It is wisely ordered by Nature that genius, and a high order of intellect, shall not, as a general rule, descend to children. If mankind could impart to offspring an intellectual superiority, we should probably have too many geniuses in the world, and too few workers. The animal propensities, the peculiar disposition, the various passions, the form, features, &c.—these, and other peculiarities of parents are always transmitted to their children; but that lofty, soul-inspiring sentimentality which enlarges the reasoning faculties and bestows mental distinction upon its recipients, seems to be a peculiar gift from the Deity itself.

Some physiologists assert that Nature does not endow the children of distinguished men so bountifully as those of less exalted capacities, and assign as a reason that great minds have their weaknesses and their follies, which are apt to show themselves in a marked manner at the moment they are begetting their children. I do not endorse this doctrine, but suspect that men are beholden rather to their mothers than to their paternal parents for whatever intellectual gifts God, in his wisdom, has bestowed upon them. A healthy, well developed, and naturally intelligent woman will have smart and intellectual children, even though her husband may be a ninny. If you want intelligent children, then, look you out a wife who has a soul above street yarn and love stories. But should you select the best woman from a thousand, you will scarcely find in her a wife capable of breeding you a very moderate genius. It is thought by some people that the state of the intellect at the moment of the nuptial act marks the mind of the child. I do not believe this; for if a crop of geniuses could be raised by minds specially tutored for the occasion, who doubts but that the world would be full of them?

In looking for a mother for his children, a man should seek a woman of different temperament from himself. If he is lymphatic and good natured, let him find a wife who is nervous and irritable; and vice versa. If he be of a sandy complexion, or fair-haired, with blue eyes, let him choose one of those luscious brunettes, with flashing black eyes, and a resolution as firm as a rock. On the contrary, if he be dark complexioned, impatient and passionate, let him sacrifice and enslave a mild and blue-eyed blonde of the cold North. Choose you always a woman of intellect, and if with that, you have one of a temperament and complexion opposite to your own, your children will be distinguished for something—they will not live a life of drudgery and dependence—and they may be geniuses. The selection of a conjugal partner is one of the most important events of life, in either man or woman. Too little attention is generally paid to it.