Milford chronicle., 1927-06-24
Ocean View


road, leading to Bethany Beach, oei "ioei
crossing the Assawaman C"i"i
bridge. III. ord
We are glad that Ocean View ana
the community had the privilege vi
helm shape and mold the cnaracteL
and life of this man, son o1 James
Retts and his good wife, MIS-. Mar
tba Retts. who had greater part III
raising their four sons, John, James
will and Joseph. Rev. John betts Is
minister in Pennsylvania, and one
Of the originators of Home Conllns
nav DIR. William Belts is a physl-
o;an at Chaddsford and one who car
ries the healing properties lor lne
soul. as well as for the Dooy' Josepl
Retts is an engineer on steamer III
philadelphia, and doing Well -
Iames A Belts is a surgeon at tne
Retts Hospital, which he owns Ill
Easton. Pa. He was appointed pres
;dent of the Home Coming DAY Gel
ahration here for 1927, and we are
clad to publish his speech, or part VI
e which he made here last August
of the celebration, as follows: %
much is being said about our youhS
folks of today that l feel tnaC e :
should give expression to some Vi
NV feelings on this subject nave
no right to speak to you about our
Urls as I have no girls. Let Allie
TunneII or Calvin Bishop tell you
ahout girls. They have all girls III
their families. However, / mlgnt 2ay
,-;sht here that if the girls of today
are any nicer than l thought Cney
were 35 years ago, they are suDiille'
do not see how the offspring from
such girls as 1 knew 35 years ago
could nossibly be anything but the
hest material, whether girls OF poye. 70
Rut as | think l know Doys pretty
we'll. as 1 have four OF my own, anu
was raised in family of four Doys'
Tour real boys, healthy boys, mis-
cbievous boys; goody, good boys,
Considered by the public as goou
hovs. Possibly as good as the aver
aee boys. But none too good at that'
We even fought our sisters.
eve scold our boys of today tor
fighting each other; but 40 years ago
we boys quarrel with our sisters;
snow hailed our sisters; threw dead
snakes on our sisters, and thre"
green apples at our sisters.
"Mv four boys are more ideal tnan
we feur boys were 40 years ago. Not
one of my four boys has ever peen
lnown TO do the least naughty trlck
TO ward his sister. That proves De-
vond a doubt that boys of today are
no worse than they were 4O years
ago. Boys of today are not looking
for hard work, it is true. But the
same was true of boys of 40 years
ago. When l accuse my boys OF De-
ing lazy only have to think once 10
recall how 1 was accused OF Delhs
law 40 years ago. was so often
accused that 1 really thought L was
law. Somehow 1 feel that 40 years
ago we four brothers were a sort OF
an average bunch of boys from John
to .Joe. including Will and me.
"We remember how some OF our
neighbors had boys who were held
lid to us as models, and we even
came to think that such boys as
frank Quillen, George Burbage, AL
lie Tunnel, Charlie Hudson ana
Walt Hudson, Handy and Lee Magee'
Sam Daisey, Archie Richards, Ken
dali Hooker, John Evans or any
number of other boys who worked
on our farm or brick kilns were pet
fer boys than we were simply be-
cause they were considered better
workers. Let me tell you that all OF
these industrious boys were not
spending 18 years over yonder on
what we called the little neck farm,
now possibly better known as the
Lord Baltimore farm, of which L Will
sneak later. Before they spent 10
months over there they were cons1d-
cred lazy also. l wish right here TO
tell YOU that most of your boys
right here in Ocean View are better
than YOU Ocean View people give
them credit for being. They are just
good average boys like the boys oil
40 years ago were. They are not
marvellous because you know them
too well, and forget about the boys
of years ago. 1t might be interesting
to YOU to know that Henry Ford's
father had three sons. The son Hen
ry, was always an anxiety to his ia
ther, and he feared that he never
would amount to anything.
There may be Henry FOrds or Cal
vim Coolidges growing up right here
in Ocean View. l, for one, have falth
in our young folk.
| also believe thatNour boys of to-
day have just as high standard OF
honor as the boys of 40 years ago
had. But suppose we grant that they
are inferior to the young people OF
the past. Where is the fault? Is 1t
their fault or ours. Is it the fault OF
the environment? If it is who is at
fault for the environment, but the
children of years ago? Is is the fault
of training? If so, who trains them
We tell our young folk of the lux
urious life they are living now, just
as our parents told us years ago.
Years ago we were reminded that
we could eat plate cake and biscuits
while our ancestors were compelled
to eat Johnny cake and corn bread
day after day.
True our boys have the auto; the
bicycle, the teroplane, the telephone,
the radio, etc., but what did we have
the horse, the colt, the mule, the
donkey, the COW, the sheep, the OK
en-, to yoke UP and drive sheep. We
had our pets to play with and love.
They have their hobbies today. But
when their intentions are good they
are good. Let us lead our youth on
to do better work than we have
done, and enjoy life more than we
have enjoyed life and especially the
Christian life. I am of the opinion
that the real Christian life is being