date of 1853, now
hangs in Buffers library. General But .
ler's father. Captain John Butler. was 4
captain of dragons il the war of 1912 /
Captain Butlers wife was Charlotte Eli I
son, descended on her fathers side from /
those sturdy Scotch Presoyterians who /
early colonized New Hampshire, while /
her mother was Cilley, a noble example
Of a family OF natural aristOcrats. Gen /
eral Butler strongly resembled MS moth I.
er. She was left widow when Benja-
min, her Youngest. was q little child, and
she fought the battle Of life with the
same persisteucy aud vigor that has since :
marked her distinguished son. A few
years later young Butler was adopted
by his Grandmother Ellison. a stern and
invincio,e u,d lady. Of whom Butler
draws an Interesting picture. She was
then between eighty and ninety
''Noone was allowed 10 SIT down at the
table with her" says Butler. except
myself. and usually perched on the arm
of her chair The youthful Benjamin
became her especial favor1te, and she
used 70 instruct him in her doctrines and
beliefs, L was from her that he received
nis first and only really valuable lessons
n political economy. and what she
Taught him mav be summed up in the
phrases Of political democracyT and
personal aristocracv.7 Sae was very
proud Of her own family. the Cilleys.
and never wea-i - IN talking Of y.