Milford chronicle., 1938-01-14
By David J. Long

at my tathers farm about two ant
one-half miles from SeIbyyille, Del
aware. in a log farm house. / start
ed to go to school as soon as I wal
old enough. We had to go through
corn fields and travel over bad roads
in winter time, and had only thres
months in the year, January, Febru.
ary and March, during which school
was conducted. The school house
was about two miles from our home
We played such games as fore hold
corner ball or fore hold cat. SPELL
ing. reading, writing and arithmetic
we're the subjects we studied. Writ
ing was done with a goose quill pen.
Our clothes were fusting (home-
spun) suits and cowhide boots. Dur
ing nine months when we had no
school we worked on the farm. On
week days the children Of the family
seldom saw any one except the
other members Of the family. We
always look forward to Sunday
when we usually could expect come
company.
NY playmates were George A.
Campbell, who lived to the west of
us, and Robin Murray, who lived TO
the east. Each Of them had large
water hole on their farms where the
cows drank and bathed, and fire.
quently on Sundays we would leave
without telling our parents and 80
bathing in these water holes; but
when we came out Of the water We
would be dirtier then we were be-
fore we bathed. One Sunday another
boy came to play with us, and we
took him along with us to the water
hole. We had pair of gourds tied
together to use in learning to swim.
They were fastened across the chest,
and thus enabled you to float. We
decided to initiate the new boy, Tom
Timmons, so we fastened the gourds
to his knees instead Of his chest.
and, of course, his legs went up and
his head went down.
School and games and sports Oc-
cupied our attention until we reach
ed the age of about fifteen years. We
then began to see things differently,
and also took notice of those Of the
opposite sex. Going around with the
girls and keeping company took up
most of our time for the next five
years. We then began to think
about an occupation for the future
years. Campbell entered the minis
try and became a preacher. Murray
decided on city life and engaged in
the restaurant business. learned
the trade Of house carpenter The
first year, at eighteen years Of age.
/ worked with John B. Hill, at Rox-
ana; the second year with Stanley
Short, at Frankford; the third year
with Burton Lockwood at Dagsboro,
and the fourth year with John B.
Hill again. / built house at Mill
White Neck, and one in Mundy Neck |
for John Turner.
While / was working at house |
carpentering | met young lady by |
the name of Elizabeth j. Bishop. In
August, 1866. We became engaged to
marry. met her at Sound camp |
meeting in ROxana. After we were
engaged we decided that we would
not be in a hurry to get married,
and settled down to a long court /
ship. | said | did not want to get
married until / was twenty-five
years old. and she said she was not
in a hurry either. Our agreement
was that I should come to see her
once a month on the last Saturday
or Sunday of the month. We follow
ed that rule for about two years.
Then .as our love grew stronger and
the months seemed to grow longer,
we made a new agreement, which
was that | should see her every two
weeks or Oftener II wished to
come. This arrangement continued
until December 21, 1871, when we
were married. Our courtship had
lasted five years and i've months.
We started housekeeping in January,
1872. like long courtships. II
there were longer courtships today,
here would be fewer divorces.
| still followed carpentering In
he summer and fall. During thee
winter and spring l worked at get
ing out vessel keels, kilson and
Snees. Large white oak logs were
,ut and hewed 16, IS, or 20 inches j
SQUARE and 40 to so feet long. The
hin knees were made from large
ipur roots and large limbs. The {
,pur roots were blasted apart by /
,oring a hole in the center Of the {
rec stump, pouring In some pow /
Ter and touching It Off. While | was
citing out ship knees, President {
rants brother had the contract to }
et several thousand knees for the /
government. He and William Rey- '
oIds came to my house and stayed I
Yith us all night and inspected q
arload of knees which I had ready q
D ship.
When the town of Selbyville was d
Iarted I had my first adventure In S
uying land. had been doing some 4
arpenter work for w. S. McCabe. G
Ie said to me one day, James, let S
5 try and see If we can't start some b
nsiness. will sell you one acre of L
md down there In the woods at the
1rner OF my field for twenty-five
pillars. You build a wheelwright II
lop and a dwelling, and l (W. S. N
cCabe) will build blacksmith L
Top and dwelling. l was not quite Il
Senty-one years old. / thought over q
Ie proposition and finally decided a
buy the lot. That was December n
1867. We both built 8s we had al
AIMED. McCabe rented his build a
rs to John Dukes, blacksmith. 81
I'd ] rented mine to Alfred Glen d.
MEL, wheelwright spent sew d.