Excerpt from The Lure of the Antique<br><br>The presence of these Old relics of bygone days, reminders of the intimate home life of our fore fathers, creates for most of us a sort of atmosphere that can be more easily recognized than described. It is easier for us to picture the pouring of candles into their molds than the gathering of the minute men at Concord. The crackling of the back-log on the old fire-dogs is clearer in our ears than the ring ing words of Samuel Adams. And to associate, day by day, with the household belongings of a past generation is a heart-warming and a heart-softening thing. Their influence is subtle, but it makes for joy and a chastened pride. It is good for us to set up our tabernacle among them.<br><br>Malign us as you will, we are a home-loving people, and the things of the home we understand. Our patriotism centers itself about our homes, and our reverence for the past around the hearthstones of our forebears.<br><br>Also we are for the most part descended from Europeans, and there is born within us a respect for antiquity. We have no Rhenish castles here; no Roman roads undulate over our hilltops. The oldest we have is just coming of age, but we are glad of that, and do our homage.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>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.