Correspondents and Critics. 307 



offensive words, and righteously merit the 

 occasional castigation they receive. Perhaps, 

 though, all things considered, such attacks 

 should not be considered offensive. I believe 

 the amateur is wise in paying no attention to 

 them. They reflect only upon those who make 

 them, and the world gives little heed to such 

 matters. The people ask for facts, not theories, 

 when it is a question of natural history. A 

 notable instance of this is in the recent off-hand 

 dictum of a world-renowned archaeologist who 

 has never seen the valley of the Delaware unless 

 from a car-window, but, accepting the assertions 

 of an incompetent and reckless theorist, says 

 that we have no evidence of man's antiquity 

 hereabouts. I, who have lived here all my life, 

 say that we have. The world is free to choose 

 between us. It is just such instances as these 

 that confuse the mind of the general public and 

 sometimes dishearten amateurs, who have en- 

 thusiastically entered upon the investigation of 

 what Nature has done, and is doing, in their 

 own neighborhoods. 



Not a syllable of comment on the savants of 

 the day. There are many such, and never one 



