Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1904-03-11
Mr.. M. Martin Moralizes.


NJ. J. Martin, carrier No. 3, Rosemont,
Mimi, has written a letter for the Ma
della Messenger, which has attracted a
great deal of attention from the press of
Minnesota:
"a RURAL MAIL CARRIER"
'In giving a description of this new
species of animal. l will say that as in
all other cases, there are exceptions to
the general rule but | am not going to
deal with the exceptions i'll this article.
The rural mail carrier has not the horns
In many ways he resembles the people
he comes in contact with on his daily
rounds that is, he likes to be accommo-
dating, tries hard to do his duty is
anxious to please his patrons is careful
not to make mistakes and dislikes to be
imposed upon. He has to invest from
$500 to 81 900 in an outfit and work
every day in the year except Sundays.
He receives a salary of 5000 per annum
and is governed by set of rules formu-
lated by some high-salaried official who
in some cases has no more knowledge
of how those rules can be applied to
actual conditions than he has of the do
mestic life of Adams mother-in law
The mail carrier strives to treat every
body right, and everybody alike, but
finds it very difficult to do so.
"Some people seem to think that the
duty of the mail carrier is to look after
their wants and to do so cheerfully and
free of charge. They ask him, as a
great favor, to find what Jones is pay
ing for a cord of wood and let them
know tomorrow without fail
They expect him to find out who has
pigs for sale and if Smith would loan
them his gobbler. They want him to
find out what the butcher is paying for
calves and if the storekeeper has any
medicine that he would recommend for
sick baby, and to "step' down to the
express office and see if there is a pack
age there for them, and if there is to
place letters and packages in the mail
| box, without stamps, with written re-
quests upon them to deliver to parties
living along the route.
"Now if these people wanted to send a
letter to some other town they would not
expect the postmaster or clerk on the
train to forward it without postage.
They would not ask the express com
pany to carry their package free OF
charge, nor would they ask the tele.
phone companies to convey their mes
sages without compensation; but they
seem to think the rural mail carrier
should do all this and much more with
out remuneration. Please do not think
because he gets a salary of 5000 year
he is rolling in wealth-he is more often
rolling in mud. If he is charging a few
cents for his trouble and your accommo
dation you must not imagine that he ii
growing rich out of the people. While
the mail carrier needs and appreciates
all the money you give him, you should
bear in mind that he has two distinct
objects in charging for his services;
First, he wants to give thoughtful and
fair-minded people a chance to have ar
ticles brought to them for one-tenth OF
what it would practically cost them tc
go after them; and, also, because he
wants to keep unfair and thoughtles:
people from imposing on him. If h,
did not charge for carrying packages
he would not have time to deliver the
mail, as it would take all of his time tc
deliver merchandise. He would NEE
men coming from town with an empty
wagon who would want him to bring
them out barrel of salt tomorrow.
mo doubt some people think a mai
carrier is very small if he charges fol
doing them a favor. The fact of tn,
matter is that he is trying to keep from
being mean by treating every bod,
alike.
"In conclusion, l will say that tin
average mail carrier takes pleasure il
accommodating his patrons and onl,
wants fair treatment in return. He Ger
tainly earns every cent of his salary
and if he had not other means of supper
he would be in his grave in less than
year and on his tombstone might be in
scribed, "Died of starvation while in tn
employ of the government"