The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1912-12-26
THE MAIL
CARRIER
Ills Christmas Delivery 'Proged
an Eyenttm One
BY HELEN C. CHAMBERS

route but once day. aad the distauce
was considerable. NIOBsou drove n
four wheeled one horse ealash with a
leather pouch attached h. the dash
board facing hin with different pOck
cts in 1t. In one he kept the letters be
collected for the posa. in anut6er those
for delivery.
MonsOn was twenty Shree yefSrs old,
. good looking fellow and of a cbeery
disposition. He knew every one along
his route. and every one knew tEm.
He especially knew the girls who had
sweethearts in otber places. for they
were always out looking for h4n as far
as they could see hing. anXiousiy wait
ing for letters from their lovers. Now
and again when he was Obliged 10 dis
appoint some lass day after day by not
having a letter for her. when he did
have one he would hold ii up for her TO
see long before he reached her
Monson gathered stories from the let
ters he delivered and the manner in
which they were received Only the
most self poised maidens carried their
letters into the house without break
ing the seal. The others tore them
open impa tiently and read them before
the carriers eyes. He became 50 skill
ed In reading the epistlcs through the
faces of the recipients that be was sell
dom mistaken in the principal part Of
their contents. At one time upon de-
livering a letter, noting the girls ex-
preston, he would say to himself
Loves me-" at another il would be-
Loves me not"
To one girl, Daisy Harkpess, Monson
was accustomed to deliver letters ad
dressed in masculine hand repete
with hourishes. They came very irreg-
ularly and were postmarked from diff
ferent places. THAT fellow" said
Monson to himself. 'is no good. He
makes too many big tails to his G's
and his J's. He's a rolling stone and
gathers no moss. He doesn't care any
thing for Daisy and is fooling her."
What a pity Daisy herself, who
knew her lover personally and read
every word of his letters. could not
have interpreted him as Monson did!
Many time when the carrier saw her
waiting for letter that he did not
have for her he would frown and ut
ter a suppressed malediction upon the
recreant lover, muttering that he wish
well; he would be sure to have long
one for her every day. But when he
reached her he would greet her with a
CHEEKY smile, saying reassuringly:
None today, but when ! left the post
office half the mails were late. having
been delayed by a freshet that inter
rupted traffic. I'm quite sure yours
will be along tomorrow" Daisy could
not but smile through the moisture
that gathered in her eyes and was al
ways touched by the carriers sympa-
thy for her in her disappointment.
II is said pity is akin to love, but it
is rather singular that Monson should
have grown to love Daisy through
sympathy for her In her disappoint-
ment In another man. Nevertheless
such Is the case. From dreading to
have no letter from her lover to give
her he came to dread giving her one.
Every time he produced missive ad-
dressed In the well known hand the
flourishes were more hateful to him.
Daisy grew fond of confiding her hopes
and her fears with regard to her lover
to MOnson, who was not long In COM
ing to the conclusion that Rube, as she
called her correspondent. was not only
fooling her. but there was something
bad about him. However, he had the
good sense to understand that should
he attempt to warn her he would
make an enemy of her.
Christmas was at hand, and the
mails were carrying gifts, some Of
which were In the shape of money
One day MOnson on approaching Dai
~, who was waiting for Rube's letter.
sang out:
mot the one you want today, but
another. and I'll bet it contains a
Christmas gift | can tell by the feel
of it."
Monson said this simply to soften
her disappointment at not hearing
from Rube and had no expectation of
predicting the truth. When Daisy
opened the letter in his presence and
took out ten dollar bill he was quite
delighted. Daisy was somewhat con
soled
II must write Rube about that" sht
said. Isn't II queer that you should
have been able to tell by feeling th'
ietter that there was money in itT''
There's a lot of 'em during thes,
Christmas times with money in 'em
There being no bank in this region. th'
only way to send Christmas gifts il
funds is to send the cash. wish they
wouldn't do 1t. ! don't like the re
sponsiblllty OF carrying 'em. II som,
villain should get on to II he nigh
hold me up and take 'em away from
me"
The expression of anxiety for hin
that came over Daisy's face wa
grateful indeed to the carrier.
"Oh deaFp' she exclaimed with