a pleasant June
day by steamboat, when the tide is in, there is spread out a lovely
view. As the boat comes near the landing-place, islands and green hills,
beautiful trees and fields, form a complete circle around him. The
picture is one he will not forget. This pleasant impression will grow
stronger if he drives by almost any of the streets leading from the
harbor, for about five miles, to the southern limit of the town. Should
he take the main street he will be charmed by the wealth of stately elms
and other shade-trees, which in many places form a complete arch over
his head, and by the neat dwellings, for the most part of modest
pretensions, some old and some new, almost every one with well-kept
grounds all betokening thrift and suggesting a well-to-do community.
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. Its valuation in 1884 was $3,245,661, and
the number of dwelling-houses was 1,044. Its original limits included
the present town of Cohasset, which was set off and incorporated April
26, 1770. Until March 26, 1793, Hingham was a part of Suffolk county,
when it was annexed to the County of Norfolk, and June 20, 1793, it
again became a part of the County of Suffolk. June 18, 1803, it was
annexed to the Co