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.