loo THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



of great ability ; in fact, a specialist in knowledge and 

 experience of almost any kind could be found on its 

 benches. 



It is unfortunate for the purposes of this book that 

 records of specific ability, continuing in a family 

 throughout many centuries, are extant for one sub- 

 division of the nation only, since the inheritance of 

 specialized ability of other kinds is found in all classes 

 of the community. To those familiar with the manage- 

 ment of estates or the control of manufacturing enter- 

 prises, in which a special sort of skill is required, 

 many instances will occur where clear evidence can be 

 obtained that father and son have succeeded each 

 other in one particular department for several genera- 

 tions. There is on record in Devon a family whose 

 members are said to have served one particular village 

 as blacksmiths since the reign of Elizabeth. The 

 office of shepherd is often found to be hereditary ; the 

 post of woodman descends occasionally in a family 

 almost as of right. It is in just such work, involving 

 an instinctive capacity for handling animals and divining 

 their needs, or an intimate acquaintance with forest lore 

 and a sensitiveness to conditions of climate and soil, 

 that this kind of hereditary ability is most likely to 

 become manifest. In such cases it is fortified by 

 knowledge which has become traditional, and by 

 environment which has provided an ideal surround- 

 ing for the development of latent aptitudes and the 

 increase of the store of woodman's or shepherd's 

 craft. For any one to whom the chance occurs, the 

 piecing together of such family pedigrees would be most 

 illuminating, and would probably throw new light on 



