Page 20 — SUSQUEHANNA TIMES Hold-ups, Lincoln’s first presidential act part of history of the Marietta post office The first Marietta Post Office opened its doors in 1813 at 1 West Market Street. Samuel Bailey was the first postmaster. Delivering the mail was a lot cheaper in those days. In 1820, postmaster H. P. Wil- cox reported the following expenses: office rent - $60 a year; fuel - $20 a year; candles and oil - $10; wages for clerk John F. Page - $150 a year; wages for temporary clerk G. J. Willard - $40. By 1832 the Marietta Post Office was delivering mail 3 times a week. The mail stage started at Columbia, then drove to Marietta, Maytown, Bainbridge, Fal- mouth, Middletown, High- spire, and finally, Harris- burg. Abraham Lincoln's first official act as president of the U.S. was to name Abraham Cassel as Mari- etta’s postmaster. After the Civil War, the post office moved to 33 West Market Street. One day a clerk named Charles Kraus found several thousand dollars in the mailbox. The money was wrapped in a bundle of newspapers. Neighbors When farmer Paul Bru- baker of Pinkerton Road was hospitalized after a tractor accident, his neighbors did more than offer sympathy. Five big tractors showed up at the Brubaker farm last The money, it turned out, had been left there by a woman who was running away from her husband. She had planned to take her husband’s life savings with her, but changed her mind at the last minute and dropped the cash in the mailbox. About this same time, there was an attempted hold-up. The robbers left empty-handed. Later, the freight station agent heard a rumor that another hold-up was being planned. Three residents with shotguns stationed themselves across the street from the post office, but the bandits never showed up. House to house mail service began in 1929, John Goodling was the first mail carrier. The first postmistress was Miss Elizabeth Miley, who was hired in 1943. The present postmaster, Frank Seaman, was ap- pointed by President Eisen- hower. The post office moved to its present location on New Haven Street about 15 years ago. pitch in week. Working together, the neighbors were able to plow a S0 acre field in two hours. The neighbors plan to do Paul Brubaker’s field work for him until he is back on his feet again. Elaine Elaine Good first got involved with the La Leche (lay-chay) League after tak- ing her second baby to the doctor for the 4-week check-up. Elaine had been breastfeeding the baby and the baby hadn't gained any weight. The doctor began describing the different formulas to Elaine. “I didn’t hear a thing,” Elaine recalls, ‘I came home in tears.”’ She had attempted to breastfeed her first baby and had given up after six weeks. She couldn’t believe that breastfeeding had to be so difficult. She didn’t want to give up aga‘n. Her husband, Leon, sup- ported her feeling and en- couraged her. Elaine decid- ed that it wouldn't do any harm to call the La Leche League. With the advice she got from La Leche, Elaine was able to nurse the baby successfully. The La Leche League is a non-profit organization started in Chicago in 1956 by a group of mothers. The basic purpose of the League is to help mothers breast- feed their babies with suc- cess and happiness. , Elaine, now nursing her third baby, has recently been certified as a leader for the Elizabethtown-Mount Joy Group of the La Leche League. “Il became a leader be- cause I felt that the help given by the group was so good, that I wanted to share in the work,’’ she says. After being without leaders for six months, the Elizabethtown-Mount Joy Group now has two leaders, Elaine Good and Grace Faus, who was also recently certified. The functions of leaders in the group, are to lead meetings, and to provide telephone counseling. Elaine stresses the fact that mother-to-mother tele- phone counseling is avail- able any time day or night. As she points out, it’s often at night when the baby is screaming, that the mother most needs help. ‘““We encourage the mother to make her own decision. We tell her what she can do, instead of saying what she should do. We work from where she is.”’ Mothers needing inform- ation or counseling can call Elaine (Mrs. Leon) Good at 653-1590 or Grace (Mrs Samuel) Faus at 665-4582. The Elizabethtown-Mount Joy Group of the La Leche League, holds regular meet- ings on the second Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. The meeting is held in base- ment meeting room of the Norlanco Family Health Center. The Center is locat- ed between Elizabethtown and Mount Joy, just off Route 230 on Cloverleaf Road. (near the Farm Diner). Good, March 31, 1976 Leche League leader Local La Leche leader Elaine Good with daughters Juanita, 3 and Crystal, 9 months. The meetings are inform- al and mothers are encour- aged to bring their babies. Any interested persons may attend as many meetings as they wish without joining the League. The membership dues of $8 a year includes a sub- scription to La Leche League News, a bimonthly publica- tion of La Leche League International. Elaine de- scribes the magazine as a ‘morale booster, especially for mothers who can’t get to the meetings.’’ The rest of the dues go to maintain a library of books which is brought to each meeting, and to pay for publishing free literature that is handed out. Elaine emphasizes that although the League en- courages breastfeeding it is not against bottle feeding. Many aspects of parenting are discussed at the meet- ings. “There is a lot of joy in parenting and we try to help each other find that joy,” she says. The meetings cover a series of topics, one each month. They are: 1. Advantages of Breast- feeding. 2. The Art of Breast- feeding and Overcoming Difficulties. 3. Baby Arrives; The Family and the Breastfed Baby. 4. Nutrition and Weaning. Expectant mothers are encouraged to attend at least one meeting before the baby arrives. There is no need to wait for the begin- ning of a series before going to a meeting. There is some discussion of the other topics at all meetings. The next meeting is April 8 and deals with Nutrition and Weaning. Elaine says, ‘‘Every baby is different and every mother is different. Perhaps in the experience of several mothers is the solution to a particular problem.” Strange ‘monument’ stands in the woods #3 Someone put this worn rocking horse on a cement-block pedestal in the woods near the East Donegal Boat Club. It fooks like a monument to time and weather.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers