THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. XI 



historian happy. The town has cordially fathered our enterprise from 

 the day we asl<ed a Committee on Town History to be appointed until 

 now, when that Committee has drawn twelve hundred dollars from the 

 treasury to pay for printing this volume. Since the author began his 

 series of interviews with people whose memories were filled with help- 

 ful information, many of them have been taken from this life. The 

 latest loss was the venerable Chairman of our Committee, Rev. Joseph 

 Osgood, D.D., whose interest in this narrative had been most cordially 

 shown as the successive chapters, until nearly the last, were read in 

 his presence. It is a source of gratification to those who loved him 

 that his long career of usefulness devoted to the moral and intellectual 

 well-being of the town was finished in so appropriate a service as his 

 work for the town's history. The other members of the Committee 

 have aided very much by criticism and by suggestion, and sjDCcial men- 

 tion should be made of the fiiithful service of the Secretary, Dr. Oliver 

 H. Howe. 



It would be impossible to name all the persons who have helped the 

 author generously in his search for facts ; indeed any mention of them 

 would be unfair to the larger number who have been more than ready 

 to help in the same way if called upon. The days of tramping over 

 pastures and through the woods with his friends, the author can never 

 forget. The bits of information given to him by men from their own 

 observations upon nature have been a constant surprise. If the facts 

 noted down in these pages are of a kind that interest the author more 

 than the reader, it is because of his mental limits that have kept him 

 to the things which appeal to his own peculiar nature. Several themes, 

 however, as the customs of dress, of language, of amusement, of work, 

 and the like, which appeal to the author, have been neglected because 

 so fev*r secure facts were obtainable in these lines. Many anecdotes of 

 individuals like those of Deacon Isaiah Litchfield and of Dr. Ezekiel 

 Pratt would have made interesting reading, but an appropriate place 

 for them could not be found in this brief narrative. It would be a 

 permanent source of enjoyment and information if a series of these 

 anecdotes could be committed to paper before they are forgotten. 



In asking his townspeople to be considerate where he has been 

 remiss, the author relies upon a kindness which he has found to be 

 imbedded in the hearts of these people, and he hereby acknowledges 

 his debt of gratitude to all. If it can be done wUhout making a dis- 

 tinction that is invidious, he desires to acknowledge his special obli- 

 gation to the church of which he has the honor to be pastor for any 

 good work which he may have accomplished in the past seven years; 

 for they trusted him when a stranger, and they have supported him 

 with unstinted heart and hand through every work he has undertaken. 



