The Democratic advocate., 1905-11-25
Things Have Changed at Country
Postoff1ces.

POStOhhceS.
The most noticeable change about life
among the farmers in recent years and the
change which the farmers notice most
themselves is the passing of the evening
at the postoffice in the country store "
The change was wrought by the establish
ment Of the rural free delivery route, which
takes the mail to the farmers doors and
does away with the necessity of going to
the postofice.
Residents of the city can have but little
idea Of the change to the farmer life that
the doing away with his evening at the
postoffice has brought about. 1t was at
the postofice in the country store, where
they all met for two miles in each direction,
that life was made worth living. Each
one brought some gossip and news of his
particular neighborhood Now that is
done away with and farmer living along
one ridge hardly knows what his neighbor
two miles away is doing He must look
to his newspaper and to the newspaper has
fallen the duty of gathering the news in
remote corners for the benefit, not alone of
the citizens of county or state, but for
the benefit of particular communities
The evening at the postofhce" had
long been an institution of amusement, if
not of education; for it was there that the
latest developments along any line were dis
cussed. 1t was at the postofice that every
man in public life was tried and retired
until the innermost parts of his heart and
soul were laid open to the world.
1t was at the postofice where John Doe
was tried and found guilty of stealing
chickens, made out thief, found gailty of
casting glances at his neighbor's wife, or
what not
THE evening at the postofiee' brought
out the strong points of Rev, Jones ser
mon, or showed up the hypocrisy of the
same sermon. 1t was at the postofice,
crowded to the doors, that the gray haired
veteran on a box, the sixteen year-old
youth on a three-legged chair, the lazy
man on nail keg, and the crowd lounging
everywhere, that every new law that af-
fected the hunting and fishing season was
torn to shreds and the makers of the laws
cruci6ed on the rack of intense, if not cor
rect, reasoning
All this has passed. The newspaper
comes to the home The father and big
boys gather round the kitchen and read it
and 20 off to bed The stores where once
the postofice hourished not alone as dis
tributing points for mail but as places of
social intercourse, are now quiet and by
80 probably are closed for the night.
The wives or mothers have been 10 the
store during the day for the groceries and
no one shows up in the evening but an oc-
casional neighbor, who has read his paper
and is unwilling to enter upon heated argu-
ments to stir enthusiasm and lend zest to
deceptive questions.
The country store in which the postofhce
was always located was generally room
in a dwelling house in which the owner
kept a supply of groceries and dry goods.
in fact, it was the modern department store
on small scale. 1t was furnished with
IAN old ten plate stove and in later days
probably with an old residenter of coal
stove. In either case they were kept fired
up 10 fever heat, for in most cases there
were enough cracks to let in plenty Of fresh
air when the wind howled in winter. A
few empty boxes, on which unplaned
boards were crossed, made the seats for the
visitors to rest on. Each man had his
place and the places were handed down
from the oldest attendant at the nightly
sessions to the next oldest In fact it was
''leze majesty for one person to enter the
store and take the place of another. A
couple of boxes filed with saw dust for the
tobacco juice completed the furniture
of the room set apart for soeiability.
1.-The evening at the postofhce was
still the rage of the weekly paper No one
bought daily paper and if there happened
to be some one who wanted daily news of
the worlds doings and who purchased a
daily paper, he was looked upon as 'high
fiyer, !" and grave old heads would shake
and say ''he' Il go wrong yet. However,
the purchaser of the daily paper was sup
posed, say expected, to take some minutes
TO glance over his paper and then let the
crowd know what the world was doing.
If John l.. Sullivan and Jake killrain
had fight, the owner of the daily paper
would have been mobbed, called real
mean fellow, if he did not take time to
read to the gathering friends the fight, the
whole fight and nothing but the fight.
And when it was read there was nothing
but Eight that evening and for week
to come.
But the most interesting event In any
postofice community few years ago was,
if perehance some of their number was
elected to the legislature, His record was
watched closely and his homecoming with
the pamphlet laws, which were distributed
gratis among the wiser heads, was signal
for the Interpretation of some real fine
points at law.
Each man would read his law and then
interpret it differently and during the dis
eussiOns at the country store, arguments
would wax warm about the merits and de-
merits of certain acts of assembly and the
final conclusion about their neighbor who
was sent to the legislature was "He's like
all the rest, sold out our rights when he got
there.
''The evening at the postofice habit
was at once the terror of the women folks
and the delight of the youngsters. The
great treat to be offered to the average
youngster was to promise him that he
''could 90 along to the postofhce this even
ing" In that way many 14year-oid
was wheedled into doing most any thing.
Youngsters were not permitted to attend
the meetings nightly until they were l6,
then he was a graduate and was admitted
to all the secrets and discussions, but he
had to take a back seat and did not dare
encroach on some veteran place. ''Down
the line was the orders to the youngsters.
Coon stories, fishing yarns, were a plenty
to while away the time if there was nothing
startling doing in the world at large. But
the stories most told were ghost stories,
which sent the chills up the back of many
youngster, who just having graduated
into the full rights of the evening at the
postofice, probably had to go a mile at
10 o clock alone and, may be near grave
yard.
But all in all the ''evening at the post
- L j L l.a...-l .