No. 4.] ADDEESS OF JOHN G. AVERY. 11 



his lair, while the robin chants music to the beat of the hay 

 tedder. Many of our farm-houses and the surrounding- 

 grounds are examples of neatness, taste and thrift. Here you 

 will hnd plants and flowering shrul)s in profusion, wafting* 

 their sweet fragrance into the open window where the good 

 housewife is preparing the midday meal, and singing sweet 

 lullabys to tlie sleeping infant in the cradle, the joy and 

 hope of the household. 



To-day we have the largest manufactory of footwear in the 

 world, with five others of no small pretensions. Their 

 united output amounts to three and one half millions of dol- 

 lars per annum. In 1860 the ])oot product amounted to 

 $682,000. We have four woollen mills that average 80,000 

 yards of cashmere per month, and the wire mills make four 

 tons of wire per day. 



Our schools are second to none in this Commonwealth. 

 We have six brick school buildings of four rooms each, two 

 wooden structures of two rooms each and eight of one room 

 each. A modern high-school building was built in 1888, at 

 a cost of about $50,000, and presented to the town by the 

 late David Prouty. There are at the present time about 

 1,900 registered pupils attending school, besides an average 

 attendance of 135 pupils at a night school, all under the 

 charge of an efficient superintendent and an able corps of 

 teachers, while the school connnittee assumes a ofeneral over- 

 sight. A free public li])rary and readmg-room, costing 

 $30,000, was a gift to the town ])y our esteemed citizen, 

 Mr. Richard Sugden. It contains 10,000 volumes of stand- 

 ard literature. Our public park, containing al)out fourteen 

 acres, laid out in drives and walks, and bordering on a lake 

 of pure water, is a favorite resort during the summer months 

 for our citizens and those of neighboring towns. This park 

 was a gift to the town by Luther Hill, Esq. The Spencer 

 Farmers' and Mechanics' Association received from Nathaniel 

 Myrick, Esq., substantial aid when it was first formed, giving* 

 an impetus to the enterprise which has lirought it to its now 

 prosperous condition ; and the park, containing about thirty 

 acres, where the association holds its annual fair, bears his 

 name, Nathaniel Myrick Park. 



The subject of better roads has been discussed by your 



