Page 16 - SUSQUEHANNA TIMES:
...Donegal Rangers make living history (cont.)
The Rangers leave no
detail, however small, un-
athentic. Buttons must be
metal or bone, never plas-
tic, for example. One
Ranger displayed a pair of
socks from the L.L. Bean
Co. in Maine, which hap-
pened to be made of pure
wool and woven in the
proper old manner —a
lucky find.
The Rangers’ activities
last weekend were in keep-
ing with their appearance.
They made candles by
dipping weighted strings
into an iron kettle full of
melted wax, and played
with lead dice made from
hammered bullets. They
drank beer from tin mugs,
and kept asking the Times
reporter the hour —none
were wearing watches.
While all the Rangers try
to be as authentic as
possible, each has his or
her own theories about
minor details. Some of
them were dressed more
officially than others, with
regular issue shoes, coats,
and leggings. Some even
had pieces of British Army
gear (which the original
Rangers probably had also
—they raided several
enemy supply depots). The
most elegant were several
Letters
Dear Editor:
I would like to take this
opportunity to thank the
Jaycees and Joycee-ettes
for all their time and hard
work spent on producing
the Miss Mount Joy Schol-
arship Pageant. Also all the
merchants who supported
the pageant with their gifts
and money that the six
contestants received. It is
just great how the mer-
chants help out with the
many projects that are held
throughout the community.
Dear Editor:
I have a question for the
citizens of Marietta. Why is
a zoning law only enforced
when a neighbor, who
hates your family and
children in general, decides
he doesn’t like what you
have done on your own
property? My husband and
I bought a swimming pool
for our family and the
neighborhood children. As
you know Marietta does
not have a community pool
and we hoped our pool
would keep the children off
the streets while having a
good time. Due to the size
of the majority of Mariet-
ta’s backyards we had to
Dear Editor:
In first grade we do alot
of reading, a little math, a
little writing and a little bit
of a whole lot of other stuff
and at the end of the
school year the math and
reading books are tattered
and torn and young minds
are day dreaming of sum-
mer fun. It can be a time
when tempers flare and
children wake up groaning,
“Do I have to go?’’. This
year in my first grade we
found a solution to that—
we decided to have an
auction and many of our
activities in those last
weeks centered around our
planned event. We counted
our pennies, nickles and
dimes everyday, we made
posters to advertise the
sale, wrote invitations to
our parents, organized a
I'd like to thank my family
and many friends who
supported me throughout
the pageant and for their
gifts and thoughtful notes.
A ‘‘special’’ thank you to
Gloria Longenecker and
Keith Smith who arranged
and played my music for
me.
I am proud to represent
Mount Joy during my reign
as Miss Mount Joy!
Sincerely yours,
Joi Shearer
Miss Mount Joy 1977
put the pool within five feet
of their fence. We worked
very hard putting up that
pool and they let us use the
pool for one week. Sudden-
ly we get a notice of the
zoning law with a formal
complaint from our fine
upstanding and concerned
neighbor. All along he
knew he would report us
but why did he wait so
long. What a fine example
of love and neighborliness
was shown to our children
and our neighborhood. Is
this fair to stop us from
using the pool on our
property?
Winnie Bensinger
refreshment stand and the
list goes on and on, all the
while developing real-life
skills. Finally the day
arrived and we were ready
and excited. We were lucky
to have a tall, dutch
auctioneer who took time to
explain his trade and was
patient with our anxious
hand-waving bidding.
When it was all over, our
brown bags and tummies
full he gave us wooden
nickels and packed his brief
case to go leaving with us
new words and concepts to
use throughout our lives.
I would like to thank Mr.
Harold Keller on behalf of
my class and their parents
for providing our auction
with a real auctioneer!
Thank you,
Patricia Bateman
visitors from the 2nd Com-
pany of the Sth Battalion
(from New Holland). These
gentlemen, typifying the
‘“Line soldiers’’ of the
regular army, were posi-
tively resplendent.
The least elegant was
Dean Bechtold, whose out-
fit is based on the theory
that the original rangers
were unlikely to have many
standard issue clothes. In
the 1700’s this area was
barely settled. Some of the
Rangers might have looked
like a cross between an
Indian and Paul Bunyan, as
Dean does in his outfit.
Riflemen were constantly
on the move, living ‘‘a
nasty life,”” according to
Dean. They had to travel
light, and everything they
carried served a good
purpose. Dean figures that
even his beads could have
been useful: “If your neck
was on the line, you might
have been able to say,
‘hey, like these beads?’
and bribe your way out.
Beads were valuable
then.”’
Dean made his own
moccasins, which he thinks
were very practical in the
woods, because they can be
repaired easily with natural
materials such as vines
(moccasins have coarse
lace stitching and don’t
require a needle and thread
to fix). His rifle repair kit is
the size of a bic lighter.
At this distance in time,
it is very difficult to know
just how the original Ran-
gers dressed. Chances are,
though, that they were as
diverse a group as the
present Rangers, and had
equallly diverse outfits.
June 29, 1977
Cindy Prowell makes candles at the living history demonstration at Donegal Mills
Plantation. Technique: tie a bullet onto the end of a string, a dip it into the pot of
melted wax. Let it cool. Then dip again. Let it cool. Then dip again. Etcetera. A
time-consuming process. To make it more efficient, early candle-users tied many
strings onto a stick, arranged the sticks in rows, and dipped many candles at once.
Marietta Ambulance
conducts membership drive
Board of Directors, Charles
The Marietta Ambulance
Association needs mem-
bers. If you’d like to help
your community, now is a
good time to sign up; the
Ambulance people are con-
ducting their annual mem-
bership drive.
Drivers and attendants
are knocking on Marietta
doors in hopes of recruiting
new members. If they don’t
get you at home, you can
| join by contacting Mrs. Roy
| Eppley at
426-1814. A
| family membership is only
| $5.00. Individuals can join
| for $3.00. That's a lot less
| than you’d pay in taxes to
| support a professional am-
| bulance crew.
| to volunteer
| services should
Anyone who would like
his or her
contact
| Steve Bailey af 426-3810.
| Steve will be conducting a
First Aid course in the near
future.
At the June session of
the Ambulance Association
Marley was installed as
training officer. A training
session, with Columbia and
Maytown Ambulance Per-
sonnel, will be held in the
future.
Three persons were ac-
cepted as ambulance assis-
tants: the Rev. Aristede
Red, Donald Bombeck and
Nancy Herneisen.
Donations were received
this month from Mrs.
Kettering, Dr. Mountain,
W.I. Beahm Junior High
School
Paul Smuck.
The board
purchase * portable oxygen
units adaptable to existing
bottles. Blood pressure
tests will be held in the
near future.
Maytown Ambulance As-
sociation will serye as first
back-up vehicle for Mari-
etta, and Columbia will
serve as second.
Student Council, | |
Pioneer Fire Company, and |
voted to |
Ranger Valarie Reiger makes thread with a ‘‘drop
spindle.” She spins it to twist the thread. Valarie also
demonstrated the carding operation, done with special
brushes, which cleans and straightens the raw fibers.