Peter Clenott

Excerpt from The Crooked Narrow Streets of the Town of Boston: 1630-1822 Huxley was once asked by one of his pupils how much he should take for granted that his audience knew of the subject of which he was to speak, and the answer was, "Nothing." In writing on historical subjects, however, it is a different story. Every tolerably well-read person knows the salient facts of American history. Reference books are always at hand when the details of any given place or period are wanted. Therefore, in speaking of the streets of Boston, it will only be necessary to go rapidly and briefly over the few facts of how Boston came to be Boston. Many able writers have written books about the town, and the ground has been well covered; but in the following pages it is the object not so much to repeat the history of the town as to try to interest the present generation in the city in which they live, by telling them just where their ancestors lived and the neighborhood in which they were brought up. The history of each street has also been considered. Perhaps also those who, living at a distance, remember with affection the home of their fathers may value this record of them, for our ancestors are responsible for our lives, and their influence is still felt by us. The books consulted have been chiefly the Colony records, and reprints of the early writers in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Prince Society. 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.