66 AMERICAN MEN OF LETTERS [66 



a small town may be profoundly affected by the influence 

 of a single family of great ability, as was the case with 

 Litchfield. 



It is apparent, on the other hand, that cities which, before 

 1851, ranked high in men of letters, did possess superior 

 educational opportunities, as Ward maintained. If not 

 actually the seats of colleges, they were at any rate situated 

 conveniently near them. In addition, they possessed an 

 educational and literary tradition which must have been of 

 no mean importance in stimulating the development of men 

 of letters. 



Data are not at present available to show which of the 

 two factors mentioned above was of more importance in 

 the development of literati in cities. Facts are available, 

 however, which show the importance of education in the 

 development of men of letters in general. It must be ap- 

 parent to the most casual observer that the states which 

 ranked highest in literary productivity were those which 

 possessed greatest educational opportunities. Their literary 

 fecundity cannot be explained on the theory that they were 

 inhabited by persons of superior stock, for reasons to be 

 noted on a subsequent page. 1 Some environmental influence 

 has therefore to be credited with the differences observed, 

 and educational opportunities are the most conspicuous and 

 apparently significant factor in which the north and east dif- 

 fered from the south and west. 2 The influence of educa- 

 tion, the fourth of the environmental factors to be consid- 

 ered, will now be indicated in Tables XV to XVIII. 



1 Cf. infra, p. 89. 



2 This is not the place for a discussion of why certain sections of 

 the country furnished better educational opportunities than did others. 

 Greater economic surplus, the superior energy of the northern people 

 and the momentum of the Puritan educational tradition may, however, 

 be suggested as among the more important reasons why some sections 

 of the country were particularly liberal in their patronage of education. 



