The bill now before the Legislature in Dover prohibiting the manufacture or sale of cigarettes, cigarette paper, or anything connected with the abominable stuff in this State or on any trains passing through the State, should become a law. If there is anything more disgusting than to see a little boy passing along the street smoking one of these abominable things – unless it be, possibly, a drunken man – we have never seen it, read of it, nor heard of it. Nor is the practice confined to the boys alone; many of the girls are equally guilty, and the men are more to blame than either of the above mentioned classes.

The question is often asked why “Mr. So and So takes intoxicants. He ought to know better?” And so he ought. But all men are not sensible: and the cigarette fiend is amongst the number. The smell of the thing is nauseating, and men who keep places of business are getting tired of having their offices impregnated with the odor of cigarette smoke. It is quite different from that of a cigar; and yet we have seen young ladies on a promenade with men with cigarette between their lips. The inference is, they smoked too; but not on the street, only when tête-a-tête with boon companions.

Chief Moore, of the Weather Bureau, is reported to have said recently, “would rather have a man in my department who drinks a quart of whiskey every twenty-four hours, than a confirmed cigarette smoker. The former you can trust the latter you cannot.” Throughout the years that are gone, we have had legislation galore on whiskey; also on owl’s scalps and hawk’s bills; and now, as the animus of the General Assembly is to give us good laws in a limited time, let one of them be the passage of the “Cigarette Bill.”

On Sunday the Sunday School Juvenile Missionary Society of the M. E. Church, raised the largest amount of money during any month of the past year.

Saturday was a day of ice and sleet; and while it was difficult, and even dangerous, to walk the streets or sidewalks, the little boys and girls were seeing a jolly time skating on the same. We could not but admire one young miss going down Federal Street on a pair of skates, and we thought it strange that one so young could skate so well. Suddenly she struck something in the street and capsized, rolled over, and got up; never laughed, nor noticed any of the many who were looking at her, but started again and turned the corner of Federal Street into Union Street with a whiz and was soon lost to view. Sunday morning was also bad, as many of the fifty-six who attended church on that morning can testify. After the services were over, in going from the church, several persons received falls on the inclined sidewalk North; and one young lady after falling, slid into the gutter and on adown. It is written, “It is an ill wind that blows no one good, and with all the inconvenience and bad luck that the ice and sleet have made for pedestrians, it has made a harvest for the ice gatherers; and on Monday morning Lake Fanganzyki was invaded by all of the harvesters of Milton, and to the detriment and disgust of the skating boy, robbed of its four-inch coat of crystal ice.

At the recent Quarterly Conference, Mr. J. B. Welch was-elected Superintendent of the M. E. Sunday School; having been previously nominated for that position by the Sunday School Board. He succeeds himself.

Tile shirt factory, which has been closed for a week on account of sickness among its employees, reopened on Monday.

Mr. D. M. Conwell lost a good driving horse, from some unknown disease, a week ago.

Mrs. George Davidson, of this town, who has been visiting in Wilmington since Christmas, is reported to be dangerously ill with blood poisoning, superinduced by an abscess of the right hand.

Mrs. Comfort A. King, proprietress of the Baltimore House, Rehoboth City, is quite ill with pneumonia.

Mrs. J. H. Davidson, this town, is prostrated with rheumatism at Rehoboth City.

A few years since, I received a letter from a lady who was at that time occupying the editorial chair of a paper in this county, regarding some correspondence. In regard to a question from me, she replied in substance: We have quit subscribing to communications from correspondents such ridiculous names-as’. .‘«‘Tar Face Ike,” “Big Foot Jim,” “Big Hog,” etc., if they cannot give us a respectable name, let them use the digits. In regard to this reply, we think likewise; and the sooner the newspapers of the State quit publishing such absurd signatures to correspondents’ letters, the better will their papers be appreciated. The letters mostly come from amateurs and may be well written, but-when one looks at the signature well, that is enough.

Mrs. Sarah Walls died at her residence on Chestnut Street, on Tuesday night, of pneumonia, aged 75 years. The funeral services will be-held at her late residence on Friday afternoon, the Rev. Mr. Nelson, of the M. P. Church officiating, and sepulture will be made in the M . E. Cemetery. S. J. Wilson will conduct the funeral. Walls drew a pension of $12 per month, on account of her husband, who was a soldier of the Civil War.

Mr. Walter Beardsley and wife returned from Wilmington last week.

Mr. R. Davis Carey and sister, Miss Susie, of Philadelphia, and Dr. John and Mrs. Carey, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, are spending a few days in Milton.

Captain Charles Curris is at home with his family.

Mr. William Prettyman, of this town, who, accompanied by his wife, had been visiting in Philadelphia for several weeks, died at the residence of his son-in-law, Dr. W. Hearn, No. 3120 Walnut St., on Sunday. The remains, attended by his friends, were brought to this town on Tuesday and interred in the M. E. Cemetery. Rev. W. J. DuHadway conducting the funeral services. Mr. Prettyman was the owner of considerable property in and around Milton, and was at one time prominent in the ship-building industry of this town. Later he engaged in agricultural pursuits, and was a man of industry and activity up to the time of his death. He was a devout Christian, a faithful member of the M. E. Church of this town, and a trustee and a steward in that organization. Deceased was the father of the late Dr. George Prettyman, who died in 1890, and leaves to survive him a widow and four daughters, all of whom are settled in life: Mrs. Amanda Hearn, Mrs. Clara Wharton, Mrs. Sallie Lancaster, all of Philadelphia; and Mrs. Maggie Waples, of Milton.