Love of one's own town

is one of the dominant motives underlying good citizenship. The origin, growth, and development of a typical New England town like Hadley, Ma., covering two centuries and a half, is a theme on which any thoughtful person may profitably dwell.

In these busy days, however, few people have the time necessary to read a ponderous volume. For the many rather than the few this little book has been written. But this book is for everybody else also, that they may be imbued with the spirit of those mighty souls, which remains still potent enough to make Americans out of Europeans, even as in 1776 it made patriots and freemen out of the subjects of King George.