Excerpt from The Bay-Path: A Tale of New England Colonial Life For Whatever of plot there may be in the fol lowing tale, history must, in a general way, be held responsible. The names, localities, char acters, and leading incidents are historical. The tale is, in reality, a section or segment of history, withdrawn from its location and relations, and endowed with a life and spirit which aim to be consistent and harmonious with the body of facts with which they are brought into association. Had the writer felt at liberty to develop his plot entirely at his will, or, rather, had he not felt that history was a more reliable, guide to the ends sought to be attained than imagination, some portions of the work, which may not be deemed artistic, would have been differently con structed. 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.