Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/201

 ALONG THE SOUHEGAN. 175

MERCHANTS.

Among the leading merchants is D. C. Proctor, who occupies the depot store and is the largest dealer in his line. It would be useless to attempt an enu- meration of the commodities which he has on sale, for besides the tiers of flour, bags of grain and countless bales and boxes piled about the store, he has hun- dreds of articles necessary to human comfort and happiness stowed behind the counters. C. L. Tarbell also has a fine line of groceries and country produce, as has also Mr. George A. Carter. At the clothing house of G. W. Wallace may be found all the new goods of the season. Mr. F. P. Kent's cigars and choice brands of "the leaf " are luxuries which the consumer can always appreciate ; he has also a commodious livery stable stocked with fine animals. Mr. C. H. Ham, located in Freeman's block, is manufacturer and wholesale and retail dealer in boots and shoes. Mrs. S. M. Smith supplies the wants of the ladies with millinery work and fancy goods.

There are two dentists in Wilton, Dr. E. Wood and Dr. F. M. Pevey ; Dr. Wood also has an office in Milford. Numerous other firms and business houses are scattered throughout the town which always has a lively appearance. Wilton possesses a feature which is wanting in many New Hampshire towns of its size, viz : a first-class hotel, new, spacious, with large airy rooms and a cusine unrivalled in this section of the State, it proves a very haven of rest and refreshment to the traveller, and a delightful home for the summer tourist. The genial proprietors, Messrs. S. N. Center and Son, possess the happy faculty of making people comfortable, and the traveling public show their appreciation of their efforts by a generous patronage. The same gentlemen also carry on an extensive trade in groceries, boots, shoes and dry goods. They occupy in this branch two large stores adjoining the hotel. Their block is two hundred feet long, three stories in height, and situated in one of the most desirable quarters of the town.

MILFORD.

After leaving Wilton, the Souhegan pursues a torturous course through miles of fertile valleys and enjoys a well earned respite from toil, until it is once more called into requisition at Milford. Here the old story is told again amid the whirring of machinery and spiteful buzz of circular saws. The citizens of Milford expect their visitors to admire first the natural advantages and facilities of the village, and secondly, the taste displayed in the erection of the new town-house ; and certainly no one endowed with ordinary judgment and having an eye for symmetry, could dispute the claim or withhold his praise of the archi- tectural beauty of the edifice. Situated upon the corner of two streets and facing the common, it forms the central object in many of the best views of the town, and its usefulness in a variety of ways can hardly be over estimated. It contains a large and elegar-t hall ; the post-ofiice, and a number of fine stores. H. H. Barber and Adams and Wallace are located here, the former commanding an extensive trade in dry and fancy goods, carpets, and paper-hang- ing. Mr. Barber is one of the most enterprising merchants of the town, and a better appointed store is not to be found in the State. Adams and Wallace do a large grocery business and have won deserved popularity in that line. Mrs. J. A. Wheeler occupies a store just north of the town-house, in which she has a fair assortment of books, stationary, and chromos. Opposite is a wooden block containing a number of stores, including those of S. C. Coburn, dealer in boots and shoes, and H. F. Warren, in furnishing goods. Mr. Eben Batchelder, so long and favorably known, still continues a prosperous dry goods business,

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