davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04
Rapid Exfensi0n Of the
Rural Free Mail DeliUe,v
Routes Are Now in Operation in Nearly Every State and
Territory in the Union.

MO BRANCH of the government
N service is forging ahead faster
in its efforts to meet the de-
mands of a progressive people than is
our post Office department. Cheaper
postage, reduction of time in the collec-
ton, transit and distribution of mail,
and rural free delivery are three ques-
tons hat are receiving the greatest
amount of attention by those respon-
sible for the management of the de-
partment.
Rural free delivery is not yet five
years old, but it is a healthy and yigor-
Gus youngster that is well past the ex-
perimental stage. The first routes
were established on October 1, 1896, at
Halltown, Uvilla, and Charlestown, w.
Va. Others followed at nee, and by
the close of the fiscal year the expert
ment showed satisfactory results.
There were A routes in'the fall of
1897; this number increased to 12S in
1898, and on November /, 1899, had
jumped to 634. These radiated from
3s3 distributing points and served a
population of ASP, 735 persons. On June
SSs 4SOOs d 11t1C ulOIC t1du SLA 1uO1lLIS
later, the number of routes had grown
to 1,214 for a population of S79,127, and
in the next four months the system
again more than doubled its proper
tions, showing on November 1, 1900,
1851 routes for 1,s01,5 ? persons; and
there were also at hat date 2,15s ap-
plications for the establishment of
new routes, and on March /, 1901. the
applications numbered 4.517. The
whole of the United States is now laid
out in four divisions for the Inaugural
ton and maintenance of this service,
and the work is going forward with
steadily increasing volume.
President Mckinley, in his message
to congress of December 8, 1900, stated
that "the number of applications now
pending and awaiting action nearly
equals all those granted up to the
present time, and by the close Of the
fiscal year about 1000 routes viii have
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04
PITH AND POINT.

A man is in a bad way when his ru-
ture is all behind him.-Ram's Horn.
What did you do on the links to-
day?" Slit one man on the head
with a driver. slapped a caddy for
laughing and lost nine balls.-Irdi-
annapolis News.
at pears" said Uncle Eben, like
some men will turn plain, homes peo-
pie down an take up wifi confidence
men jes fob de sake o. de excite
ment."-Washington Star.
Jones-"T've just been doing some
thing that always makes me feel
cheap" Smith-'What is that?'
Jones-"Comparing my salary with
what / think it ought to be.'-Town
and Country.
The Careless Girl-"I've stuck a
needle into my finger and it bleeds
awfully." The Careful Woman
Mercy! I hope you thought to wipe
the needle; blood will make it rusty.
you know."-Boston Transcript.
Quite Another Thing.-'Flossie, if
you and Harry can't stop quarreling,
I shall not let you play tea-party any
more" "But this isn't a tea-party,
mamma. We're playing married, and
Harry is finding fault with my cook
ing."-Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.
Nervous Lady Passenger Ito deck
hand)-"Have you ever seen any
worse weather than this, Mr.. Sail
or?" Deck Hand-'Take a word
from an old salt, mum; the weather's
never very bad while there's any fe-
males on deck a-makin' henquiries
about it."-Fun.
Mrs. Jones-"Are you aware, Mrs.
Skinbone, that your dog has just bit
ten my little Willie?" Mrs. Skinbone
what, your Willie, who has only
Just got over the scarlet fever? Oh,
Mrs. Jones, if anything should hap
pen t. Fido, I'd never forgive you
Glasgow Evening Times.
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04

Swinton is going to give up her vaca-
ton and spend the money for that
poor sick Sallie-and she didn't ought
to. COS she's all run down anyway, my
mother says, and first thing she knows
she'll be sick herself" and Dottie
looked mournfully round on her COM
panions and gave a pathetic little
sniff.
"And whatever should we do if Miss
Swinton died." dolefully mourned
Tottie.
By thistimea1 all the kindergarten tots
and nor than half Of the Primaries
were in tears, and the rest were sniff
fling, and even the big girls looked red
eyed and mournful.
"And my said that Fourth
of July would be here day after to-
morrow, and I'd have some money
l might and she said: Yes"
Might what?"
What did you ask her?"
"How much money will you have?"
What did she say?"
els it all your own?"
Dottie looked around with the ap-
proving self-conscious smile that
comes from superior virtue, and Tot
tie answered for her sister:
"Of course it's all our own and
mamma said yes-we might give it to
Sallie Manson-and l said I was going
to ask everybody to give theirs too.
and then maybe Miss Swinton would
mt have to stay at home and die"
Dottie nodded solemnly and looked
eagerly around.
Its the Fourth of July money" she
said, explanatorily. "The money we'd
spend for firecrackers and t~orpedoes
and lemonade and going to Boston to
see the balloon"
"And the soldiers" chimed in Tottie.
"And the fireworks" finished Dot
tie. Mamma says it's always half a
dollar apiece, and most always more.
and she'll give US that, anyway, and
papa says maybe he'll chip in, too"
do you mean you're going to give
up your frecrackers and torpedoes
for the Fourth?" asked a big boy,
incredulously. Huh, you would be a
fooli"
Dottie turned on him.
ASSD u 01Ag III NoSSS
I'd rather never, never see a frecrack-
er again than to have my dear Miss
Swinton d-fe-e," and the blazing blue
eyes filed with tears at the mere
thought.
~or poor little Sallie Manson,
either" snapped Tottie.
Don't mind him, dear" cried Aggie
Davis, the prettiest of the big girls.
"Boys are mean things anyway They
couldn't be self-sacrificing if they
tried. We girls will all help you, Dot
tie. We can give up things that we
like better han boys like frecrack-
ers, and I'm going to ask ID to
take backthatlovely blue sunshade she
bought me yesterday-I guess Mr..
Black will give her back the money
when he knows what I want it for"
"Oh. how lovely of you'll"
"Isn't hat beautiful of herr" the
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04

The state oranges of Patrons of Hus-
bandry took up the subject and
brought strong pressure to bear upon
ricultural communities. Under these
incentives a number of small appropri-
ations were passed, but, as already
stated, were not used. The prevailing
sentiment, both in congress and among
the executive officers Oh the post office
department, as then constituted, was
that the plan of rural free delivery was
impossible of general adoption, and
that it would cost at least $50, 900 900 a
year to establish and maintain it.
Postmaster General Wilson S. Bis
sell declined to make any use of the
small appropriation of $4,000 for ex-
perimental rural free delivery in 1894.
His antagonistic views were concurred
in by the committee on the post Office
and post roads of the Fifty-third con-
gress, Hon. John S. Henderson, of
North Carolina, being chairman. But
many representatives had become
strongly interested in the project, and
in spite of the committees adverse re-
port, the appropriation was doubled.
Mr.. Bissell, however, again refused to
act. and it was not until after Hon.
William L. Wilson became postmaster
general that anything was done to
comply with the directions of con-
gress. Mr.. Wilson was appointed in
the spring of 1895. In his first report
he said that he had taken charge too
late in the fiscal year to undertake the
work. He agreed with his predecessor,
Mr.. Bissell, that the proposal was i'm
practicable, but he added that if con-
gress chose to make the money avail
able for the fiscal year 1897 he would
inaugurate the experiment by the best
methods he could devise. The re-
Spouse by congress was a second doub-
ling of the appropriation, putting S40.-
600 at his disposal.
Under this authorization, A routes
were selected in widely differing To-
calities in 20 states. The purpose was
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04
shake hands. Tommy. m TAX. a

"Shake hands, Tommy. I'll take 20
all back. Boys can be generous and
self-sacrifcing and smart too, Tom
my" Then she laughed a little and
Tommy twisted away, and with a shout
of: "Come on, fellersl" ran down to
the fence and jumped yer it-thfee
Understanding jump, and it was
most as high as Tommy's head, too.
Nobody stopped to play on the way
home that noon. Everybody ran just
as fast as their legs could carry them
that is-everybody but the Thomp-
SON twins. They walked very slowly
indeed, weighed down by the resPon-
sibi1ity of taking are of all that
money.
Miss Swinton, when she went to the
window at five minutes past II, won
dering It the unusual silence, opened
her eyes in establishment. Not a boy
or girl was in sight except the Thomp-
son twins, and they were slowly and
carefully turning the corner.
That afternoon when school opened
Dottie and Tottie walked up to Miss
Swinton's desk and carefully laid on it
two open boxes. One was nearly full
of pennies, fve-cent bits, dimes, quar-
tiers and halves, and one big silver
''cart-wheel." In the other reposed a
leathern pouch from whose open
mouth issued a perfect stream of
varied coins.
"Yessum," said Dottie, in answer to
an inquiring glance from her teacher.
They're from us-it's the money for
our firecrackers-"
"And lemonade and ice cream" put
in Tottie.
"And why do you bring it to me?
Do you want me to buy them for you
so you can celebrate here at SCHOOL,"
"Oh, mol" pleased" cried Dottie; give
it to Sallie Manson n then"
"And then you can go away"
"And have a vacation"
"And SallieM get we'll"
Sand you won't get tired out and
d-i-e-e," finished the twins together,
throwing four chubby arms round
Miss Swinton's neck and bursting into
tears, while they Rugged her till they
almost choked her to death.
When she could get her breath, Miss
Swinton thanked them all in such SIM
pie, earnest words that even the lit
tlest child understood how good and
brave and kind she thought they were.
Then she kissed all the girls and shook
hands with all the boys-and a proud
er, happier lot of children never
danced and made merry in the town
hall on any Fourth of July than the
Thompson twins and their classmates.
To be sure, there weren't any fire.
works OF refreshments. But the hap
py face OF Sallie's aunt, as she thanked
them all for the chance of life they
had given her little niece, was better
thar all the fireworks in h world;
and when Mr.. Sutphen made them a
speech and told them how proud he
was of the boys and girls of Ward Five.
it filed their hearts SO full that no
body thought of refreshments.
And did the big, big boys and girls
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04

in Mr.. Sutphen's own school do any
thing to help?
Why, of ourse they did! You didn't
suppose they would let the little ones
get ahead of them in generosity, did
you?
And between the two schools they
raised a little over 5000. So you see
there was enough to let Miss Manson
GO with Sallie to take are of her, and
when she came back in the fall, just
before Thanksgiving, "stingy old
Barker" told her aunt she might bring
Sallie to stay with her until her uncle
came back.
""Tain't likely she'll eat enough to
bankrupt me-" he muttered. "Any-
how, L amt goin' to let no passed. Of
children git ahead of me-"
In spite of the absence of fireworks,
and lemonade, and ice cream, all the
children-boys and girls too-agreed
that they'd never had so jolly a Fourth
of July before, but they changed their
minds the next year.
What happened7 Oh, you can guess.
can't you? Well. I'll help you out a
little. I'll just whisper two or three
words in your -ar-"Sallie's uncle
Klondikei"-Ladies' World, New York.
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04
KING OF ITALY's DISCOVERY.
Cause OF Victor Emmanuers pop
Iarity with His Civil


There is an element of the unex
pected about King Victor Emmanuel
which is beginning to render him
noioso Ia bore) to certain classes OF
his subjects. I suppose all the world
over c~ivil-service clerks are more as
siduous than any others in their eff.
forts to render their positions sine
cures. but in Italy they reach the acme
of perfection in this respect. The
other morning Sig. Prinetti, minister
of foreign affairs, went, as usual, to
the Quirinal for the royal signature
to various documents, which the king
signed without comment until he ar
rived at one for the augmentation Of
the staff of the foreign Office. This
he said, to the surprise of the minis
ter, you may leave; 1 desire to look
into it," and there the matter ended
o the moment, says the Rome cor
respondent of the Pail Mall Gazette.
The mex morning his majesty went
out alone and on foot, arriving at the
foreign Office about nine o'clock, and
began a tour of discovery, we may
call 1T, in search of some one to
speak to. At last in a small room
toward the roof he came upon a lone
man busily engaged in-rolling .
cigarette. "Ah!" said the king, you
are already at your work; pray what
are the regulation morning hours in
this Officer" "From eight to twelve"
stammered the unhappy man, wish
ing his bad luck had not led him so
early out of bed. 'And what hour.
may I ask, can I hope to see your
cata1ogues?" "About H." the en-
barrassed clerk replied, too confuand
not to tell the truth. ooh, well, 60
on with your smoke, and tell your
chief of my visit when he comes"
which, of course, was done, causing
dismay to reign supreme in the
breasts of the 300-odd clerks thus
caught mapping. Meanwhile the min.
lister was called and dryly told that
instead of increasing the staff of the
Office it might be just as well to see
that those already there did thei,
duty.
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04

to make the experiment as general as
possible, and to have the result repre-.
sent the working of the system under
as diverse conditions as possible. FIT.
teen routes were set going in October
1896, Is in November, eight in Deem
Der, three in January, and one each in
February and April following. Some
of these routes were in the foothills OF
the Alleghenies about Charlestown,
w. Va, others on the prairies of Kan
sas and Nebraska; some among the
sugar plantations of Louisiana, others
among the snow and ice of Grand Isle
in Lake ~Champlain and on the wind
swept plains of Minnesota; some were
in the populous old communities of
northern Massachusetts and south
western Maine, others among the fruit
orchards OF Arizona and the grass
lands of southern Washington. The
other states represented we're Indiana,
Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, Arkansas,
Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado,
Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ala
bama, Georgia. Kentucky, Illinois, Ten
nessee and California.
1t vas dead of winter before the
win CIV 4d4AAy oAdCA "d4 81 tAdE LuC
difficulties were practically at a maxi
mum, except that of muddy roads,
which would become more and more
impossible as spring came on. The of
ficials who were intrusted with the in
auguration of the service were often
dissatisfied and unfavorably disposed
toward the work, because they had to
be detailed from their regular workin
such a way as to hinder their probable
promotion. Accordingly some of the
first reports were quite discouraging.
The Inspector who laid out the route
at Huntsville, Ind, wrote that the peo-
pie who were reached were not asking
for delivery of their mails at their
homes. The correspondence was main
" social, not demanding promptness
of delivery, and only farmers living
near the post Office took daily papers.
1.-THE Importance of the average farm
er's mail" he said, sis not such as to
make rural free delivery essential"
The fact that the farmers near the
post Office took daily papers seemed to
give nc intimation to this inspector
that free delivery would cause farmers
all along the route to do the same
thing.
Congress without hesitation sup
piled the additional funds called for by
the unexpectedly rapid growth of the
service, and the installation of new
routes went speedily forward.
Up to this point the service had been
f~ragmentary and detached. 1t was
General Smith who devel-
oped the idea of putting the service to
a test of ~practicability by extending
rural delivery over an entire county,
superseding all other service, and then
striking a balance sheet of profit and
loss.
Four lines of investigation were laid
down.
ID To what extent can rural free de-
livery supersede fourth-class post Of
fees and star routes?
(2) To what extent can it be used
as a channel through which to extend !
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04

THERE'S ALL OUR FOURTH
girls chorused admiringly, and Tom
my Trott got red in the face and
walked off over to the other corner
of the yard, winking to the boys to
follow him-and they did, even though
there wasn't a bit of shade there and
the big thermometer stood at IS de-
grees,
Tommy whispered to his cronies,
and they grinned and chuckled and
nudged each other, and'hunted in their
pockets, and Tommy lugged out a big
leather pouch, and Jim Brastow got
out a pencil and paper and wrote down
the names of every boy who put in
something in one column, and the
names Of every boy who promised
something in another column-that
was a pretty short column because
every boy had his Fourth of July mon
ey, for the Fourth was only two days
off, and they'd been saving ever since
Christmas. After awhile Jim Brastow
got all the names written down, then
he put his pencil in his pocket and
Tommy pulled the strings of his pouch
up an tight as he possibly could lit was
so full he couldn't get it very close to-
gether), and they all marched over in q
body, keeping step like soldiers, and
stopped in front of the Thompson
twins.
(You had to stop in front OF both
of them, because they were always
just as close together as they could
possibly get.)
Miss Dottie Thompson and-and-
young ladies'" began Tommy Trott,
with a defiant and yet bashfu1 glance
at Aggie Davis. You have sIandered
and insulted US boys by saying we
couldn't be generous and self-sacrifc-
ing, and us boys want you to know
that there's all our Fourth of July
money-in a bunch-and us boys want
to know where's yours-and you can
have it all and welcome. And as my
father says: Now put up or shut upi'
And we wish it was more-and we
don't want anybody to die and now
Miss-s-s-Swinton can go on her
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. all" Ard
with q very red face Tommy turned
and tried to bolt
But Aggie Davis was too quick for
him. She caught him by the front of
his jacket with one hand, and with
her eyes full Of tears and her pretty
face all flushed with surprise and joy,
she held out the other hand to him,
crying1
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04
Rather

Being asked his age, a coIored citi-
gen in a village near Atlanta replied:
"Well, sub, I some older dan dat pine
tree. yander: Ill bit younger dan dat
live oak by de gate; Ell not quite so OF
de house whar / livin' at. I amt
much on fggers myself, but you kin
count up en- see!"-San Francisco AR.
ponaut.
Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04

c@ q One for the Kin
dergarten and the
Primary and the two lowest classes
in the Grammar. The other for the
seven higher classes. Miss Swinton
was the principal of the lower school
and Mr.. Sutphen the principal of the
higher. Two such popular teachers
had never been known in Abingdon,
strict and firm yet gentle and kind,
popular with everyone and univer-
sally respected. Miss Swinton always
had an adoring circle of girls, yes, and
boys, too, around her at recess-time.
To-day there was more than the
usual crowd-but they stood a little
way back, and only the Thompson
twins leaned on her chair, n on
each side of her, and fingered her
chain and rings and looked up ador-
ingly into the kind brown eyes.
"Dear Miss Swinton, was that story
you told US yesterday all tree, every
bit of it?" asked Dottie.
And is the little girl going to die
If she can't get away by the salt
water?" cried Tottie-
sand did her father die down in
Cuba?"
sand did her mother go out to
nurse her father and catch the fever
and die. too?"
"And is her auntie sick and lame
so she can't work for money, but
only get a home and clothes for work
ing for that stingy old Barker7"
SSH Shi Dottie-you mustn't'-be-
gan Miss Swinton, but Dottie hurried
out her question so quickly she had
no time to say any more.
"And is her uncle way up in the
Elondike, and-and-"
Then both chimed in together:
"And is he all the relation she's
got, and don't they know where he is
and will she die-certain sure-be-
fore they could possibly find him?"
Miss Swinton had been bobbing her
head in answer to all these questions
90 fast that she looked q good deal
ike q Chinese mandarin-and now
when the twins stopped to take
breath she answered:
Eyes, yes, my dears, it is all true,
every bit of it. Dear little Sallie Man
o is so very, very weak that the
doctor says she can never get well
unless she can get away for a month
at least to the sesshore and have
good, nourishing, wholesome food,
and her poor aunt is almost distract
ed. for though the hospital people will
find her Q home for a week or per-
haus two, there would be no one to
take care of her, and two weeks
would not be long enough"
Then the twins Strengthened up and
walked way without even stopping
to beg for a kiss, and every one of
Miss S~winton's admirers followed
them. and Miss Swinton sat there
looking after them with q queer little
half-puzzled smile.
ST wonder what bee those children
have got In their bonnets now" she
said to herself.
Meanwhile Dottie and Tottie, as
everybody called them, though their
real names were Sarah Josephine and
Amelia Ann, walked straight down 10
the playground, and all the primary
scholars followed them, and they
found all the big girls and kindergar-
ten tots waiting for them in the shade
under the big elm.
sWhat did she say?" cried the big
gest girl
sIs it all true-every bit" anxious
iv asked the very httlest one.
The twins nodded solemnly snd Dot
lie cried:
Sand I most know that lovely Miss