Milford chronicle., 1944-02-18

An Appetizing Landmark
One of my choicest possessions Il
an old map of Kent County. Della
ware. Made in 1859. two years be
fore the American Civil War,
names the owner of each farm il
Kent and also has separate map;
for the larger towns. Milford in
those days, boasted three ship.
yards, Causey's Spring. also close
to the creek, and in the center oi
Milford Mill Pond, a charming spot
of land designated as Ice Cream
Island. There must be an interest
ing story behind such an appetizing
landmark.
Wanted-A Better MOusetrap
While walking along our school
corridor, the other day, | stopped,
and from force of habit, picked up
a paper airplane. Examining it, l
found that it was identical with the
paper monOplanes we sailed in
those days before the other World
War, more than a quarter of a CEN
tury ago. In fact. during a career
punctuated with numerous stoop-
ings and picking-up, have observ-
ed that the paper airplanes manu-
factured by school children invar-
iably remain the same.
With youth so air-minded, is it
not strange that some enterprising
lad has not invented a higher
flying paper pursuit or perhaps a
bomber which would be capable of
planting a string of paper clips on
the teachers desk?
The PrOgger
Perhaps the most picturesque fig
ure of the Delaware scene is the
progger Webster's Unabridged Die
tionary has this to say in defining
the word. ''prOgger.
One who makes livelihood by
Oystering. digging CLANS, or the
like, in a small way, or by doing odd
jobs alongshOre; hence shiftless, +
worthless fellow"
Who am l to differ with this adj
authority yet it seems that
Mr.. Noah Webster, and his most
recent advisers. have gone out of
their way to insult one of the last
of the early American types,
lonely figure who survives along
with the black duck and the musk
rat.
The prOgger of the Delaware and
,'hesapeake tidewater is still as
liberty loving as the lads of 1916.
He is fashioned in the same marsh
mold as Daniel Boone and David
CrOckett-and the wild boys who
stormed the beaches at Guadalcanal
md Tawara.
The PrOgger
from the creek bottoms, he comes.
The prOgger.
smell of early America
IN his muddy boots;
FALL tales on his lips,
turtles and muskratS
II his skiff
lie likes his liquor
And his freedom straight;
lie bows to no men
And few women.
lie is genuine,
The progger.
lone in his little ark,
lie reads his Bible.
lie will survive
All floods. C. B.
Robert Frost. the well known
New England poet, four times win
Ter of the Pulitzer Prize for poet
". has said that he would just as
cave write free 3verse as to play
ennis with the net down. Just the
same. the prOgger should be free
lie is.
Jack Lewis
A letter in a very small enye-
ope is in my hand. A letter from
lack Lewis, the young watercOlOr
.rtist who strolled through Della
ware and caught our little state
With his s,;illful brush. Jack is now
somewhere in the lands. Down
-nder." A corporal in the engi-
leers. Jack still finds time to ply
lis colors. Jack and | sailed the
Chesapeake together that last sum
ner before Pearl Harbor. Though
he war prevented the completion
If his Chesapeake paintings, he has
'ound fresh beauty in the swaying
palms and booming beaches of the
South Pacific.
We Say "FiSh- Hawk"
have just finished reading John
latest book of verse,
Wonderings. The long poem
'ecords impressions from the poets
'arly youth. between the ages of
me and six. Just as is the case
gith many of us who spent our
'oyhoods somewhere on this Pen
| sula. Masefeld has early mem
ries of little rivers and Fish
ruising ospreys"