In  the  year  1873,  a  Philadelphian,  a  man  of  culture,  if
not  wellbred,  walked  into  the  sitting-room  of  a  New  Eng-
land lady  in  New  York,  and  found  her  busy  over  piles  of
books  and  family  papers,  time-stained  and  dropping  to
pieces,  making  out  the  necessary  statistics  for  the  class  his-
tory of  her  son,  under  one  of  the  requirements  in  the  ci^
cular  yearly  sent  to  the  students  at  Harvard  College,  which
requirement  reads  as  follows :

"  II. Pedigree  on  father's  side,  tracing  back  the  origin
of  your  family  as  far  as  possible,  mentioning  ancestors  in
any  way  distinguished — for  example)  if  engaged  in  the
Revolution — and  particularly  the  history  of  those  who
first  came  to  this  country Ancestral  line  of  moth-
er's family  in  briefer  form. What  ancestors  or  relatives
have  received  a  liberal  education?  When?  Where?"

The  Philadelphian,  drawing  a  chair  near  the  table,  picked
up  an  old  copy  of  armorial  bearings  with  casque  and  mant-
ling, such  as  are  often  seen  among  descendants  of  oar
earliest  settlers,  with  black,  worm-eaten  frames. "  Where
did  you  pick  up  this  lot  of  trash?"  he  asked. "That  spe-
cial item  of  this  ^  lot  of  trash '  came  from  the  garret  of  my
great-great-uncle  on  my  mother's  side,  who  was  a  member
of  the  body  which  framed  the  Constitution  of  Massachusetts
in  1780,"  was  the  axv^Nvet. "Some  travelling  tinker  or


OUR    BBST    SOCIETT. 488

peddler's  desceDdant  then/'  was  the  impertinent  reply,  "  as
all  New  England  &milies  are  descended  from  one  or  the
other/'

Th^  lady  felt  the  porcupine  quills  of  inherited  proclivi-
ties bristling  aggressively,  but  restraining  herself,  replied :
"Not  all  New  England  families,  Mr. Sunjon;"  and  pick-
ing up  a  page  of  the  material  she  was  preparing,  she  added :
"  History  gives  quite  another  account  of  my  first  paternal
ancestor  in  America. Howell,  writing  of  him  and  his
twenty-nine  contemporaneous  settlers,  says:  ^They  were
men  of  means  and  sterling  worth. They  were  the  Puritans
of  England. They  were  more  than  mere  colonists — they
were  the  exponents  of  a  new  civilization,  founded  on  the
idea  that  under  Grod  men  could  govern  themselves. Their
flight  from  England;  and  self-exile  on  these  shores,  was
the  strongest  protest  they  could  give  against  the  divine
right  of  kings  in  civil  and  religious  government.'  Which
is  in  error,  Mr. 