It is a pleasure to write a few words of introduction to this
collection of stories dealing with the early history of
Connecticut, a state that can justly point with pride to a past
rich in features of life and government that have been influential
in the making of the nation. Yet the history of the colony was not
dramatic, for its people lived quiet lives, little disturbed by
quarrels among themselves or by serious difficulties with the world
outside. The land was never thickly settled; few foreigners came
into the colony; the towns were scattered rural communities largely
independent of each other; the inhabitants, belonging to much the
same class, were neither very rich nor very poor, their activities
were mainly agricultural, and their habits of thought and ways of
living were everywhere uniform throughout the colonial period. The
colony was in a measure isolated, not only from England and English
control, but also from the large colonial centers such as Boston
and New York, through which it communicated with the older civilization.
Connections with other colonies were neither frequent nor important.
Roads were poor, ferries dangerous, bridges few, and transportation
even from town to town was difficult and slow.
The importance of Connecticut lay in the men that it nurtured and
the forms of government that it established and preserved. Few
institutions from the Old World had root in its soil. In their
town meetings the people looked after local affairs; and matters
of larger import they managed by means of the general assembly to
which the towns sent representatives. They made, their own laws,
which they administered in their own courts. Their rules of
justice, though sometimes peculiar, were the same for all. They
did what they could to educate their children, to uphold good
morals, to help the poor, and to increase the prosperity of the
colony. Though they could not entirely prevent England from
interfering in their affairs, they succeeded in reducing her
interference to a minimum and were well content to be let alone.
Yet when called upon to furnish men in time of war, they did so
generously and, in the main, promptly. They became a vigorous,
strong, determined community, and though unprogressive in
agriculture, they were enterprising in trade and commerce, and in
the opening up of new opportunities prepared the way for the
later career of a progressive, highly organized manufacturing
state. To the larger colonial world they furnished men and ideas
that, during the period of revolution and constitution-making,
played prominent parts in shaping the future of the United States
of America.
If this little volume gives to the children of Connecticut a
truer appreciation of the early history of the state in which
they live, its purpose will have been achieved. A knowledge of
Connecticut's history, its men and the work they have accomplished,
should arouse the devotion and loyalty of every Connecticut
boy and girl to the state and its welfare; and that it shall
do so is the hope of those by whom this work has been projected
and under whose auspices it has been published.