Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1884-04-24
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
He Talks Of tho Time When His
Father Was Postmaster.
The Difference Between Then ana
Now. Postage, letter Writtng,
and Mail CnrryInx.- Ma tx
perlonce ~ Mail Boy.
ATLANTA Constitution.

up Va mails In q country town. The dliI"r-
pnce between now and then shows the worlds
progress in privilege and pleasure that is
hardly excelltd in any other branch of I'M
plovenent. We couldn't bear to be set back
again in hat line to the old ways that our
fathers thought were pretty COOL There
were no stamps and no envelopes, and no
mucilage The paper was folded up like a
thumb paper, anil one side slipped in the
other aud sealed with wafer. The little
schoaiboys, You know, had 10 use thumb
papers in their spelling books to keep them
clean Where their dirty thumbs kept the
pages open. Girls didn't have to uss them,
for they were nicer and kept their ha"ds
c,can, and didn't wear out tie leaves by the
friction Of their fingers
Boys are rough things anyhow, and don't
SEQ what nice, sweet, clean, pretty girl
wants with one Of 'ein. Girls they say are
male Of sugar and spice aud all that's nice,
but boys are made of snaps and sna!ls and
puppy dogs tails Josephus says, that wien
the queen of Sheba was tie ,tiny Solomons
wisdom, she la fftv boys and fifty girls all
dressed alike in ei Is clothes and seated
arou I'd a big room, and asked the king to
pick out the boys from the girls, and he called
for basin of water and hal it carried
around to each one and told them to wash
their hands. The girls all rolled up their
sleeves a little bit. but the boys just sloshed
their hands in any way and got water all
over t"eir aprons, and so tho king spotted
every mothers son of 'em.
The postage II ed to bo regulated by the
distance that Uncc San carried the letters.
1t was 121a cents anywhere in the state, and
1891 cents to Charleston and IS cents to New
York. II was ver prepaid. "A man could
eflict another with n pistareen Letter that
wasn't worth 5 cents. A pistareen, You
know, was 1884 cents-that is 7 pence
and "Trip. We hal 10 dimes or half dime $.
The do llr was cut up into oighhs instead Of
t.nths. When a countryman called for let
tors and got ono tie would look at it some
time and turn it over and mediate before he
paid for it, AMI very often they would say,
"Where did this letter come fromf Well, |
would say for instance, at como from Dab
lone.a--dont You see Dahloncga written UP
on the corners" Then he would say, "Nell,
reckon it's from Dick, my brother Dick.
He is up there digging gold. Don't you
reckon it's from ID ck" 81 reckon 1t is
said |. "Wby don't you open 1t and sees
"No, I'll wait until | get home. They'll all
want to see it, When he got home the let
ter would be an event in the family. and per
haps it would take them half an hour to
wade through it and make out its CONTENTS
Nine out Of ten of those country letters be-
gan, 81 take my pen in hand to let you, know
that am we !, and hope these few lines will
find you ENJOYING the sane blessing" My
father kept store, and his country customers
used to ask him to write their letters for them,
md lie always sent them to me, and most Of
them told me to b gin their letters that way.
There was not more than one in five could
write, but they were good, clever, honest
people, and paid their debts, but they hardly
ever paid up in full at tn end Of the year,
and 50 they gave their notes for the balance
and made their mark. My father use TO say
that he had known cases where man swor,
Off his written signature, but he never fnew
a man to deny his mark.
Our big northern mail used to come in a
stage from Madison twice We, X, ard used
10 think the sound of the stage horse us tho
stage came over the hill was one of the
sublimest things in the world, and thought
stage driver if could Well, come pretty
near it, for my father had hired a man to
lde tie mail to Roswell AMI back twice a
put ine on dlumcdary of horse and the
mail in some saodie-bag> behind me, ami |
had to make the foltv-eight miles in day
and kept it up all vi ter. | liked tn have
froze several times, and Ina to be lifted off
the horse wien got home and it nearly Lroke
my mothers heart, bat was getting Il dollar
trip AMI it was my money, and SO |
wouldn't back out. The old women on the
. 4, I, ...l a.,
missions and get me to bring them lit e
pepper, or corp ras, or biulng, or pins and
melies, or get me to take along socks and sell
Them and SO made friends and acquaint
nnces all the way. The fl st trip made, an
old woman haile,l me ana said, "Are you a
mail boy" "Why, yes, man, sad |, "you
,.ldn't think was female boy, did you" !
thought that was mighty smart, but t wasn't
vary civ il and it made her SO mad she never
told me what She wante |, and AS She turne |
her back on no heard her say, "l'il bet he
is Il little stuck up town boy"
NJ father was postmaster for nearly thirty
years. 1t didn't pay more than about 500 u
year, but it made his store more of q pubic
I,aca. He didn't know that anybody elSe
hankered after it or WAS trying to get II, but
all of Il sudden he got his orders to tlrn over
the Office to another man, an old line Wing
and a com petitor in business. 1t mortified
him very much and maize US all mad, for
there was no fault found 18th his manage,
ment, and lie never took much interest in
politics, but v.tcd for the man lie liked the
best whether he was IA Wing OF n Demo-
crat. Whom tc found out tat Alex Stephens
had ii done he wasn't a Stephens man any
more, and grew up with an idea that Nj.
Stephens was a Official fraud. didn'C UNI
dersianl the science of politics as well ms
90 now. told Mr.. Stephens about it one
Night in Mlielseville when we were al in a
K ,od humor and were talking about the old
times of Wings and Democrats, and no
SMILED and said, yes, we had to do the SO
things, and sometimes they were very dis
agreeable