Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-09-15
THE POSTMAN'S
STORY.

The postman was lounging on the Gus
tom house steps, idly tossing some coins
up in the air. The reporter, passing
him, noticed the CLINT of gold and stop
ped.
'.Struck it rich?" he asked pleasantly
nodding at the goldpieces. Been to the
klondike?"
'No; but somebody else has," the post
man replied, holding up handful of s.;
goldpieces for inspection.
Lets have the story"
'I've seen women anxious for letters
but never saw one before who seemed SC
crazy about it. When l was a square off
could see her leaning out of her window
eagerly watching for me. Sometimes
she would walk down to meet me, pre-
tending that she was going down town
and feared she would miss her mail. But
she always turned back home again in q
hopeless kind of way when she found
there was no mail for her.
''This kind of thing kept up for about
four months, during which time she new.
er got SO much as postal card, although
she looked for something every delivery,
when l began to notice a change in her
appearance.
"At first | thought it was only on ac-
count of her disappointed expectations,
but / found out that there was another
cause, and terrible one, to blame. i
saw her pick up an apple a child threw
away in the street and after looking
around to see whether any one was look
ing and, not seeing me, devour it raven
ously. Then l knew that grim poverty
had her in its grip and that she was
slowly, but surely starving. Of course
| dared say nothing at the time, for, in
spite of her poverty she was a real lady,
but l thought about it all day and could
hardly sleep that night for thinking of it.
Il waited day or two, thinking the
letter she kept expecting would come,
but. as she seemed to get weaker and still
there was no letter, / made up my mind
to speak and offer her help. Of course I
knew it was n delicate matter, but /
thought if ! told her the truth about my
self and convinced her that / was actu-
ated by the best motives she would let
me help her. So spoke to her. and told
her had matter of the utmost impor-
tance to her to communicate and asked
her to meet me that night at a quiet res
taurant near by. My manner was so re-
spectful-and l think I'm pretty honest
looking fellow-that after giving me q
searching look she complied. As soon as
she came into the eating room l made her
eat, for l saw that she was faint from
hunger, and after little demur she con-
sented. Then l began at once, told her
all about myself and said that 1 knew
she was in trouble and begged her to let
me help her as one man would help an
other. She almost broke down when she
told me her story.
''Her husband had gone to the Klon-
dixie with company of gold seekers a
year before. He left her with just enough
money to live on for year, expecting to
be home by that time, with fortune of
course. She would have got along very
well, although she was in a strange city,
but she was cheated out of most of her
money and could find no work-indeed
by that time she was not strong enough
10 work if she had had any to do. She
had no relatives to whom she could apply
and so was living on hope that her hus,
band would send her money or return.
''It had been so long since she heard
from him that she feared he was dead.
tried to cheer her by telling her how
uncertain the mails We're, how easy 1t
was for them to get lost and told her l
believed he was on his way home. Then
I begged her to borrow money from me
enough to last her through another
month and to keep up heart until her