May 20, 1910

“Sam” Jones[i] is accredited with having said, “Any n….r and an old horse can raise corn, and almost any fool can run a portable saw mill; but to run trans-Atlantic steamers and build continental railroads it takes aggregation of capital.” Some may think from the foregoing that Mr. Jones was in the side of the “trusts.” But when we look into this matter, and elucidate it as far as we can, we may find Mr. Jones to have been right. That it takes money to do work, to run business, or to produce profitable results of any kind, is a fact, the correctness of which is not mooted by intelligent businessmen. We all remember the parable of scripture, about the builder, and the general counting the cost of an enterprise before undertaking it; and yet it appears to us, there are some people who have never read these parables, or having read them, have not profited thereby. It must be admitted, it takes a wise man to foresee the end of a great undertaking. It is said, at the commencement of the French Revolution there was but one man in that vast throng who foresaw the end. Than man was Napoleon Bonaparte. And, it appears in these later days there are persons while will embark in small undertakings without counting the cost, and find in the end, to their mortification, they had been deceived. But “Sam” Jones and “Sam” Slick[ii] with many another evangelistic crank, who have flashed for a time across the religious horizon, like a meteor across the sky, have disappeared like the latter phenomenon, and the world moves on with its “aggregation of capital,” without them, as it will without us, a few years hence.

On Sunday morning delegates were elected to attend the Sussex County Bible Society which meets here on Thursday the 19th. The delegates are William H. Wagamon, and J. Leon Black. The collection was $12.00, and Miss Emma Davidson and S. J. Martin were made life members of the society.

At the M. P. Church $8.00 was raised and Miss Lillie Davidson and Walter Crouch were elected delegates, and Burion Johnson was made a life member of the society.

At Zion M. E. Church Mrs. Fraubacy Reynolds was elected delegate and a collection of $2.70 taken.

We have just completed an arduous undertaking and feel

“Like a bird let loose in the eastern sky,
That hastens swiftly home,
Nor stops on earth to wing its flight,
Nor rises over its mountain home.”[iii]

Though the task has been laborious we have survived it; and still live to tell the story, though we are not permitted to do it, and will say nothing about it just now.

A strawberry social was held in School Hall on Saturday evening. The usual delicacies were for sale, and a considerable sum was realized by the young people who had the management of the affair. The proceeds are to be applied to the M. E. Parsonage fund.

Robert Blocksom of Magnolia was a Milton visitor last week and a part of this.

William H. Chandler[iv] and son of Scranton, Pa., spent Sunday with his mother.

The Goodwin Company shipped a carload of canned tomatoes last week to St. Paul, Minnesota.

James P. Davidson is making a rudder for the schooner Ella Call, now laying at Milton Dock.

Benjamin F. Gray’s residence on North Union Street is being repaired by William H. Workman.

The maple trees on the Chestnut Street front of the Milton school house are certainly beautiful. They are all of a uniform height, and the lower branches of each appear to have sprung from the bodies of the trees at an equal distance from the ground. They now give a splendid shade, and are much to be admired. Our citizens should appreciate these beauties more than they appear to do.

Eleven cola kilns were fired last week on what was once the Peter B. Jackson tract of woodland and when the wind becomes south or southwest Milton may be expected to realize this fact.

It is expected to hold a quarterly conference at the M. E. Church on Thursday or Friday evening. On account of the Sussex County Bible Society, which will be in session at the church on Thursday evening, the conference may be held on Friday evening, which has not yet been decided on.

The M. P. Sunday School has elected the following officers for another year: Superintendent George R. Davidson, Asst. Superintendent A. E. Jefferson, Secretary Delmar White, Treasurer Mrs. Jane Johnson, Librarian Earl Reed, Organist Lizzie Barker, Asst. Organist Lulu Harrington.

John Clendaniel of near town has painted his residence. The body of the holding is of a dazzling yellow and the trimmings are suitably matched with the body, and present a beautiful appearance to those who travel from Milton to Ellendale.

For the past two weeks the people, not only of Milton, have been engaged in their spring pastimes of house cleaning, but the country folks have caught the contagion and the past week they have been busy also at their favorite work.

The trustees of the M. E. Cemetery are having it put in order, as is their usual custom at this season. The cemetery may be made an ornament to the town if proper attention is paid to it. It may be said that a cemetery is associated with mournful memory, and presents nothing but sad and harrowing thoughts. And so it does, but is can be made beautiful to those above the ground, while at the same time it contains loved ones beneath the ground.

Megee & Ingram have removed their saw mill from the Williams tract to the Mrs. Mary Morris tract near Jefferson X Roads.

The stone for the concrete curbing for the town has arrived.

Mrs. Marie Christine Nielson Hopkins and one year old child, wife and daughter of Dr. R. B. Hopkins, sailed last week from New York for Copenhagen, Denmark to pat a visit to her native land.

John J. Morris is confined to his home by illness.

The hedges of California privet that enclose many pastures in town are particularly beautiful at this season. The one at Masonic Temple, Captain George Hunter’s and Mrs. Emma Johnson’s and others are dressed in green, a delight to the eye of a connoisseur of natural; grandeur.

There was considerable frost in this locality on Saturday morning and some say “it snowed” on the afternoon of that day. We did not see it snow.

The new buildings on Federal Street are progressing toward completion. So near is the drugstore in the Mears building finished that W. T. Starkey has gone to the city to purchase his stock of drugs. Owing to some difficult, work on S. J. Wilson & Son’s building has stopped for a time, with the foundation work just commenced.

Clarence Clifton’s new residence near the railroad station is enclosed.

Outten & Palmer are painting the town property of Samuel Burris in tenure of Miss Lillian Aker, on Chestnut Street.

Caleb W. Brimer died near Conley Chapel on Saturday of general disability, aged 74 years.

William J. White died on Monday morning at his residence on North Union Street of Bright’s Disease, aged 69 years, 9 months and 17 days. Funeral services will take place at his late home on Thursday afternoon and will be conducted by the Rev. Frank Holland, after which sepulture will be made in the M. E. Cemetery by S. J. Wilson & Son. Deceased was a pensioner of the Civil War, and a member of the First Delaware Cavalry, and with many others of that regiment was taken prisoner by General [Jeb Stuart’s] cavalry at the battle of Westminster, Md. He leaves a widow and one son.

For William H. Welch, having completed his school term at Ellendale, has returned to Milton and will devote the summer months in yachting on the Broadkiln.

Supervisor of streets Mustard on Tuesday morning commenced excavating for the curbing on North Union Street, to its confluence with Front Street or rather to the concrete pavements of Carey & Darby, and others that extend from Front Street to Union Street. The town excavation extends from the points mentioned to the iron bridge on Union Street.

Strawberries are on the market at 10 cents per quart/

William Gray of Milford and Miss Ethel Clendaniel of Slaughter Neck were married at the M. E. Parsonage on Sunday evening by the Rev. I. F. Lank.

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[i] Samuel Porter Jones (October 16, 1847 – October 15, 1906) was an American lawyer and businessman from Georgia who became a prominent Methodist revivalist preacher across the Southern United States. In his sermons, he preached that alcohol and idleness were sinful. He was known for his admonition, “Quit Your Meanness.” This is not the first time he has been mentioned in the Milton News letter. (Source: Wikipedia)

[ii] Sam Slick was a character created by Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796 – 1865), a Nova Scotian judge and author. With his wry wit and Yankee voice, Sam Slick of Slicksville put forward his views on “human nature” in a regular column in the Novascotian, beginning in 1835. (Source: Wikipedia)

[iii] Quotation from a poem by Thomas Moore (1779 – 1852), an Irish poet.

[iv] William H. Chandler owned the Chandler Orchards on the northeast end of Milton.