New England Bygones ... New edition, enlarged ... Introduction by Gail Hamilton

Introduction

BY OAIL HAMILTON. LONDON : J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 16 Southampton St., Covent Garden. 188 3. Copyright, 1882,J>v_LJ3^ Lippincott & Co. to the memory of MY ELDEST DAUGHTER. MARION, WHO DEARLY LOVED NATURE, AND TO MY SON PHILIP, WHO WILL. I TRUST. IN THIS RESPECT RESEMBLE HER, THIS BOOK IS TENDERLY DEDICATED. This book is published with no thought of an audience. It tells of real scenes, and of people who were actors in them ; but the life it deals with is so very simple that it can hardly satisfy the exacting appetite of the reading public. It is permitted to go into print especially for three children, with hope that their curiosity and affections may be stimulated by it towards those ancestors from whom they have gotten much of the good which is in them, and that from it they may turn with desire and appreciation to sources of what have been .to me abundant and enduring riches.

Very delightful have been these reminiscences, taking me back to bygone days and much good company ; refraining delicious pictures which have kept their color through forty years. The children will read the book, because they will be partial.