The San Francisco call., 1899-01-01

separated. 1t carries across the sea
some tender lovers message or perhaps
a little flower picked from the daisied
grave of an English churchyard. Every
hour OF every day the commonplace
mail bag is packed with the secrets Of
laughter, and words which deepen the
furroW in the cheek and dim the failing
sight with bitter tears.
But with all this there is going on
through the mail service dissemina-
tion of human knowledge, a reaching
cut of human help which is one Of the
crowning blessings of our century. The
correspondence schools led by Chautau-
qua are sending to every village and
hamlet the broader knowledge which Is
so eagerly craved by many who are
shut in to the homely duties OF an
humble life. Without the mail system
this plan of education would be utterly
non existent.
Every mail, too. carries from the
great centers the advice of great ply
sicians, which it would be impossible
for the distant public TO obtain were it
not for the mails. Few people realize
how many thousand people depend ON
the mail service for medical treatment.
Not long ago when some postal affairs
were being discussed in connection with
the erection of the new postoffice build
ing in Buffalo. n. Y, some light was
thrown on this subject by the state
ment that the mail by DIR. r. V. Pierce
amounted daily to something over I50o
pieces. OF course, this is not common
case, because DR.. Pierce's relation as
chief consulting physician to Buffalo's
famous institution, The Invalids Hotel
and Surgical Institute, makes his advice
and that of his staff of nearly score
of skilled and experienced specialists
much sought after, especially by
! tO and n
whose special diseases DR.. Pierce has
devoted over thirty years of almost
constant labor. But though this ex-
ample is out Of the ordinary, it may
serve as an evidence of the amazing
benefits reaped by the public from the
mail service. 1t puts every outlaying
hamlet in touch with the most ad-
vanced medical specialism of the day.
1t gives at the cost of 2-cent stamp
the skill and experience that 1t has
taken years to acquire. Literally, at
the cost of a 2-cent stamp, since DR..
Pierce invites sick women to consult
him by letter without charge. And this
would seem to be one of the most re-
markab BILE services rendered by the pos
tai system, perhaps the supreme service
of all. For while it is a splendid thing
to be able to shop in New York while
living in Kansas and grand thing to be
able to command the learning of great
professors while working in the Michi-
gan woods, it is a still grander thing
that by means of this cheaply supplied
service men like DR.. Pierce, who have
the disposition to be helpful, are en-
abled to place their skill and knowledge
at the disposal Of those who are being
dragged down by disease, without the
possibility Of help from those about
them. When one contemplates the vast
and far-reaching benefits of the mail
service so briefly touched upon in this
article, it makes the familiar gray uni
form of the postman the most glorious
of all uniforms, for it is worn by the
soldiers of the army of peace. 1t makes
Cne feel like taking his hat off to the
on-rushing mail train and cheering the
work and wisdom of Uncle Sam.