The Canton times., 1902-04-11
ARP CARRIED MAILS.
Bill Tells Of the Difference Now and
the Long Ago.
Postage Then Very High-Receivcr
Of Letter Paid the Postmaster ON
Delivery of Letter-How Chcap
Postage Benefted Us.

4 NOW you young people, girls and
boys, excuse me for telling you a
story about the old times. Sixty.
four years ago, when was 12 years
OLD, my father was the postmaster
IN our town and had to make con
tracts for carrying the mail to other
nelghboring towns. He gave these
contracts to needy men and the pay
was generally one dollar day. One
OF these men got sick and my father
made me take his place and ride the
mail to Roswell all winter. 1t gas
IS miles away and had to ride
there and back in a day, and he paid
me the dollar for every trip. 1t was
| q bitter winter and sometimes when
| got home had to be helped off
OF the horse, for was frozen up and
helpless. But | was tough and
hardy boy and always ready for the
next trip. On my first ride the good
old women on my route did not
know me. They used to knit socks
and send them to town by the old
man to sell and carry back some cof-
fee or sugar or indigo, or copperas,
or some little thing, but they didn't
know me, and I remember that one
Old woman came out to the gate and
said: Are you the mail boy?"
And / laughed and said: Eyes,
mann, am not q female boy" She
smiled and said: "You are mighty
little to carry bundles, but would
like for you to take a couple of pairs
of socks and bring me back the pay
in coffee if you will. I'll give you
q little bag to put it in and you can
hang it on to the horn of the sad
de- Of course did, for | always
liked to oblige the women, and be-
sides my father kept store and got
the trade. Sometimes / had as much
outside of the mail bag as there was
inside. | made IA silver dollars that
winter and felt rich.
But ! want to tell you about the
mail business as it was then. There
were no stamps or stamped en-
velopes-nor any other kind of en-
velopes. We wrote on long paper
called foolscap. It got that name
from the watermark which was
fools cap and bells stamped on the
paper. After writing we could fold
the sheet up to the size of a letter
and slip one fold in the other
thumb paper fashion--then seal it |
with a wafer and address it. The
waters were round and thin and |
were made of -four paste and when
held on the tongue moment got
soft and sticky. In my young days
the postage was paid at the end of
the line by the one who received the
letter. 1t was 12h cents if it did
not come or go outside of the state
-1S% If from or to an adjoining
state and 25 cents if still farther
off. But if it was to go to Califor-
MIA it had to be prepaid and sent
by Wells & Fargo's express and
cost dollar and was a month on
the way. Just think of it. Now it
costs only two cents and takes only
four days. That overland express
almost made us boys crazy. They
published a book called "Ten Years
Among the Mail Bags" and it had
pictures in it-pictures of the boys
riding the mail on Indian ponies
riding on a run of ten miles in an
1our, and then he was lifted off of
his pony and put on a fresh one for
another ten miles. The boys had to
weigh not less than 60 nor over 80
pounds and had to make 40 miles
lay-20 east and 20 west. 1t took
lbout 200 boys and 400 ponies to do
he work and wanted to be one
If the boys mighty bad. Part of
he route was beset by hostile In
lians and the express company had
o keep soldiers at these stations to
,uard the ponies, and the boys had
o keep a sharp lookout between the
tations. One of the pictures
howed some Indians shooting at a
,oy as he bent over on the pony's
leck and was flying like the wind.
lie had left the track and taken
Guidance on them and 1 thought
hat was heroic.
The letters were limited to a sim
lie sheet of paper and thousand
o a bag and that made about 20
ounds of mail. Besides the mail
here were some two-pony hacks with
wo drivers and guns and these car !
led gold dust from the mines to the :
astern states and were limited to
DO mounds, which was worth nearly :,
$4,000 and was tempting prize !,
D both white and Indian robbers.