The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-20
LoNDoN's MESSENGER BOYS.
They Are Sent Upon Errands as
Queer as Those of the A. ID. T. of
New York.
From the New York Times.

Queer as Those of the A. ID. T. of
New York.
From the New York Times.
The District Messenger boys are an
important feature of London life. BY
telephoning or sending to any one of
the offices of the company you can Sc
cure at a small cost the services of a
smart, intelligent lad to do what you
will.
The capacity of these boy messen-
gers for rising to the occasion and car
rying out satisfactorily any duty which
may be imposed upon them has led to
their being employed in commissions
which have had in them the element of
humor as. well AS of sensationalism.
A couple of weeks ago a boy was
sent for. When he arrived at the house
ne was ordered off to Gloucester. At
Gloucester he was given a dog, which
wanted change of air and rest, to take
to Brecknock. At the end of the holi-
day that same boy was again sent
from London to Brecknock in order to
bring the pet back to London.
There is lady living in Hampshire
who is a great cat fancier, and sends
cats all over the country. Whenever
one has to pass through London she
always orders a boy to meet the ami
NAL at Waterloo and take it across to
the station from which it is to be dis
patched on it's further journey. With
her order there is the invariable in
struction to the boy. please keep the
cat out of the draught.''
Assisting a BOotmaker.
Of an entirely different nature was
the duty assigned to a boy who was
sent down IN Haruyiob tho ofbar daxr
A bootmaker had brought from abroad
a large consignment of boots, on which
there had been stamped the words
MADE in London" The custom house
authorities refused to allow them to
come into the country with that i'm
proper description on them, so a mes
senger boy was sent to improve the
shining hours of the day by obliterat-
ing the Made in London" and i'm
pressing another stamp Made in Ger
many" instead.
Even detective duty or something
approaching it is not outside the pos
sibility of these lineal descendants of
Hermes, who went on the errands of
Olympus.
A call was received from one of the
most fashionable parts of London only
a few days ago, and the boy was in
structed to go down to hartford, find
a gentleman on a motor car, and de-
liver a very important letter to him.
To the ordinary mortal it would seem
very much like seeking the traditional
needle in a haystack, even though fur
nished with an accurate description
of the person to be sought The mes
senger boy, however, did not consider
it at all exceptional. He went down
to hartford, instituted inquiries, and
set off to discover the gentleman and
the motor-car. He actually found him.
delivered the letter, and brought the
answer back to London in very much
shorter time than most people would
believe.
The Counts Dress Suit.
To be sent on long journeys to the
continent on missions which one would
think could be just as easily perform
ed by the postoffice is becoming al
most a recognized part of a messenger
boys experience.
4 tailor had the other day a dress
suit to send to a foreign count at Os-
tend. Instead of forwarding it by any
of the ordinary methods, he sent
messenger boy. Perhaps the suit was
wanted for a special occasion, and
there was some doubt about its being
delivered in time by any other method;
hut whatever the reason, the fact re-
mains. So it does with regard to a
gentleman who wished to send a pres
emf of game to some friends in Bonn.
Not only did he send the parcel by a
messenger boy, but he actually select
ed the most expensive route for him to
travel because, of course, it happened
to be the fastest.
Not very long ago a gentleman stay
ing in Dieppe received message which
compelled him to start Immediately for
London. There was just time to catch
the boat if he left at once, so he jumped
into a cab and drove to the quay. When
he arrived in London he sent mes
senger boy over to Dieppe to pay his
bill, pack up his trunks. and bring them
to the hotel where he was staying. In