Excerpt from The Symmes Memorial: A Biographical Sketch of Rev. Zechariah Symmes, Minister of Charlestown, 1634-1671 The Writer is not solicitous to enter on a labored defence of the propriety and value of a work such as is here attempted. If some persons - existing only in the present, regardless of every thing which does not minister to the wants of the passing hour, and as careless about the past as they are about the future can look with a stolid indifference on such inquiries as are here answered, there are many others who would not. Willingly let the honored names of worthy ancestors perish in oblivion. It is most certain that those who are thus willing to forget the past, will not themselves perform anything worthy of remembrance. Such persons betray, too plainly, a lack of sound moral sentiment, a stupid indifference to high and noble ends, which will not suffer them to deserve well of future generations. 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.