December 6, 1907

Thanksgiving Day was a fine one, and all persons in this vicinity appeared to enjoy it. There were services in the morning at the M. E. and P. E. Churches but none at the M. P., as the Rev. McCready attended the […] of the cornerstone at the new M. P. Church at Lewes, on that day. The banks, stores and nearly all other business places were closed. Some people went gunning, and others engaged themselves in various ways without the aid of the time-honored “booze.” The ladies and friends of the P. E. Church held a bazaar in the evening, continuing it on Friday and Saturday evenings. The affair was well managed, and well patronized: the receipts exceeding the management’s most sanguine expectations. The funds thus realized will be devoted to the payment of the cost of putting the electric lights in the church or in the purchase of a bell, or both. The church is in need of a bell, it never having had one, the school bell being used to call the worshippers together. Many of Milton’s citizens who are employed elsewhere were home for the day, and returned to their duties on Friday. Turkey dinners were few, but the […] from freshly killed hogs were plentiful.

Rev. Martin Damer, pastor of the Church of St. John Baptists, preached to Enterprise Council Jr. O. U. A. M. on Sunday morning. The organization attended in a body.

On Tuesday of last week Erasmus McIlvane, an aged farmer of near Coolspring Station, went into the woods to cut some firewood. Not returning at six o’clock in the evening his friends went to look for him, and found him lying under a tree which he had cut, and had fallen on him. For three hours he had been pinned under tree suffering excruciating pain. One leg was broken, a hip dislocated and several ribs fractured. On account of the age of the sufferer, it is thought the accident may prove fatal.

Two weeks ago we published that John Crouch has moved. This information was from himself. On Thanksgiving he was still moving; and on Monday he was still at it.

Mrs. James Leonard, and daughter Miss Fannie have returned from a visit to Philadelphia; and Dr. Leonard has been keeping house with no other companions than the dog and cat.

Mr. and Mrs. Lemuel Hartman spent Thanksgiving in Baltimore.

Mrs. Emma J. Morris has gone to Philadelphia to spend the winter with her son, C. B. Morris.

Since the closing of the hotels there have been but two or three drunken men seen on the streets of Milton; yet the express company is bringing the “sustenance” for private parties.

James Smith has sold his meat store on the corner of Federal and Mulberry Street to Joshua Baily, and purchased Alfred Carey’s business, on Union Street, near the bridge. Mr. Carey has retired from butchering.

James_M_Carey
Schooner James M. Carey, painting in the Milton Historical Society Collection

Schooner James M. Carey, Capt. Charles Mason, arrived at Milton dock on Sunday and coal is now plentiful in town.

A considerable quantity of holly wreaths are being bought and sold in town for shipment.

The third quarterly conference of the M. E. Church was held on Friday afternoon. Rev. Albert Smith of Dover was to have preached on Sunday evening but supposedly, on account of the rain, he did not “show up.” The sacrament of the Lord’ Supper was administered at this church on Sunday morning.

[…] Thanksgiving Service was held at the M. P. Church and an offering was made […] the debt hanging over the congregation on account of repairs done to the church about two years ago, Ninety dollars was raised in the morning. On account of the rain the evening service was poorly attended; yet, we are informed there was enough present to raise the collection of the day to $208.00. The amount will not cancel the debt, but will reduce it one-third.[i]

Last week a young woman from Denmark landed at Castle Garden, N. J. and was employed by William Tomlinson, Esq., attorney-at-law, who shipped her to ex-state treasurer C. H. Atkins, of this town. The girl was tagged from New York to Milton, and arrived on Thanksgiving evening, she is quite good-looking, and apparently about eighteen years of age: “There is a garden in her face, Where roses and white lilies grow.”[ii] When she went to the festival on the evening of her arrival to get her supper with her chaperone, she could not speak a word of English, and ate cake with a spoon.

Enterprise Council, Jr. O. U. A. M., will hold a banquet on Thursday evening in honor of State Councillor Benjamin F. Simmons of Dover. The members with their wives are expected to be in attendance, and if they have no wife they are expected to bring some other member of the family.

The new building being erected by J. H. Davidson for Mrs. John A. Collins on Union Street, north, is enclosed and ready for the plaster. Miss Eva Smith’s new dwelling being builded [sic] by Joseph & Morris, near the bridge, is also enclosed.

On Monday the following officers were elected for the M. E. Sunday School, Superintendent Edward Davidson: Asst. Superintendent Dr. J. C. Wiltbank; 2nd Asst. Superintendent John C. Ellingsworth; Secretary, John H. Davidson; treasurer, Miss Mary Coverdale; Organist, Miss Clara Mears; librarian, Ephraim Darby.

George B. Atkins has finished papering and decorating the home of Joseph Walls, on Union Street North, and the interior of this building is a model of beauty; a credit to the aesthetic taste of the owner, as well as to the handiwork of the artist who did the work.

Harry Martin has returned from a business trip to Virginia.

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[i] The repairs referred to can only be the major renovation that was done to the church in 1905 – 1906: the expansion of the chancel, the installation of stained glass windows, and associated other tasks. The collection of $208.00 that would offset about one-third of the debt incurred for this renovation gives us something of an order of magnitude guess at the total cost of that renovation: roughly $600.

[ii] The quotation is from the lyric poem There Is a Garden in Her Face by Thomas Campion (1567 – 1620). It is an interesting choice on David Conner’s part, if the choice was intentional: besides the description of a young woman’s physical beauty, the poet tells us that no man will get to kiss and court the woman until she finds “Mr. Right.”