292 



THE IREIGA TION A GM. 



a cousin of Henry W. Longfellow 

 has just issued a book." 



People do not seem to realize 

 that such a relationship confers no 

 honor upon the obscure relative, 

 while it may offend the distin- 

 guished one. Notwithstanding this 

 superficial view of things, taken by 

 so many, a man in America, is 

 really judged by what he is, and by 

 what he can do. This is shown by 

 the status of a man in a com- 

 munity. He is finally placed where 

 he belongs, no matter what his 

 connections may be- One of Thur- 

 low Weed's nephews came out to 

 California a few years ago, to check 

 on his distinguished uncle's reputa- 

 tion. He was a lazy vagabond, and 

 soon found himself herding sheep 

 at $25 a month. But when he ar- 

 rived, he was heralded as Thurlow 

 Weed's nephew, and after the 

 nephew was found out, people said, 

 "I don't believe he is Weed's 

 nephew," just as if the kinsmen of 

 great men were not like those of 

 ordinary men good, bad and in- 

 different. 



I have run up against Henry 

 Clay's, John Bright' s, Garfield's 

 nephew; Carlyle's, Lord Salisbury's, 

 G. A. Sala's brother: Talmage's 

 niece; Whittier's, Elaine's cousin, 

 and I have come to the conclusion 

 that the great are pre-eminent at 

 the intellectual expense of the rest 

 of the family. They appear to be 

 born wiih a part of the brains that 

 belonged to and should have been 

 divided up among the other mem- 

 bers. This is exemplified in the 

 vegetable kingdom. You will find 

 that a few large apples have 

 cheated the many smaller ones on 

 the tree, or that a potato or two 



have grown large at the expense of 

 twelve pigmies in the hill. 



This has been my experience 

 with most of the distant relatives 

 of well known men. Of course, 

 some of the former are worthy and 

 capable, and bear their misfortune 

 modestly; I am speaking of those 

 that advertise their relationship. 

 There are others, too, who being 

 related to some distinguished per- 

 son through father or mother, look 

 upon the kinship not as an honor, 

 but with loving consideration for 

 the parents' sake. Some years 

 ago, when a relative of mine was 

 preparing a genealogy of the 

 family, he wrote to me, asking my 

 co- operation, and in his letter, spoke 

 of the family's connection with the 

 Hawthornes. He said that my 

 father's family and that of Haw- 

 thorne had intermarried in Ipswich, 

 and were considerably mixed up. 



I was young at the time, and 

 thought well of the matter, forget- 

 ting or not knowing, that in early 

 times nearly everybody in Massa- 

 chusetts was related to some of his 

 neighbors. 



I forget what relationship was 

 said by the genealogist to exist, 

 but it has been enough to cause me 

 much annoyance. 



I handed the family historian's 

 letter to some friend, and thought 

 no more about it. But shortly af- 

 ter when a volume of mine came 

 out, there in the publisher's circu- 

 lar was the reflex credit, "A cousin 

 of Julian Hawthorne"; "A member 

 of the Hawthorne family." 



This has been rehashed several 

 times, and if I am to blame for it in 

 any way, I wish to atone. If there 

 is relationship, it is so distant, and 



