FACTS ABOUT THE KALLIKAK FAMILY 83 



the field proved to be of especial service in determining 

 the mental status of Martin Kallikak Jr. In introduc- 

 ing herself, the field worker had spoken of her interest 

 in Revolutionary times and of having come to him be- 

 cause she had been told that he was well informed as 

 to the history of the locality. "Yes," he said, with 

 excusable pride, as he led the way to the kitchen steps 

 descending into the garden, "not much has happened 

 in this place for the last seventy years in which I have 

 not taken an active part. Do you see that tree there ?" 

 and he pointed to a fine maple that threw its luxuriant 

 shade over the path that led to the barn. "The day my 

 wife and I came here sixty years ago, we planted that 

 tree. It was a little sapling then, and see what it has 

 become!" After much more talk she cautiously put 

 the question, "Do you remember an old man, Martin 

 Kallikak, who lived on the mountain edge yonder ?" 

 "Do I?" he answered. "Well, I guess! Nobody'd 

 forget him. Simple," he went on; "not quite right 

 here," tapping his head, "but inoffensive and kind. 

 All the family was that. Old Moll, simple as she was, 

 would do anything for a neighbor. She finally died 

 burned to death in the chimney corner. She had come 

 in drunk and sat down there. Whether she fell over 

 in a fit or her clothes caught fire, nobody knows. She 



