[kunamola]

Some of my best childhood memories of Melvin Village and our home in Merrymount center around the Hansel and Gretel Store. It was one of the few places open on a Sunday when I was small. My mother can remember that the Wright's lived in the basement the first year and then built the house on top. Kit Wright always remembered my name from year to year and had a warm welcome each time children entered the building. I remember the music box and the smell of balsam. Every time I smell balsam it brings me right back into the Hansel and Gretel Shop. When I was very young you fished off a bridge, outside, by the little store. It was hard to catch a fish and I remember small animals, lambs and such being in a pen on the other side of the bridge. It wasn't long before the store grew and fishing went inside. Kit Wright was very creative and became a quilter also. I believe some of her work is in the town museum across from the post office. She has been in a nursing home in Wolfeboro for many years now. If I was wealthy and could buy back my childhood I would buy the Hansel and Gretel shop.