The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-04-28
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
Philosopher Tells of the Time When
Postage Was Two Bits q Letter.
atlanta Constitution.

There is perhaps no invention nor
continuance that has brought more
comfort to mankind than that Of let
tiers and their easy transmission by
modern postal service. How wonder
fully cheap they are and how swiftly
they come and go! Only 2 cents to
the utmost limit Of the United States
say 1000 miles, and only 5 cents to be
carried across the ocean. 1t takes
only 2 cents to carry a letter to the
City Of Mexico, but it takes 5 cents to
bring one back.
My wife says that it is hard on Carl,
for besides his weekly letter to us he
has many friends, and the girl he left
behind him, and his postage is quite
a tax. She thought I ought to write
to President Diaz and Mr.. Mckinley
and demand ]rccipocracy, just for
Carl's sake, but I compromised by
promising to %inclose a dime in every
letter [ wrote to the boy. In almost
every mail that comes she is on the
lookout for a letter from some of the
absent ones, and when she gets one
she reads it two or three times and
files it away on her side Of the room.
The morning aud the evening mail has
become as important an event in the
routine of our daily life as our daily
meals. 1t is an event that has grown
on us and become indispensable. Time
was when neither she nor / received a
letter a month, for she had no lover
but me and I had none but her, and
our postal service was a darkey boy.
It was like that Of Zcb Vance, who
received a note from society wonaanin
Washington with the mysterious let
tiers, "R. S. V. P.," endorsed on it,
and when he answered it he put on
one corner, rs. B. A.. NJ" just to
keep up with society, he said. When
she afterwards asked for an explana-
ton, he smiled and said: ooh, they
stood for Sent by niger
I remember when the postage had
to be paid at the last end Of the line
by the person who received it, and it
was % cents if it came 500 miles. If
less than that, but from out Of the
State, it was ISL cents, and if within
the State it was 124 cents. We had
no decimal currency then, but We had
the seven pence (124 cents) and the
thrip (6f cents) and they were wor to
the quick from constant use. Moth
ing told their value except their size.
We received the great United States
mail twice a week, and the footing Of
the stage drivers horn as he rose to
the brow Of the distant hill aroused
all the people of the little village, and
most of them gathered at the postof-
fee to hear-the news. Perhaps there
were as many as twenty weekly pa
pers taken in the town, but none of
them made mention of murders, or
suicides, or ly~nchings, or Opponents,
or baseball, or football, OF bicycle ra-
ces, or the fashions, or rewards for
guessing, Of advertisements Of celery
compound, or photographs Of men or
women or babies, or the arrival of any
body less than a president or a COVER
nor. But in our State papers there
we're some little pictures or cuts of
hasty departures-runaways-and all
were uniformly advertised: Gran away
from the subscriber, my boy Dick,
etc., and I will give $40 reward for his
apprehension"
But now the letters-ah, the letters
that come every day! Besides the
family letters from kith and kin,
there are scores from good people who
are working for church or charity, or
want information about Florida or
Mexico. Very often I am ccmforted
with compliments which I love to re-
ceive, and very often / get a good,
long letter from some old-time Geor-
gian who, for half a century, has been
living in Texas or Arkansas, or some
where in the great West. It pleases
me to reply to all and make the best
answer that I ian. But perhaps |
had better say just here that | have
long since ceased to write compost
tions for the school girls or to assist
the boys in their debating societies.
I wish sincerely that I had time to
help them, but I have not. I know
how it is, for I used to get help my
self.
But some Of these letters are anus
ing. One received a few days ago is
very urgent to have my opinion upon
the propriety or improperly of a Chris
tian man digging a storm pit and get
ting in it when the cyclone gives it's
warming. Is it sinful or not to show
such lack of faith in God? He says
they are making a church question
of it in his community. / have had
several letters asking for assistance in
guessing the missing word that the
Constitution offers a thousand dollars
for. These letters, Of course, are con-
fdential, and some beg me not to men
ton it even to Mrs. Arp. But the de-
licious humor in one Of them is the
offer to give me half the reward if l
would disclose to her the word. That
is very like the generous fellow who
told the boy that if he would furnish
his own hooks and lines and bait he
would give him half the fish that he
caught.
Since my last letter about how to
raise children was published / have
had several very comforting epistles
from friends and some from strangers.
Rev. William II. Strickland makes
mention of several families from old
Gwinnctt whose children are all grown
and are esteemed by all who know them
as good people-honest, l%aw:abiding
and temperate. He names the three
sons and five daughters of my old
friend Jim Dunlap. Also the eight
children of Rev. D. H. Moncrief, one
of whom now lives in Atlanta and has
five sons and five daughters, all grown
up and all good men and women. John
and Mary B. Sammons, his wife, had
thirteen to grow to maturity, and they
were all good. How rich those parents