Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-08-26
IN THE MOUNTAINS.
The Primitive Way In which rost-Ohlc"a
Are Conducted In the Rockies.


A gentleman who spent summer
travelling in the Rocky mountains gives
the following account of little gray
haired old lady he found living alone
i'm a log cabin of two rooms far up the
slope Of Il most leSolate mountain. The
cabin was mile from any other house.
and the nearest town was ten miles
distant. On shelves back of Il little
pine counter in n corner Of the room
were can, Of tomatoes, peas and corn,
few bars of soap. boNc, OF matches
and can, of condensed milk.
II keep little grocery store, and
thread ami needles and pins and such
things. bcin's I'm postmistrcss," said
the old lady in the chccriest OF voices.
"Po,tmiS,rcss?' qucricd the traveller.
"Oh. yc>," was the reply.
"Whcrc are the letters and the
onlcca'
Here" as she smilinSly took a
cigar box down from shelf and, open
ing it, showed tic man dozen or
more letter, bearing evidence OF hay.
ing been handled many times.
''rhc mali comes two times week,
Wednesdays and Saturdays; but most
# IL, 10y con, round Saturdays"
"Thc boyS?" asked the stranger.
"Ycs; the proSpcctors and miners
scattered all around over the hills.
There's n good many Of en-, but they
don't write much nor get many letters.
Still. the po,t-oIlicc is comp'ny for me.
II brngs all the boys to see me once in
while. Ar, You going up by the
Lone Star minc?'
mo. | think not" said the traveller.
"No? Well. il YOU was, there's q
postal here for Jack Downing. II says
ON It that he i TO come TO Denver
right off, and rd like to send II to him
soon as can. lalwayS read the pnstals.
The boys don't care, and | get real
lonesome sometimes y
Just then 4 miner came along and
asked:
IL, Bill IcAlcr's Weekly Republican
como yet from Dcnvcr?'
Yes" was the reply; "but YOU tell
Bil III send it mp to-morrcr hy the
,iagc-lrivcr; ain't done rcadin' ii my
self vet. Bill won't care; he never
reads it until Sunday, nohow. Ii YOU
see sila, sharpe, YOU tell him there's Il
postal here from his wife, and the
baby's got the whoopin' cough. but 1t
ain't whoopin' yet an his wife don't
think it'll have il hard
ANY letters Tor any of the boys up
our way?"
"No. hut there's one here for some
body named }. B. Ryder. Know any
such man.
mo"
Neither do a. It's in thin envcl.
opc. and can see, by holdin' it up TO
the light, that it's signed Your own
Sarah. 50 l guess he's married, or
about to he. If he don't come round
soon, dono but I'll open it and gc,
the address and send ii back TO his
own Sarah. and tell her he aint here. "
When the man had gone, the old
lady said to the traveller:
'"Ycs, the post-oilicc Is n sight OF
comp'ny spcshly when there's lots o
papers and postals comm and goin'.
Then sometimes write and read let.
tiers for some that can't write. Now,
here's letter for John Brice just come
in. lie ought to have it right of"
"But it has been opened" said the
traveller.
"Oh. Ia. yes! / opened it myself. J
wrote the letter it's in answer to, and
I'll have to read this to John Brice,
anyhow. He can: read writin'. And
| felt real anxious to know II his letter
cot to his wife; il had ten-dollar bill
in it. Here comes Bob Haight. Poor
fcller! | declare, II was alone I'd
shut up the post-oilice and hide some
place; for it just makes my heart ache
to tell that poor crcctur that there ain'i
no letter yit for i'm. He's been q
comm for weeks, lookin' for a letter
from home, and none comes. I'm
mighty afraid there's trouble there.
Well, well, I'll just have to tell him
they amt no letter. and then chirk him
I'M best | can. Poor fcllcr!"-Phiid.
delphia CaA