The public generally, and especially those related to the old town of Bridgewater are under real obligations to Mr. Edward Alden for having taken the pains and assumed the risk of publishing this re-print, as well as for the insertion of the illustrations above referred to.   There can be no doubt that his thoughtful endeavor thus to meet the wishes of his former townsmen and to extend the usefulness of the book will be gratefully appreciated.

   It has been customary in this country to depreciate pride of ancestry.   Our fathers have rightly taught us to estimate a man by what he is and not by what his grandfather was, but, after all there are lessons to be learned, from the lives of men who have preceeded us, which convey wisdom as well as inspiration.   It would be difficult to find, among the pedigrees of European nobility and royalty, a line reaching through seven or eight generations, so unsullied in its record of moral purity and manly integrity, — the only true patents of nobility — as is that which connects us with our Pilgrim Ancestors.   Let us cherish their memory and emulate their virtues.

EDWARD CUSHING MITCHELL,     

   LELAND UNIVERSITY, NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 6th, 1897.