Milford chronicle., 1960-07-22


South Milford was under Sussex
County. None of these schools gave
proper preparatory work for coll
lege. Some of the parents who had
this in mind for their children de-
cided to start a private school in
the second story of a wooden build
ing just back of the Presbyterian
Church. Believe it or not, these
fancy pupils called the place from
which they had to enter the school
building Hog Alley!"
Mr.. Rugg was the first principal.
He went on to become Chief JUS
tice of Massachusetts,. Later Mr.
Lloyd took over. Both men were
assisted by Miss Mollie Richards.
The school was successful ven-
ture and a special school building
was built on the Avenue across
from the Community Building. Al
fred c. Arnold came as the first
principal and eventually married a
daughter of DR.. Nathan Pratt. Mr..
Ruby Vale also taught at the
school and also married a Milford
girl, the daughter of Colonel Rob-
ert Williams Because of the
school, Milford was able to send
her children on to Pennsylvania.
Amherst, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr,
Delaware, Swarthmore. and other
well-known colleges. But the pub
lie schools finally reached the stat
us that the private institution was
no longer needed. The school was
discontinued and the building was
turned over to the Century Club.
My mother was among the surviy-
ors of the original buildings own
ers who eventually decided the
property to the club.
oh, and about fun? Well | lived
in North Milford and, not that there
was anything wrong with across
the river" but South Milford was
sort of alien territory. We had our
own fascinating haunts. Quaker
Branch, First and Second Oaks,
Grier's Pond. The Oaks were just
that trees. But they shaded a
playground for children by day and
served as a general meeting place
for adults in the evenings. Close
by the First Oaks, the Lowry HO-
tel owned an ice house which was
always good for a bit of interest.
Stocking the ice house was always
great fun. The contraption was a
pit dug to a depth of about eight
feet covered by a roof just few
inches above the ground. The in
side of the pit was lined with
marsh hay. During the winter when
the ice was harvested from nearby
ponds, the pit was filled to capac-
ity and the ice covered with at least
six inches of the hay. After the
ice was put to bed for the winter,
the doors were locked and not OPP
ened until summertime. Well, a
piece of ice to a kid in those days
was sort of a speciality and you may
be sure that quite large crowd OF
small fryers was on hand when the
unlocking ceremony took place.
This may seem fairly tame enter
tainment-I guess we go into the
requisite amount. of devilment,
too.
Saturdays up at Quaker Branch
were great fun. Mostly, | guess we
were interested in Indians having
been indoctrinated into Indian lore
by DR.. j G.. Dawson. DIR. Dawson
had fine collection of stone toma-
hawks, axes, mortars and pestles,
arrowheads of flint, and white
quartz. Up at Quaker Branch, we
hunted arrowheads and often found
them, adding to DIR. Dawson's col
lection which is now in the Smith
sonian Institute We had club
called the Archaeological Society
and one of the chief qualifications
you had to present was the ability
to spell archaeological" Need
be embarrassed at this distance tC
say that / did not make this frater-
nifty on the first try?-"and almost
didn't make it this time"
Doctors and Drugst0reS
Milford had a quota of doctors
and drugstores. The latter held a
bit more interest for the youngsters
because of the soda fountain. DR.
Nathan Pratt, DIR. George Marshall
and DR.. Prettyman were the lead
| ing physicians, and there were also
DR.. Purnell and Dr. Fraim who had
just about given up active practice
DIR. Pratt had a small drugstore on
the corner from the present site OF
the Milford Hotel. This drugstore
was partly used as an Office where
his son. Lynn, practiced with him
DIR. Marshall and his son also had
a drugstore and employed Tom
Plunkett and Sid Collins as phar-
macists.
In those days pills were rolled by
hand and were often coated with
licorice powder to disguise the too;
often disagreeable taste. The NOR
tar and pestle were in daily use and
powders" which could not be made
into pills were put up in small pa
pers. Laudanum, which was made
from pure opium, lead, and alcohol
was a principal pain killer and was
more potent than paregoric or ia