82 THE KALLIKAK FAMILY 



result that nearly two hundred persons were added to 

 Deborah's family chart. 



This proved, however, only the beginning of the 

 study that has been made of the family in the vicinity 



of B . Numerous visits to many homes, always 



from the center of the genial couple's house, have made 

 the field worker such a well-known figure among these 

 people, that they long ago forgot what little surprise 

 they may have felt at her first visit. "You're one of 

 the family ?" was frequently asked her at the begin- 

 ning. "No, not really, only as I know so many of 

 your cousins and aunts and uncles, I thought, since I 



was in B , I would like to know you." This usually 



sufficed, but if it did not, the field worker was able so to 

 inundate the questioner with information about his 

 own relatives, that before she was through, he had for- 

 gotten that anything remained unanswered. The re- 

 lation once established, no further explanation was 

 necessary. She was able to go in and out among them, 

 study their mentality, awake their reminiscences, until 

 finally the whole story was told. 



Besides members of the family, numerous old people 

 were here and there discovered who were able to add 

 materially to the information otherwise obtained. 

 One shrewd old farmer who was found tottering in from 



