St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1865-10-05
THE POST OFFICE CLERK.

A"e eo1tor VI tue ClarG county (O.)
Democrat gives in the following arti.
cles the result OF an experience as a
post office Official, which will doubtless
be recognized by many Of our readers
as similar to their owns. -,
For sometime We have been proposing,
to ourselves, to saw few words for an
humble but important individual, found in
every village and city in our country.
That individual is the post Stliss u elssf(kd lssf{(kd
the affairs of the public. The .prea cher
and priest arc acquainted with the stand
ing Of their Pensioners the doctor viii,
many secrets of his patients the lawyer
with the business aud legal difficulties of
his clients, but the post Office clerk is ac-
quainttd with every one in the commusi,y,
With their business trade and their in
trigues. .-.
In former years We spent some time In
the post Office department. and knew prac-
tically the every day labors, trials and
amenities of the post office clerk To many
the calling of the post offic: clerk seems an
easy one, pleasant occupation. In this.
such persons aro wofully mistaken We
still remember our first days experience in
the business. and only necessity prevented
it from being the last. Legs as stiff AZ
wooden ones, We were. in pain from head
to feet, too tired to undress before retiring.
more dead than alive.
The post Office clerk must be at his work
long before the mechanic, snd does not end
his labor till the robust farmer has taken a
sweet, refreshing sleep. When the clork's
work is done his feet are weary; his path
is q checkered one. Consider for mo-
ment how labyrintLine arc the footsteps of
clerk in our post Office, Two steps to the
north, one to the south, back to the start
ing point, now to the east, now to the
west, now right angle, now an acute, his
feet describe. He also moves upon the line
Of beauty: lie describes circle, spiral
curve and an sellipse, and in fact moves D.
on every known line. His line Of motion
for one day would make years hard study
for the mathematician. Every muscle is
brought into exercise hands and feet are in
constant motion. Nor are his senses left
uncultivated. His sight must be good !;
hearing perfect. He must know who is it
that comes veilcd like II prophecies, must
read addresses TIM. should be magniied
ten times to be. legible He must incline
his ear to hear the golden but low whis-
perlngs of the bashful young lady who
trembles as she gives her name. His mem-
ory must be excellent-a thousand things
are told to him in the course of day, all
Of which he IS expected to remember. If
he fail to remember any one Of these par
ticulars he will be punished most excru-
c,atlngly, it may be, by some young lady
who does not want her pa to know that she
corresponds with some young rake-she
wants to get her own letters. In every
town there are half dozen John Smiths
\ Il =. -FyEE Z .t
when q; letter arrives for John Smith, the
clerk must know for which one it is-he
must know, if possible, from what place
esch ofthe John Smiths gets his letters.
The clerks will be most fortunate if, he re-
members all the orders delivered to him,
and if he does not, he will be most unfor-
tunate, for he will be most severely tongu, {.
lashed and insulted. No one that we know
Of must have as much patience as the post
Office clerk If he has not patience he will
have most miserable lifo. If he has not a
good deal of Job in him, We cannot see how
he can get along without half dozen fights
daily. He must have either patience or
cowardice, else he must fight his way. The
clerk seeing SO much rudeness necessarily
loves gentility, and no one better than he
knows how 70 appreciate kindness. What
little kindaess he meets with Il an oasis Of
'lsssssEs n : atshty dslpst u padn.