Middletown transcript., 1881-08-05
The Christening Of Middletown.
BY THE ODESSA BARD.
(Republished from the TRANSCRIPT Of
Sept. 10, 1885,

human mind has ever eVlnced ten
dency to travel backward from effects
to causes, from supply to source, from
the elimination to the origin of every
event in history and every creation in
nature.
This principle, if I may so term it, is,
indeed, the prolific matrix Of all the
vast accumulated knowledge of the
world-a fact satisfactorily demon
strated by Miss Jewsbury in her
9 Neighbors over the way, and from
the tittle-tattle, gossiping microcosm of
every country village to the profound
est and sublimest heights Of science, it
maintains the same maternal relation
to Information that Necessity holds
to Invention. Laudable Curiosity, then,
is the magic key-the talismanic "ses-
anne" which unlocks the irOn-clad cell
Of many a golden truth, and filings wide
open the doors of Natures mysterious
and hidden mysteries.
IL 10 DOLlCNIlCbU Su1lOuog AONSfSA1 ~
observe that, there is sometimes ac-
companying this principle of the mind
to retrace the past, peculiar reticence
or convenient obliviousness, especially
in researches for pedigree and investi-
CATION of political antecedents. For
instance: l have in my minds eye a
most worthy and excellent gentleman
eccentric it may be, but thoroughly
correct in his walk and life-who has
spent handsome patrimony and the
major part Of half century in efforts
to establish before the world bee-line
connection of his own family with a
notable Cornish dukedom in the reign
Of the Conqueror. His labors may
have been crowned with some of that
success which diligent toll has legiti-
mate right to expect, had not a plebeian
kinsman incontinently declared that
the ladder of ducal descent lost two of
its rounds in the Old Bailey, another
by an ourrier over the Channel, one in
the Spanish Galleys, and several by the
intervention of low mechanics, green
grocers, and the frailities Of the weaker
sex, irrespective of race and color.
Some notable instances Of this obliv-
ion Of political antecedents were devel-
oped by our recent civil war, fully illus
trating the diplomatic maxim that the
success or failure Of an undertaking is
the correct measure of its morality and
justice. The great and good Washing
ton never became the acknowledged |
patriot until he ceased to be regarded |
as rebel. Mr.. Pickwick's joy over
the discovery Of his famous stone, and
Goldsmiths' veteran of the Deserted
Village, who Shouldered his crutch
and showed how fields were won,' are
Indicative of the proneness Of the hu-
man mind, like the timid and fleeing
hare, to double and retrace it's course.
But it is in the province of history that
the most interesting and extraordinary
discoveries have been made by this
retroactive operation Of the mind.
True, there are some points of historic
interest not yet fixed and settled to the
satisfaction Of all men. The origin Of
''Our American citizens of African de-
scent''-the real surname IF the great
tanner, not Of Joppa, but Of Chicago
the leaning tower of Pisa-the real con-
spirators in whose stead Mrs. Surratt
and her friends were murdered-the
amount plundered from the National
Treasury since the fourth day of March,
1861-the aggregate amount either in
bulk, weight or currency value, of
works of art, plate, jewels, libraries,
and ten thousand other fabrics, now
decorating Northern and Western
homes, their owners and friends-the
amount Of specie, spoons and their me
talic cognates General Butler acquired
at New Orleans, and the real amount |
Of the National debt, and the character
and time of its payment-all are ques-
tions the solution of which must be
left to the 4 coming time" So many,
however, are the facts indisputably es-
tablished by the labors of the historian,
that we may well afford patiently to |
await the slow but sure developments |
of time and events to diclose to our ad-
miring senses still very many more un-
discovered virtues and moralities Of |
modern patriotism. Among the multi |
tude of recently established discoveries
are, the practicability Of the sub-oceanic
cable-the perfect and complete capac-
ity, not only for self-government, but |
for the government Of over five millions
Of Anglo-Saxons, lodged in three mil
lions of African slaves, and the settle
ment and christening of that onward
moving, ever-thriving, always-bustling,
wide-awake community and corporation
dwelling on the line of the Delaware
Railroad, thirty miles, more or less,
south of the city of Wilmington, and
rejoicing in the modest yet euphOnious
name Of Middletown.
Three miles to the east by south. re-
poses in "otiua cum dignitate,' the
quiet but beautiful village Of Odessa,
once the great grain depot for a vast
extent of country, and the scene of
unusual commercial activity, but now
the resort of gentlemen and families of
means desiring quiet and seclusiOn.
The time was when the country for
many miles around, and even in some
of the counties of the eastern Shore"
carried on all its trade Of export and
import through the town of Odessa,
then Cantwell's Bridge. But in no
section of our land has that great pio-
neer Of progress and improvement, the
g Iron Horse, =" wrought greater changes |
4I,oo hos 4ho nolo1uora Railroad aooopo