Nor need he confine himself to the main street. Several of the thickly
settled villages spread out into equally attractive side streets. Here
and there a church, a school-house, or a public building adds to the
general tidy look of the place. Numerous pleasant wood roads, with a few
fresh water ponds and streams, make up a variety of scenery which is
certainly equal to any New England town.
[Illustration: THE "OLD MEETING HOUSE."]
"Do you have any poor here?" was once asked by a visitor. "I see no
evidence of anything but plenty, and yet you do not seem to have any
specially leading industries. Whence comes this prosperity?" Whence,
indeed? The history of the settlement and growth of Hingham differs
little from many another town in eastern Massachusetts. Founded by the
Puritans, it is the same story of hardship, patient, persistent toil,
prudent economy, encouragement of education and morality, which has been
told over and over again, and which has demonstrated the sure foundation
upon which true civilization rests.
Hingham lies on the south shore of Massachusetts Bay, on the line of the
Old Colony Railroad, 17 miles from Boston by railroad and about 13 by
water. Its area is a little less than 13,000 square acres, and its
population in 1880 was 4,485.
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