Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-12-03
Sam Harding's "Dead Letter."

MS AoWiiy ou " Spoe h'S5" ~ N"
River, at which point he built himself a
log-cabin, rude ferry-boat, and small
caral for the two or three faithful by whose
aid he had reached the site of his new
home Sans wife-a good, notable, In
dustrious woman-aided by their son-a
stout boy of twelve-took charge Of the
ferry, while the head of the household,
armed with long rife, did up the hunt
ing necessary to supply the family with
meat. This division of labor suited Sam
exactly, and as it was no very laborious Of
fce to ferry over the few travellers who at
that early day passed that way, Mrs Ii
cheerfully took upon herself the duty
Time rolled on, and Sam not only i'm
proved in outward appearance, but IN
proved his cabin and ferry also, and altho'
he did not give up his favorite pursuit, he
did not daily, as before, sally forth with
his rifle. One day his settlement, which
had considerably increased in Inhabitants,
was thrown into state Of excitement by
the arrival of a mail wagon, and besides
the mail, the driver brought private let
ter to Sam, which contained commission
appointing him Postmaster! Sam swore
at once that he wouldn't have it, but the
mail carrier told him he must accept it
that he was appointed, and if he refused,
was Halle to arrest for treason Sam
had an indistinct recollection Of Owe
Arnold being executed for turning traitor
during the Revolution, and the recollec-
ton of his ignominy, and the persuaslons
of his wife, who was gratifed at Sans of
fetal elevation, at length overcame his OBJ
iections. Agreeable to what he conceived
to be his duty, according to instructions,
namely, to open the mail with closed doors,
be turned his family out of the cabin while
he assorted the contents of the bag. The
letters for that point were of course few,
and the duty Of distributing them would
have been light to some men, but 1t was
vast labor to Sam.
His official honors hung heavy upon
him, but he staggered under the weight
with becoming dignity, until one day along
came letter, which evidently had strayed
from its proper destination. Itwas direct
ed as follows: "SANUEL HARPER, Har-
per's Ferry, Va" The chircgraphy on
the outside of this epistle was so bad that
no one would own it. Sam said it couldn't
be for him, because there was no one cor
responded with him except the Post Office
Department, SO the missive remained un-
called for. At length, our new Postmas-
ter became anxious to make some DISPOSE
ton Of it; he accordingly consulted his
neighbors, and they, after due deliberstion,
unanimously agreed that it was dead
letter, and that it was Sans duty to carry
it to Washington, where they had heard the
Dead Letter Office was located. Carrying
this defunct epistle to its manuscript grave,
at length became Sans necessity-when
with a sad heart, new buckskin suit, his
old nag Pete brushed up and saddled, and
the dead letter rolled up in dozen folds
of what was once the tail of his tow shirt,
over which his wife carefully 8 wed COW
ering of buckskin, Sam prepared to make
his eventful journey. 1t Is needless to
saw that before be consigned his destiny to
the road, he went around the settlement
and kissed all TIE women farewell-the
Young ones especially, and then with his
trnstv rife in hand he turned Pete's head
in the direction of the Capital.
Nothing important occurred to inter-
rupt his progress, until one morning, when
he kad fairly progressed into the hills of
VIRGINIA, and was trayersing what was in
those days dreary region. Suddenly he
noticed two wolves stealthily following
him, but among the catalogue of four
,ccced animals Sam ranked wolves as of
rerv sl;ght account He, however, had
uuder-es.imated the large grey prowler of
tho Allerhenies. Presently the number of
these former quiet followers began to IN
crease, and ere long the foremost Of them
broke into a howl of confidence. This
sound soon brought more to the ranks
Of the pursuers, until they finally began
to noke out their noses towards old Pete IN
such significant manner, and howl Sb-o-o-
oe.s r' after him so hungrily, that he
broka into an uneasy trot, then into
c,nter. and finally be began to- show them
his heels in very hasty kind of gallop.
SANS new travelling companions, however,
had no idea of being shaken off in this
manner but broke into louder howl and
an accelerated gait In short, a race COM
ucnced of most exciting nature, and
continued with but slight diminuticn Of
sneed for an hour,when it became apparent
fofbe Postmaster that old Pete would soon
he forced to yield the race to his compet'-
- Ian to hap. his breathing