CHAPTER X 



BLUE BLOOD 



Heredity is the corner-stone of all the aristocracies 

 of the world, but various influences have combined 

 to nullify the claims of any families or classes now 

 existing to what may be called purity of stock. 

 Whatever their pretensions may be, modern aris- 

 tocracies freely admit plebeian blood on the female 

 side. And it is well for them that they do, for we 

 have every reason to believe that privileged classes 

 existing upon any other basis are doomed to decay 

 and extinction. History abounds in examples of the 

 pernicious effects of privilege, extending from the 

 Citizenship of Athens and the Patrician Order of 

 Rome to the curious corporation of Free Burgesses 

 of Newcastle mentioned by Doubleday. Privilege 

 means exclusiveness, and exclusiveness means deteri- 

 oration. The more exclusive a class becomes — that is 



