Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1923-05-18

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indicate.
1t was when he was a boy of some
nine years, that Robert Fulton ran
the first steamboat on the Hudson RiV-
er, the ClermOnt, but which was nick
named Buttons Folly" by the people
of that day.
In the summertime of those days
when the long hours came, and the
sun shOne hot, and lazy Lawrence
lowered over the rail-fences' in the
near distance, he went with the Other
boys to the mill-pond close by the
| town (they must have had mill-pond
there then, for there was one there
sixty years ago, have seen 1t my
self and went fishing for the bright
yellow sunfsh in their little stony
beds, along the shore, or went splash
ing in the shallow water in some
shady nook. 1t was so natural for a
boy in Delaware to do that.
He seemed to have his own ideas
about getting an education, which
were not to the liking Of his parents.
We understand his parents were we'll
to-dO for people of that day. The IA
Their was a strong, able bodied man,
but not so well educated as the mo-
Their, but they were united in wanting
their son to become a scholar, &C
cording to their ideas, but he would
not. However, he liked composition,
and loved to compose verses, which he
began doing at the age Of IL years.
He was an Omnivorous reader, read
much while he was stir very young,
that he should not have read.
OF his reading he says: 81 had read
the French and English skeptics at
IA years of age, with bOyhOod's aV-
idity and a boyhood's judgment. 1
dreamt over the pages of VOllaire, D.
Alembert, Diderot, Maupertins, Ros-
sean, Condorcet, VOlney, Humi, Glib
bon, with host of others, and LaWoke
an intidel."
Being convinced of the unfairness
of his course, he was honest enough
to read the Scriptures, to acquaint
himself with the other side of the
question, and in so doing he became
thoroughly convinced of his error.
At the age of II, he quit school, and
started into study medicine, in the Of
flee of DR.. James P. LOhand, cousin.
He afterwards spent some three years
at the University of Pennsylvania, but
having some trouble with one Of the
professors, he quit trying to be a doc
tor, although he went by the name OF
DR.. John LOfand all the balance Of
his life in the inner circle of his ac-
quaintance, but on the outside he was
known solely by his pen name 1.-The
Milford Bard"
Delaware is no mean little State.
She is great in almost everything. Not
in size, it is true, but in what goes to
make a State truly great. The writer,
being a Delawarean, believes in her,
believes she is entitled to all that be-
longs to her, Statesmen, Soldiers,
Scholars, Artists, Poets, etc. Thus we
want to aid in the retaining of one
who has almost been lost to her, but
not quite, we trust. We do not believe
that poetry has become lost art in
Delaware, as one writer has said, but
only mislaid for the time being.
The Milford Bard while attending
medical college in Philadelphia, wrote
much for the magazines of that day.
such as "The Casket," and the "Satur-
day Evening Post" which is still a
great weekly paper, at this present
day. It was while he was in Philadel-
phia that he met and formed a warm
frienship with Tom Moore, the Irish
Poet, which was kept up until he re-
turned to Ireland.
Like all, or most young men, he had
his love affairs which caused him
many heart-aches. 1t is said he spent
some three years in almost complete
retirement from the world. He surviv-
ed it, however, but it cast a shadow
over his life that he never got entire
ly away from. Many of his poems re-
veal the fact too plainly.
In the preface of his first volumn
that he published "The Harp of Dela-
ware" we find him subscribing him
self milford Bard" Milford, Del, Oct.
4th, 1927. This book was published in
1928, has 212 pages, with something
over a hundred poems in it.
We find nothing said about this first
volume in any of the sketches that has
come to our notice concerning the
poet, but he himself in the preface Of
the volume published in Baltimore,
speaks of this "his second venture"
In one memmoir concerning him, it
is stated that he went to Baltimore in
1926, where he became a writer on the
Baltimore Patriot, but this need not
necessarily interfere with bringing
out his first book in 1928 in Philadel-
phia.
He had a great time with the ladies
in the City of Baltimore as we find in
many of his poems. He must have liv-
ed here about 20 years more or less.
Here he had the second volume of his
poems and essays published in 1886,
the last that he had published during
his life time, so far as we can find
out. 1t was copyrighted in 1845, and
was dedicated to "The Ladies of Bal
timore," for sundry reasons. This sec
ond volume contains most, if not all
the poems that were published in his
first volume. In this is a fine copper
plate engraving of the poet as he ap-
peared at that time.
It shows him apparently in fine
physical condition. He was tall man,
six feet OF more in height, and had red
hair as remembered by his cousin, AL
fred Lofand, who knew him when a
boy, and the Bard was a man. He was
genial and courteous and much be-
loved in his day by those who knew
him. It has been said of him that he
was a spoiled child, his mothers fav-
orite, and that may have been true;
which may have had much to do with