Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Early Records of the Town of Dedham, Massachusetts, 1659-1673, Vol. 4: A Complete Transcript of the Town Meeting and Selectmen's Records Contained in Book Three of the General Records of the Town, Together With an Appendix Containing Transcripts From the Massachusetts Archives, and From the General Court Records 1635-1673, A
This volume - the fourth of the Dedham series, and the second of the general town records - covers about fifteen years, between 1658 and 1673, a period of great development, both in the town and in the colony. It shows how an independent, homogeneous, self-respecting community could manage its own affairs upon the good old New England plan, which has never been surpassed. The town meeting, the town officers, and back of both, the controlling town sentiment constituted a triple power which ruled supreme With all the necessary sanctions of law and safeguards of liberty.
Such records, of course, do not belong to the class of literature common ly called popular. They are far removed from the range of fiction or poetry or tradition. But one who makes himself familiar with these annals will find vastly more than mere hard and dry facts. He will read between the lines, and by allowing his imagination to brood over them, he will find here ele ments of civics, economics, education, religion, domestic and social life, and even the touches of romance. In fact, the story of such a town is intensely dramatic, especially in the age of the founders. There are acts, and scenes, and Dramatic personae, and exhibitions of human passion and pride, both tragic and comic. Here are not only examples of selfishness, but of the noblest generosity and sacrifice, of personal magnanimity and courage, of steadfast loyalty and patriotism. These qualities may not appear at first sight as one opens the book. The quaint spelling disguises the narrative and diverts the attention; but to the student this peculiarity is really a charm in itself, and it belongs to all the original literature of that period in England as well as in this country.
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