Excerpt from Rupert, Vt: Historical and Descriptive, 1761-1898 It is expected that a book will have a preface; not that people usually care to read it, but because it is customary. If I consulted my own feelings, simply, none would be written. For years I had contemplated writing a history of my native town, but had carefully concealed the intention. By a curious coincidence, I was approached by one and another of our citizens and urged to do that which I so long had in mind. And thus the work was begun; begun with much more of hope and confidence than I have at the closing. I intended to write a book so perfect and complete that it would be an authority in all matters relating to our history, but I have come short of this. Something I have done, and could those who will read this book but know the difficulties under which it was written, the wonder would be that so much had been produced. This is not the time or place to narrate my trials, and they are alluded to only as an explanation as to why I came short of what was intended. The only pleasant feature of the work (aside from the acquisition of knowledge, which is always a pleasure), has been the willingness of our towns-people to aid me by imparting such information as they possessed relating to our history. For this I thank them, one and all. 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.