The reply preference in Mail will not include the original text.

In my preferences Composing > Responding I cannot select "quote the text of the origninal."

I am up to date on my software upgrades. This has been going on for a long time. I hoped it would correct itself when I upgraded to 10.6.8 (the end of the line for this machine.)

Do I need to delete my preferences, and if so, where are they?