October 13, 1911

Anent[i], the high price of living that is talked so much about at present, is not comparable with prices that obtained the 60’s, and for some time after the Civil War. When I went to housekeeping in 1666, the first barrel of flour that I bought I paid $15.00 for, and the stuff was nothing compared with the flour of the present day. Meat “flitch”[ii] was 40 cents a pound, coffee 40 cents a pound, muslin 60 cents a yard, and other things high in proportion. As a substitute for coffee there were many things used. In Kent it was mostly parched rye and ground. When I came into Sussex I found that parched meal, pone crust, baked sweet potatoes, and other things were used. Of course these things had to undergo certain manipulations. I am not sure about the high price of cotton; but I remember that a counterpane my wife’s mother made her for a wedding present, the cotton in it cost $25.00. Just before I was married I bought a suit of clothes in Philadelphia for which I paid $30.00; and as good, or a better suit, can be bought today at any country store for $15.00 or less. Now these figures are not exaggerated. There are plenty people living who know they are true. But there is a difference between the 60’s and the present to which may be ascribed the high cost of living. To the first it was the war but if the war made the cost of living high it also gave plenty of work at remunerative wages; and we all managed to live then fairly comfortable. But that the cause is now has not been definitely ascertained; or, if so, it has not been agreed to by economists. Yet we shall live, as far as food is necessary, for there is plenty in the land, and “verily, we shall all be fed.”

The bowling alley at Samuel Fithian’s new establishment, is something new in Milton and attracts much attention. There is now a place in town to while away the ennui of an evening, and be entertained in the meantime. There are also two pool tables in this connection which also lend eclat to the amusements of an evening. Indeed, so great is the attraction, that we have heard of a young woman expressing an intention of taking a hand for the exercise it affords. Truly, there is exercise for every muscle of the body in the game. Did we think there is any harm in the game we would not pay any attention to it, much less publish any account of it? But do not the Y. M. C. T. A. of the cities have good tables for the amusement of their young members? There must be something done to give life and vivacity to the human frame—especially to the young—or they will rust out with ennui and inaction.

At a meeting of the official board of the A. M. E. Church, it was decided to paint the church of that denomination in North Milton.

Clendaniel and Davidson have a new and very attractive meat wagon, as an indispensable equipment to their provision store. It is a nice affair. This item should have been published last week. Forgetfulness must be our excuse.

The Anderson Cannery and the Royal Packing Co. are shipping their canned goods for storage elsewhere.

James Van is having built a dwelling on North Mulberry Street. Dimensions: Front building 16×20 feet; back building 14×16 feet. John M. Walker is the architect and builder.

Juniper Chase has completed his shipment of pears from the Chandler farm.

J. H. Davidson has put a substantial wire fence around three sides of Odd Fellows’ Cemeterv on North Union Street. The cemetery is rectangular in form.

The front has already a substantial iron fence.

James Ponder, attorney-at-law, of Wilmington, was in Milton on business last week.

Delegates will be elected from the various churches on next Sunday evening to attend the Broadkiln Hundred meeting of the Sunday School Association, which will meet at White’s Chapel on Tuesday, the 17th. Delegates will also be elected to attend the Twenty-first Annual Convention of the Sussex County Sunday School Convention, which will meet in the Methodist Protestant Church at Greenwood on Thursday, the 19th inst.

While helping to handle a safe, Chas. King hail his left hand mashed on Wednesday.

The ghetto at the foot of Chestnut Street was deserted on Thursday. The Italians were taken to Milford where they boarded the steamer for their Philadelphia homes. And now the campus is desolate. The sweet and siren voices of senoritas are hushed to the Milton inamoratas.

The Royal Packing Company expects to have a few more tomatoes to put up this week: which will be done by home labor.

Miss Lizzie Lank, of Frederica, is visiting her relatives, the Doctors Hopkins and their families.

A new crossing has been put on Chestnut Street, connecting Wharton and Atlantic Streets.

Miss Naomi Robinson left on Friday morning to visit a sick sister in Philadelphia.

We learn from private sources that esteemed friend “Paul Pry” is recovering from that attack of terpsichoroanitis that afflicted him last week. And really we don’t think the Ellendale correspondent should be so irate against the Lincoln man for calling him “Swamp Angel.” There are memories which cluster around that name. Memories of years ago. If Paul Pry knows, or he should know, that that was the gun planted, by Herculean labor, on Morris Island, and threw shells into Charleston five miles distant. It unfortunately burst on the 36th round. Paul Pry has two more rounds yet.

John L. Megee has removed his barber parlor from the Douglass building into the Fithian block near the bridge.

W. W. Conwell is having piling hauled on the dock with the intention of shipping them via water to Cape May. Conwell is always active, and an important factor in anything he undertakes.

Rev. James Leach, who recently graduated at Wilmington Conference Academy, and a former resident of near Milton, has enrolled at Drew Seminary, Madison. N J.

Great Sachem Harry W. Vickers, the Improved Order of Red Men, will raise up the newly elected chiefs of Chippewa Tribe No. 28 and Wenona Council No. 4 of this town on Friday, the 13th inst.

Clara J. Wharton was on Monday granted a divorce from her husband William B. Wharton, in Superior Court at Georgetown.

William B. Wharton has a residence in an upper room of one of S. J. Wilson’s buildings on Front Street.

The door, proper, and the screen door when both shut conflict. One laps the knob of the other. Hence it is always tried to keep the screen door open when the panel door is shut. But such was not the case on Friday night, as Mr. Wharton’s virility testified. I came down the street on Saturday morning, and Sam Wilson was convulsed with laughter while Bill Wharton was going the other way. “What’s the matter, Sam?” “O, well!” and Sam told me about the door as explained above. “Well, both doors got shut last night, and when Bill came down this morning he couldn’t get out; he ranted and raved, but no one heard him. Then he went upstairs, hoisted a window, got out on the porch roof, and skinned down one of the columns. Mad? Didn’t he look so?


[i] Concerning, about

[ii] A side of bacon or other salted or cured meat (rarely used today)