The Benton weekly record. [volume] (Benton, Mont.) 1880-1885, 1880-02-06
Some Strange Letter Carrier
Reports.

Meeting the letter carriers as they leay
the postoff1ce with their bulky sacks crowd
ed with letters, one must wonder how the.
can distribute each and every one to it
, proper owner; but, bless you, they g
further than that. After they have beer
on route for while they can tell yo,
much more about family than they eve
do. They know if one of the children i
away, if visitors are coming, if any OF tbs
relatives are dead; and iiany other thing;
hardly known to the nearest neighbor. Al
envelope is nothing but an envelope tt
you. Y ou may criticise the handwriting
and the orthography, but beyond that you
care nothing. To the letter carrier it is a
book. He knows when father and mother
are coming, where truant boy is, whether
the family is respected or not, and Sarah's
beau can not blind the carrier by getting
some one else to direct the envelope.
One day one Of the Oldest carriers had a
letter left over after he had gone his usual
rounds. It was directed to woman liy-
ing in little old house standing back
| from the street, and as he studied the adj
dress he said to himself that he had never
had an epistle before for her in all the six
or seven years he had been on that route.
The post-mark was that of an office in the
East, and the carrier mused to himself:
'sThis is from her son, and she will be
crying before / am out Of sight,
He delivered the letter to a white-faced
woman of so, who seemed to be living all
alone, and she looked surprised as he
placed it in her hand. ~
"a letter for mel haven't relative on
eartfl!'' she gaspeu.
But he left it with her.
In about three weeks a second letter
came, and the old lady opened the door be-
fore the carrier was inside the gate. She
did not say the letter was from her son, but
the carrier new for all that, and he hoped
that the truant boy had settled down for
life, and was writing cheerful words and
sending aid to his poor old mother. Regu-
lar1y every three weeks, for half a year or
more, there came fat looking letter for
the old woman in the little cabin; and if
the letter was 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 that
passed that way:
The other day, when the carrier found
the buff envelope, directed i'll the old f;t-
miliar, cramped up hand, he said to him
self:
81 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 appeared
at the window, and no hand raised the
door-lateh. The carrier knocked at the
door for the first time, and after moment
a woman opened it and said:
''She is dead, and she hasn't relative
in the city.
Among the letters to go to the dead-let-
ter 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 cottage is
deserted-a letter returned. The world
will see nothing in these simple facts, but
vet in them is contained all the sentiment
that God has ever given to any human
being.-Balttmore Eucry Saturday.