94 



them will recognize themselves, but the public must not 

 discover them. To insure this, the writer must refrain 

 from telling the very facts that would give the story its 

 most interesting touches. 



The second difficulty is that a description of the ac- 

 tivity of a normal family of respectability and useful- 

 ness is never as interesting as the bizarre experiences of 

 the abnormal. 



Hence the reader will find in the following sketches 

 only such facts as will show the thoroughly normal and 

 regular family life of the intelligent citizens of a com- 

 monwealth. 



In a certain village of New Jersey, lying picturesquely 

 on the crest of a hill, is a graveyard where Martin Kal- 

 likak Sr. and several of his immediate descendants lie 

 peacefully at rest. He had in his lifetime a great pas- 

 sion for the accumulation of land and left large farms 

 to most of his children. These farms lie in the vicinity 

 of the aforesaid village. Some of them are still in the 

 possession of his descendants, while others have passed 

 into strangers' hands. On the hill above this village 

 is a stucco farmhouse in a fine state of preservation. 

 It belonged to Amos lineal descendant of one of the 

 colonial governors of New Jersey and to Elizabeth, 

 daughter of Martin Kallikak Sr. The farm is, at pres- 



