of clanship, or, in other words, they are
convinced that it is an honor to be a Neal, and many of the last
generation have given proof positive that their belief is a fact. The
present generation we have little knowledge of, and do not know whether
they fulfill the promise of the name.

Neal has done good service to the Democracy of our country in many ways,
besides being one of the first and bravest champions of woman's rights.
He has labored for our literature with an ability commensurate with his
zeal, and he has drawn many an unfledged genius from the nest,
encouraged him to try his wings, and magnetized him into
self-dependence. A bold heavenward flight has often been the
consequence. A prophecy of Neal's that an idea or a man would succeed,
has seldom failed of fulfillment. We can not say this of the many
aspiring magazines and periodicals that have solicited the charity of
his name. We recollect, when brass buttons were universally worn on
men's coats, a wag undertook to prove that they were very unhealthy,
from the fact that more than half the persons who wore them suffered
from chronic or acute disease, and died before they had reached a
canonical age. According to this mode of generalization, Neal could be
convicted of causing the premature death of nine tenths of the defunct
periodicals in this country--probably no great sin, if it really lay at
his door.

In a brief outline sketch, such as we have chosen to produce, our
readers will perceive that only slight justice can be done to a man in
the manifold relations to men and things which contribute to form the
character.

John Neal's personal appearance is a credit to the country. He is tall,
with a broad chest, and a most imposing presence. One of the finest
sights we ever saw, was Neal standing with his arms folded before a fine
picture. His devotion to physical exercise, and his personal example to
his family in the practice of it--training his wife and children to take
the sparring-gloves and cross the foils with him in those graceful
attitudes which he could perfectly teach, because they were fully
developed in himself--all this has inevitably contributed to the health
and beauty of his beautiful family.

Few men have had so many right ideas of the art or science of living as
John Neal, and fewer still have acted upon them so faithfully. When we
last saw him, some ten years since--when he had lived more than half a
century--his eye had lost none of i