The record-union., 1898-01-11
THE CARRIERS MESSAGE.
Many Will Remember This Gus
tom. Which is Now DYING.


There are thousands who have been
born and reared within the walls of
a city who have never heard of car
rier's message" The words signify
nothing to them; in fact, in many of
the smaller towns the carriers mes
sage is a thing of the past. But there
are thousands of business men in mid
die life who we'll remember the days
when every country paper had car
rier's message to go with the New
Years edition of the paper. 1t was sup
posed to be the perQuisite Of the car
rier of the country weekly. In many
cases he was the devil" of the office,
and his small wages were made to as
sumo a respectable size when he was
through with the delivery of his paper
on New Years Day.
He stopped at every home, and woe
betide the selfish subscriber who re-
fused to buy copy of the message.
The next time the carrier came that
way in a beating storm he took no
pains to put the weekly in a dry place.
1t had to take it's chances in the rain,
and when the subscriber got his paper
it was in a damp, bad condition.
OF course, the price to be paid the
carrier rested with the generosity of
the subscriber. The rich people of the
town gave 81, and sometimes even
more The enterprising merchants
gave 80 cents, and the average gave a
quarter, while the poor gave only a
nickel or a dime Sometimes a good,
moth2rly old woman would think Of the
hard lot of the poor little carrier boy,
and to protect him against icy days
would knit him a pair of mittens and
good, long warm muffler. Sometimes
a pair of shoes was his portion, and,
occasionally, an overcoat made over.
In fact, anything and everything was
right and appropriate.
The amount that a carrier would get
from q paper with a circulation of a
thousand in prosperous town varied.
but a gentleman who at one time ran a
country paper says his carrier boy
would occasionally get as much as $50
putting everything on cash basis.
There may have been times when
money was plentiful when the carrier
boy would reap a reward even greater
than the amount here given.
But what did the message consist Of?
Almost everything, in fact, but in the
great majority of cases it was a poem
dwelling on local happenings of the
year and winding up with good hopes
for the future and CHEEKY wishes for
every subscriber to the ''Bugle."
Most generally it was printed on a
single sheet of paper, about twelve by
eighteen inches, and in some cases very
much larger, handsomely bordered with
no Ny{I 90
the Office Sometimes there was Dor
der of advertisements and sometimes it
was gotten out in a four-page shape.
Occasionally the carrier would be very
ambitious to outshine everything that
had gone before, and he would get
out quite pamphlet, with several con-
trbutions by local poets, prominent
ministers and lawyers. In fact, the
poem was generally the product Of
some one who could rhyme aptly and
touch off the happenings Of the year
in Il good-natured and laughable way,
even coIgratulating a young mother on
the advent of her first boy.
AS type of the poetry, here is a
verse that is recalled upon the spur
of The moment:
1.-THE carrier boy hopes next year will
bring us plenty that's good to eat,
And that our high school football team
will quit from getting beat
And that all the children will learn their
lessons and babies never cry,
And the town have plenty of fireworks
on the next Fourth of July
OF course the carrier boy had to
have a few verses that set out in a
graphic way all the woes and troubles
that beset him on his route. Especially
would there be a verse that would run
thus:
Through rain and hail and sleet and
snow.
The Bugle's' carrier boy most faith
fully has worked
Oft-time when freezing, on and on he'd
go,
Rather than have it said his hard work
he'd shirked."
At the close there would be a verse
of a pleading nature, to let you know
that he expected something more than
your blessing or good wishes. 1t might
run thus:
Reward him well, all those who have
been served,
And from your door turn him not empty
away.
Each week he'll come to brighten I'D the
home
And leave behind more than a passing
ray"
Perhaps the custom is still observed
in some of the smaller towns. but in
,ba ,pi-,ar cities n 20