February 14, 1908

After an absence of four weeks, we have returned to Milton, and will endeavor to square up “odds and ends” of matters that have occurred during our stay, and to briefly relate such happenings as are taking place, or are in perspective. About two weeks ago since a meeting was held in the M. E. Church for the election of trustees, and if reports be true, it was of a most disgraceful character for a religious body of men and women to be engaged in. However, it is over but the malevolence engendered remains and is likely to remain for a long time to come. We will say no more about it; merely remarking, that it is funny we cannot leave a town a few weeks without the members of our church getting into a brawl that would be considered unfit for the frequenter of the street.

O, thou visible spirit of spite
“If thou hast no name to be known by
Let us call thee devil.”[i]

The business of the town bailiff has become so unremunerative [sic] since the elimination of rum from the hotels, that John Robinson has resigned his position and gone into the meat business, at the famous stand, corner of Federal and Mulberry Streets. No successor to Mr. Robinson has been appointed nor do we need one.

Mr. Roberts, superintendent of the jetty being builded [sic] at the mouth of the Broadkiln has removed, with his wife, from Mrs. W. G. Fearing’s and taken rooms with Mayor Stephens and family on Walnut Street.

The snow that fell on the 23rd and 24th ult. blocked the road from Milton to Lavinia Camp Ground up to February 6th. No teams had passed up to that time, but the snow was hard and pedestrians could walk over it with ease.

Captain George E. Megee is having a dwelling erected on Walnut Street to rent.

The lime barge Rambo is being overhauled at Milton docks and will leave for the kilns about the first of March and will take a load of lime to the Chesapeake. Alfred LeKites will be the captain.

Two of the naphtha launches that ply on the Broadkiln have been hauled out on the dock to escape being frozen up on the ice.

It is hoped the merchants who sprinkle their pavements in front of their places of business, on cold mornings, will learn better. A blind man could tell the result if he were to slip and fall on one of them.

The extra meetings still continue at the M. E. Church.

The lake has been frozen over during the past week, and besides the fun the skaters have had, the ice harvesters have completed their work, and their ice houses are filled with good clear ice, Sunday morning is said to have been the coldest of the winter in Milton, The thermometer registered at 6° above zero.

Rev. R. T. Coursey preached two excellent sermons on Sunday.

John Smith has moved his refrigerator from the meat store on Federal and Mulberry Streets into one of the rooms of the Ponder Block, near the corner of Federal and Front, and, in competition with James Palmer, will continue the sale of meat.

The cold weather has stagnated all kinds of outdoor work. The prospect for spring work is very encouraging to the mechanical trade. Rumor has it that two or more scows will be built here for Philadelphia parties and one for an enterprising citizen of this town.

Schooner Marie Thomas is ice bound at the dock. She is unloading her cargo of railroad ties and will abandon her trip to Philadelphia for the present. What work there can be done on her here toward converting her into a steamer will be done before she is taken to Philadelphia for completion.

Mrs. C. L. McIlvane, President of the Women’s Auxiliary Society of the Diocese of Delaware, has been visiting the Rev. Martin Damer, and while here organized an Auxiliary and a junior one in the P. E. Church.

Alvan Fisher, of near Drawbridge, who is attending school in Milton, while skating on the lake, wen t too near where ice had been gotten; and his momentum being greater than his power of resistance, he went in. That’s all.

“Simp,” a colored graduate of the Delaware Workhouse is again paying his respects to Milton and he made be heard from later on.

George Wright, of Dover, has bought the goodwill and fixtures of John Magee’s barber shop on North Union Street and removed therein. Mr. Magee removed to Philadelphia, where he will make his future home.

The telephone poles and wires that were blown down during the recent storm have all been repaired in this locality.

On January 14, at the First Methodist Episcopal Parsonage, 110 North Beaver Street, Philadelphia, by the Rev. J. E. Bell, Arthur L. Welch, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Welch, of Milton, and Miss Ida S. Law, of York, Pa., were joined in wedlock.

For the past twenty-five years there has been, periodically, a movement to collect money for the purpose of buying instruments and organizing a cornet band. These movements have been successful at different times and the band has flourished for a season, and afterwards, from various causes, lapsed. Such a movement is now on.[ii]

Mrs. Clement Hart is recovering from a severe attack of gastritis.

Miss Annie L. Webb and Frank E. Carey, both of Broadkiln Hundred, were married on Wednesday evening, February 4th, at the home of the bride’s parents, by the Rev. G. R. McCready.

A part of the real estate of the late William H. Prettyman was sold at public sale in fornt of the Hart House on Saturday afternoon, February 1st. A dwelling house and lot on Federal Street was purchased by George Waples for $1,445. The 59 acre tract of land near the depot, opposite the Mason famr, was bought by Henry Draper. A tract near Springfield Cross Roads was bought by Frederic Walls for $1,246 and a 39 acre tract of timber, near Hollyville, was purchased by James H. Palmer for $2,200.

Miss Laura M. Conner fell on the ice on Monday and sprained her right wrist and bruised the right side of her face. She is alright now, except the scar.

Mrs. Mary Davis Goslee, one of Milton’s most estimable ladies, died at her home, corner Mill; and Chestnut Streets, on Friday, January 31st, of blood poison, aged 63 years, 11 months and 3 days. Funeral services were conducted at her late home by Rev. R. T. Coursey and sepulture made in the M. E. Cemetery by S. J. Wilson & Son. Mrs. Goslee was formerly Miss Mary D. Simpler. She was married to Samuel L. Goslee on January 1st, 1867 and had always, thereafter, resided in Milton. Mrs. Goslee was an earnest church worker all her life and after her marriage, became more particularly identified with the M. E. Church here. On organization of a choir in 1868, she became its leader and continued as such for many years. She had a strong melodious voice and was well fitted for the position she so long maintained. After the new M. E. Church was built, and the congregation moved therein, she became Superintendent of the Infant Room, a position, which owing to her qualities and attainments, she ably filled. The husband of the deceased died a few years ago, since which time she has lived more of a retired life than formerly. By her demise the church loses a consistent member and the community a superior woman whom it delighted to honor. The deceased leaves to survive her, one brother and two sisters: George Simpler, of Philadelphia, and Miss Emma Simpler and Mrs. Frank Hanson, of Broadkiln.

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[i] In the April 26, 1901 edition, Conner used the original quotation from Shakespeare’s Othello: “O, thou invisible spirit of wine…”

[ii] Brass band music was very popular among American audiences in the late 19th and early 2oth centuries. The “Quick Tour” selection Dona’s Album, Part I: The Activists features a musical sound track of cornet pieces from this period.