Excerpt from Social Life in Old New England Vital importance, if we would truly understand the ideals behind American civilization. But as our desire grows to know more and more about early manners and customs in this country, means Of acquiring that knowledge are constantly diminishing. Only in very large and wealthy libraries can now be found files of Colonial newspapers than which no source Of information is more valuable. And only here and there, in the crowded life Of our time, is to be met the man or the woman having the temperament, the sympathy, and the pa tience necessary to research which will ex tract material Of real value from these and other sources. Three such, Mrs. Harriette M. Forbes Of Worcester, Mrs. Charles Knowles Bolton Of Brookline, and Mrs. James de Forest Shelton Of Derby, Connecticut, have been most kind in placing at my disposal the results Of much devout digging in their several fields of scholarship, and to them, as to Mr. Clifton Johnson, who procured for me several rare illustrations of Old-time school-books, I am very glad here to acknowledge my deep in debtedness. TO the inspiration Of Alice Morse Earle's books on Old New England; to the invaluable files of the New England Magazine; to the Houghton Mitflin Company; to G. P. Put nam's Sons; Charles Scribner's Sons; the W. B. Clarke Company of Boston; and to the editors of mcclure's Magazine, I likewise give my thanks for quotation privileges more specif ically acknowledged in the text of the book. Librarians not a few have greatly helped me, also, notably those in charge of the several New England colleges, at the American Anti quarian Society in Worcester, at the Boston Athenaeum, and at the Boston Public Library. If I have succeeded in making the social life of old New England a real thing to my readers, it is because of the generous cooperation which has thus been extended to me. One of the very nicest things about writing a book like this is the deepened belief which is gained in the in nate kindliness and helpfulness of people every where. If we of to-day are no longer neighbors in the old New England sense of the word, we are more than ever neighbors in the true sense; and no one knows this better than the author, who must constantly send letters to strangers and ask favors of everybody. It is my sincere hope that the scores of people upon whose time I have thus trespassed will feel that it has all been worth while, in that we have together been able to humanize for future generations New Englanders of a vanished day. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.