Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1879-07-16
Dead-NOt Delivered.
Baltimore Every Saturday

Meeting the letter carriers as they
leave the post office with their bulky
sacks crowded with letters, one must
wonder how they can distribute each
and every one to its proper owner; but.
bless you! they 60 further than that.
After they have been on q route for a
while they can tell much more about a
family than they ever do. They know
II one of the children is away, if visit
ors are coming, if any of the relatives
are dead, and man. other things hardly
known to the nearest neighbor. An
envelope is nothing but an envelope to
you. You may criticise the hand
writing and the photography, but be-
You'd that you care nothing. To the
letter-carrier it is book. He knows
when father and mother arc coming
where a truant boy is-whether the
family is respected or not-and Sarah's
beau cannot blind the carrier by get
velope.
One day one of the oldest carriers
had letter left over after he had gone
his usual round. 1t was directed to q
woman living in little old house stand
ing back from the street, and as he
studied the address he said to himself
that he never had an epistle for her be-
fore In all the SIX Or seven years he had
been on the route. The postmark was
that of an Office in the east, and the
carrier unused to himself:
| This is from her son, and she will
be crying before [ am out of sight"
He delivered the letter to a white
faced woman Of sixty, who seemed to
be living all alone, and she looked sur
prised as he placed it in her hand.
" a letter for mel haven't relative
on earth!" she gasped.
But he left it with her.
In about three weeks a second letter
came, and the old lady opened the door
before the carrier was inside the gate.
She did not say that it was from her
son, but the carrier knew for all that,
and he hoped that the truant boy had
settled down Tor life. and was writing
cheerful words and sending aid to his
poor old mother. Regularly every
three weeks, for half year or more,
there came q fat-looking letter for the
old woman in the little cabin; and If
the letter was a day late her white
face at the window reproached the
carrier more than words could have
done. If it was a day earlier she was
at the door to meet him, knowing his
step from all others who passed that
way.
The other day, when the carrier
found the buff envelope, directed in the
old, familiar, cramped hand, he said to
himself:
i" will hurry around to-day, for the
last time [ saw her she seemed i'll and
weak, and a letter will give her new
strength"
He opened the gate with bang to
give her warning, but no white face ap-
peared at the window, and no hand
raised the door-latch. The carrier
knocked on the door for the first time
and after moment woman opened il
and said:
"She is dead, and she hasn't a relative
in this city"
Among the letters to 60 to the dead.
letter Office next week will be one across
whose face is written whole chapters in
three words, " Dead-not delivered
An old woman has passed away-a cot
tage is deserted-a letter returned. The
world will see nothing in these simple
facts, but yet in them is contained al
the sentiment God has ever given tc
any human heart.