The Press., 1894-08-30
Correspondence of the Hartford Times.) ONLY WOMAN MAIL CARRIER.


 ONLY WOMAN MAIL CARRIER.
 It was while was spending my yaca- tion this summer away from all thought of assignments" or scoops" drinking in the pure, invigorating air which the healthy town of Willington is so noted for, that first heard of the woman stage driver as reality, and not as the heroine of fiction, existing in some imaginary ''town of C-'' in far-away western state. 1 immediately made up my mind that the route on my return to the city should take in trip on this stage with this woman driver. An early ride of few miles one morning brought me to the his- toric old town of Ashford, in Windham county. Near the post office, from which the stage starts, there is a sturdy old elm tree, under whose spreading branches Washington and his staff stopped to eat their dinner while on hurried journey to Boston. The gallant General Lyons of Revolutionary fame, and his tired army of .Continentals, also camped out over night on this spot, and in an ancient dwelling-house near by there is small, old-fashioned pane of glass of deepgreen- ish tinge bearing some initials which the wife of General Lyons is said to have scratched on there with her diamond ring
 Shortly before 6 the woman driver, Charlotte Waldo, drove up in carriage and went into the office, appearing min ute later with a United States mail pouch on her arm. She was of medium height, and although not fieshy, her entire build suggested great strength and endurance. Her face and hands were as red as boil ed lobster, from the exposure to all kinds of weather. Her hair cut short and part ed in the middle, huge black eye-goggles, a black sailor hat with a white ribbon and a huge bow much the worse for wear, a pair of large mems shoes upon her feet and the resolute determined look on her face, all gave her decidedly masculine appearance as she stood there with one hand on the carriage, ready to get in, and the other holding the mail bag. But the dress, gingham with huge plaids, made plain and loose, instantly declared her sex. Starting promptly at 6, we had gone probably about a quarter of mile when @ man came out of a house and handed her letter as we trotted by. This she explained to me was the "open mail ser vice." All along the route she receives these letters, having thirty regular every day and about twenty more of the less regular ones. As she comes to post office, the letters she has collected since leaving the last office on the route are duly brought forth from the depths of a mysterious pocket in the inside of her dress, and turned over to the postmaster, when they are cancelled and placed in the pouch with the rest of the mail.
 I had become quite used to seeing her deftly grab the letters as we drove by, when a new system appeared. We were progressing along at a good, fair clip, when she suddenly turned to the side of the road, and grabbing two strings hang ing out of small box on a post, she gave sudden twitch and landed waterproof bag in the carriage. The bag was closed at the top with gathering strings, which are hung out of the box for her to take hold of. In appearance, it very much re- sembled a skate-bag. This, she informed me, was the "private mailbag service.' J These bags, as in the case with the let. ters, are turned over to the first postmas- ed, was the most annoying of all, is the "private mail box" This system is used by those who haven't enough mail matter to afford the private-bag system, and who are not always in the house when the stage goes by so as to give or receive mail matter. In appearance the system is the same as the private mailbag, there being a long, narrow box fastened on the end to post in such manner that it hangs out over the side of the road like an inverted | l.. No mailbag is used, however, the mail matter just being placed in the box | with stone over 1t so it will not blow away. A white rag is hung out of the box | in place of the gathering strings, as sig. nal that the mail is there. The driver ex. | pressed her bad opinion of this system ir very decided manner, as she is com pelled to stop in order to get the letter pull it from under the stone and put the rag inside. After changing the mail al West Ashford, we came up long hill, al | the top of which was fine, large farm owned by man worth over $100, ,000, an6 yet so close is he that when any of his children come home to see him, he calls the first week of their stay visit, but af ter that they must pay their board.
 1 At Mansfield Four Corners another sort ing of the mail was made. Just before reaching Mansfield, on the New London Northern road, we passed the famous Reynolds farm, one of the most noted il New England. The farm comprises sew eral hundred acres of land, all of which is surrounded and sub-divided into lots by massive stone walls. Some of these walls are about four feet high and wide enough on top to drive a double team on. A regular intervals and on each side of tht gates are huge stone pyramids fifteen fee high and twelve feet in diameter at tho base, all being perfectly rounded and ter minating at the top in capstone. Paten self-acting gates guard all openings in tho walls in place of the "bars" usually found on all farms. To the rear of the mansion in which the owner lives is private trot ting park, where his stable of thorough breds are trained. There are a number
 of fine dwelling houses scattered about
 at different points upon the farm and oc cupied by the farm hands, of which ther' is small army Stock raising and al | kindc of farmino arc carried on here in ,