Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1912-12-27
THE MAIL
CARRIER
His Christmas Delivery Proved
an EVentfm One
BY HELEN c. CHAMBERS

MonSOn was d mail carrier on route
g. rural free delivery. Being in a
sparsely settled country he covered the
route but once a day, and the distance
was considerable. Monsoon drove a
four wheeled one horse caIash with
leather pouch attached to the dash
board facing him with different peck
cts in it. In one he kept the letters he
collected for the post. in another those
for delivery.
Monson was twenty three years old.
a good looking fellow and Of a CHEEKY
disp ,sition. He knew every one along
his route, and every one knew him.
He especially knew the girls who had
sweethearts in other places, for they
were always out looking for him as far
as they could see him, anxiously wait
ing for letters from their lovers. Now
and again when he was obliged to dis
appoint some lass day after day by not
having a letter for her, when he did
have one he would hold it up for her ts
! SET lOlS OSlOlS uC lSdSlSu HCl.
MOnson gathered stories from the let
| tiers he delivered and the manner ia
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 impatiently and read them before
| the carriers eyes. He became so skill
! ed in reading the epistles through the
| faces Of the recipients that he 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 it would be-
Loves me not"
| To one girl. Daisy Hardness, MOnSOn
was accustomed to deliver letters ad-
| dressed in masculine hand reDlete
with fourishes. They came very irreg-
ularIy and were postmarked from dit
! ferent places. That fellow" said
Monsoon to himself, lis no good. He
makes too many big tails to his G's
and his is. 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 a time when the carrier saw her
waiting for & letter that he did not
have for her he would frown and ut
| ter a suppressed maIediction upon the
! recreant lover, muttering that he wish
| ed a letter from himself would do as
well; he would be sure to have a long
one for her every day. But when he
reached her he would greet her with a
CHEEKY smile. saying reassurlngly:
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.
It 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 a missive ad-
| dressed in the we'll known hand the
| 1OuriShes were more hateful to him
Daisy grew fond Of conf1ding her hopes
and her fears with regard to her lover
to M0nson, who was not long in com
ing to the conclusion that Rube, as she
called her correspondent, was not only
footing 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 Dali
sy, who *aS waiting for Rube's letter
sang oEN1:
Not I've one you want today, .ut
AAOGACIp puu L Ii Dt1L IL contains a
Christmas gift can tell by the feel
OF it." - ...e.tt
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.
Il must write Rube about that" she
said isn't it queer that you should
have been able to tell by feeling the
letter that there was money in it?"
There's lot Of 'em during these
Christmas times with money in 'em.
There being no bank in this region, the
only way to send Christmas gifts in
funds is to send the cash. 1 wish they
wouldn't do it. / don't like the re-
spOnsibility Of carrying 'em. IL some
villain should get on to it he might
mold me up and take 'em away from
me- ~