Hallstead – One day after the recent high water a couple of the residents along the river found a filled barrel of what appeared to be good, old, hard cider or vinegar, tightly corked and partly washed up on one of the islands. Procuring a boat and a little extra help and after a couple of hours’ hard labor the barrel was rolled up a steep bank, and while all hands were resting the barrel in some way fell over and rolled down into the river again.  Such a prize could not be easily lost and a grand rush was made to capture the barrel. Again, with much hard work, lasting into the early evening, the barrel was once more rolled on to the bank in a safe place, where with pans and pails the party eagerly waited to sample the contents. We will draw the curtain here, for that carefully bunged-up cider barrel contained nothing but stale river water, too rank to use.

Lenoxville – While the occupants were nearly all at home and in the house, one day last week, a fire broke out in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ruland, destroying much of the furniture and other household goods. The house burned to the ground, effort to save it being unavailing.

New Milford – E W. Watson has purchased the feed business of the Haight Milling and Mercantile company and is in possession. Mr. Watson was a former businessman of New Milford, having conducted the grocery store now owned by F. K. Sutton for a number of years. The new feed store will be known as the “Ideal Cash Feed Store.”

Silver Lake – Let us hope we will have more snow, as we have no kind of traveling and would like to hear sleigh bells once more.  ALSO  The Quaker Lake skating club gave a silver loving cup as a prize to the best skater last Friday afternoon. Judges were: Miss Kathryn Nolan and Mrs. Francis Dougherty. The prize was won by Miss Agnes Hanigan.

Fowler Hill – Messers Katz and Winer, of Montrose, were on the Hill Wednesday and Thursday collecting junk and furs.

Brooklyn – The Ladies’ Aid will hold a corn Supper in the basement of the Universalist church, Thursday, Feb. 24th, at 6 p.m.  Hulled corn, hominy, Johnny cake, mush, milk, cake, cheese and tea will be served. ALSO M. D. Sterling and J. M. Owens made a transfer of Mr. Owens’ farm to Mr. Sterling. The farm is known in that section as the “oil well farm.”

Kingsley – The Valentine social held at Aqua Inn last Friday evening was enjoyed by all.

Herrick Center – The Highland motorcycle club met at their rooms, at Tennant’s Garage, Saturday evening. The membership is growing and all report the club a big success. Send in your application at once and be a charter member.

Jersey Hill, Auburn Twp. – Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Stevens and son, Master Elwyn, were much surprised at their new home, Feb. 8, when 55 of their friends came in to spend the evening. Mr. Stevens just moved from Springville Hill to the Rifenbury farm at Jersey Hill. Splendid refreshments were served at midnight, after the younger set had indulged in various games. People in the neighborhood are very glad to have these estimable young folks move there. At Shannon Hill farmers are improving this little run of sleighing by hauling lumber, and everybody who has logs to haul are getting them into the mill on sleighs. Tom Crawford, of Auburn Center, is getting out saw logs in C. A. Dean’s woods and hauling them to Meshoppen.

Lynn, Springville Twp. – The pie social held at the home of C. O. Button and wife was a decided success in every particular. Fifty pies were auctioned off by A. D. Crisman and brought the enormous sum of $40.00. Some of them ran up as high as $1.80 each. Rather a stiff price for an ordinary pie. Oh, well, as it was for a good cause it will do. ALSO Several from here attended the funeral of the late G. W. Lewis last week. He was a man of about 80 years of age and a veteran of the civil war.

Springville – All the contestants for the piano at Lee Bros. want to get busy, as the contest closes March 31. Those who entertain for one hour at the store during business hours, by piano or vocal music, are to get 10,000 coupons instead of 1,000 as previously given. This extra amount can only be obtained during the present week. ALSO The Ladies’ Aid will serve a dinner at the church on Feb. 22. George and Martha Washington will be on the reception committee, and will extend a cordial welcome to all.

Middletown Center – Our famous huntsmen, Frank Conboy, Alfred and Harry Jones, are having splendid luck hunting foxes as they killed six this week.

Montrose – The Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. will open a store in Montrose the first of April, having leased the W. A. Cooley store building on South Main street, now occupied by D. Simon. Mr. Simon will go to Binghamton and open a clothing store in that city. ALSO The Montrose Motor Car co., L. H. Sprout & Sons, Prop’rs, has sold the following cars during the week: Undertaker J. C. VanCampen, a Chevrolet roadster; I. D. Hawley, a Chevrolet touring car; S. W. Oakley, a 6-cylender Oakland touring car. The firm reports many local people are purchasing cars this winter, in anticipation of securing early spring deliveries. The great improvement made to dirt roads and the laying of macadam stretches by the state highway department they attribute in a large measure to the increased desire on the part of local people to buy cars. This firm is also agent for the Paige, Chandler, Oldsmobile and G. & C. truck

Franklin Forks – The mercury was down to 20 below zero Tuesday morning at this place, which is the coldest we have heard reported.  In other sections it ranged from 12 to 18 below.

Gelatt – W. E. Gelatt, with a force of men and teams, are filling the ice house at the creamery with ice from Stearn’s Lake.

Forest City – Up in Forest City, seven years ago, they knew S. L. Rothapfel as a pleasant, extremely enthusiastic and very ambitious fellow citizen, running a little café with a nickelette on the side.  The same S. L. Rothapfel today is one of the most prominent moving picture house directors in New York city.  And energy, enthusiasm and ambition, plus intelligence, did it.  Probably not a week in which he is at his office in the Knickerbocker theater, where he is the director of the Triangle films being shown there, passes, but what he greets one or more persons from the Electric City [Scranton], whom he knew when he was a resident of Forest City. He attributes his success to the habit of studying human nature. In the beginning of his moving picture career he was sort of a doctor for small houses about the country, traveling from place to place, sizing up the houses, the audiences, and the shows and from the knowledge thus gained, picked out the flaws to eliminate in order to put the houses which complained of slow business, on their feet again. His success attracted metropolitan attention and in the last few years his climb has been rapid. He successively put new life into three big New York show houses and is now the guiding genius of the Knickerbocker. At the age of 33, when most men are beginning to put a little aside, this former Forest City resident and “Belasco” of the movies is said to be counting his fortune at half a million.