Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 8.djvu/236

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��Milford Sprifigs.

��large ; and each commands a delightful view, there being no out-buildings to spoil the i)rosi)ect. They are finished in hard wood, and tastefully carpeted ; and, if we recollect, nearly every room in the house has a closet, while no drain or waste-pipe contaminates the air. P^lectric bells, gas, bath-rooms, etc., are all in their places.

" The grounds require more than a few words. One must imagine a clear- ing at the summit of a hill, amid chest- nuts and pines, and apple-orchards with their varied greens, a horizon hill-girt, and seventy miles of New-Hampshire landscape between.

"When the work is completed, the grounds will be laid out in pleasant walks up-hill and down-hill, by dainty spring-houses, through fragrant pine- groves, with seats and swings, and en- ticing hammock lodges ; while a small but pretty grass-edged pond will break the view on one side of the house. From the piazza the view is delightful : just now the chestnut-trees are in bloom, and half a dozen varieties of singing- birds live among the branches of those near the house, and give daily concerts ; a red bird, whose name I do not know, swung and coquetted in the apple-tree on the day of our visit, and trilled out a new song in a style that out-Pattied Patti. The sunrise and moonrise views are unrivalled, and seen from the cupola which crowns the house, and from which the dim line of the White Moun- tain ranges can be seen, with countless little villages like toy towns on the hill- sides between, is something to remem- ber always. Vernon, ]\Iilford, Hancock, Amherst, Goffstown and its twin moun- tains, Keene, and a score of other towns, make a bird's-eye view of which one does not tire soon, as the atmos- pheric changes pass over it. A cool

��breeze, too, is a permanent dweller on the hill where the house stands.

"The service of the hotel is sans reproche. Mr. Charles A. Gleason, now steward at the Brunswick, and for three years manager of the Memphremagog House, Newport, Vt., manages it. His head-waiter is from the Brunswick, and knows his business thoroughly, and his head cook ditto.

" So the primitive springs are to be fashionable ; and, where country beaux and belles were wont to saunter, the rustle of elegance is to be heard. Bright lights will shine (not being elec- tric, however, shine not too brightly) where starlight and moonlight have reigned supreme ; yet the first-class hotel will civilize but a small radius, and give to its guests farm-life, so far as out- of-door freedom, dearth of excitement, pure air, rural location, go, with a satis- fying addition of surroundings on a par with home in appointments and com- fort.

" On the grounds is a bottling-house, in which is located the engine, which furnishes also forcing-power and steam- heat for the house. Here the already famous Ponemah water, one of the sweetest table-waters in vogue, is bottled, and carted to Amherst station, then shipped to New England agents for its sale. If you want health, comfort, quiet, a good bed and a good table, and a glance at Nature's sweetest face. Hotel Ponemah offers you all."

The site is on the side-hill, near the summit, of Mount Pisgah, six hundred feet above the ocean, and several hun- dred yards up the hill from the old Milford Springs House. A little way in front of the hotel winds the county- road leading over the hill to the south- west, to Hillis and the Massachusetts line. Across the road is an unfenced

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