credit--sapped the fountain of morality and tarnished the escutcheons of
thousands of families."

Hereupon there came a buzzing around my ears. Divers good sons of
Connecticut winced under the soft impeachment of having a bundling
ancestry, and intimated that my sketch of society in the olden times was
somewhat overdrawn. In 1861, an esteemed antiquarian friend in
Connecticut wrote me as follows: "Some of your friends feel that, in
your _History of Windsor_, you showed too much inclination to malign, or
at least ridicule, Connecticut institutions, though I think none of them
accuse you of malice in the matter, and they fear that this subject of
bundling cannot be ventilated without endangering the fair fame of old
Connecticut."

Upon that hint I speak. Although born in the city of New York, I am the
son of Connecticut parents, and proud to trace my descent through six
generations of honest, hard-working, God-fearing Connecticut yeomanry.
By the mere accident of birth I cannot feel myself absolved from that
allegiance to the Wooden Nutmeg State, which is imposed upon me by the
ties of ancestry, of relationship, of youthful associations, and last,
not least, by the deep interest which I have taken in the history of one
of its eldest-born towns. I am, indeed, at this day, to all intents and
purposes, as wholly and truly a Connecticut man as if born within her
borders; and as proud of her past, as hopeful of her future, and as
jealous of her reputation as any one could desire. I trust, therefore,
that I may be allowed to disclaim any "inclination to malign, or at
least ridicule Connecticut institutions," a task which, in my case,
would savor of ingratitude, and which I should consider unworthy of my
humble pen.