Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1913-09-17
GIRL MAIL CARRIER.
Fifteen Year Old Miss Does Work
in Mountains.
Fos Brown 10 q Plucky Resoureeffula
Arksnsas Maiden and Is7Aivays 5
Il. Equal to Any Emergency
That May Confront Her. &

Ice -
bright girl, fifteen years OF age. car.
ries the daily mail from this little VII
lage in Baxter county. Arkansas, to-
Bakersfield. in Ozark county. Missouri.
distance OF IL miles, and return. She
is one OF seven sisters, daughters OF
Asa Brown and wife, and all have grad
uated OF OF the mail route, each hav-
ing had her turn at It. 1t has been .
part Of their education and has helped
them in more ways than one.
4 Floe, who carries the mail now. ID 9
SIN all girl, but what she lacks In size.
she makes up In nerve and ability to
/ get over the road in all kinds OF wealth
Ter. The route hes over some Of the
toughest country IN the Ozark noun
stans. The roads are rough and over
great part OF, 1t the houses are few
and far between. OnGa stretch Of I'VE
miles there 10 no dwelling at all, being
all over the mountains and throYsh
the woods. "a 4 N 5ss
No thought Of fear. however, ever
enters her mind. There are no wild
animals in the woods, and the birds
and squirrels are her trends and keep
her company. Most OF the time she
carries the mail on horseback. At
times, in good weather. however. when
the roads are worn down hard and
smooth, she uses q single buggy. Be-
sides Henderson and Bakersfield. she
serves't two other towns en- route,
Gamaliel and Custer, both roadside
villages, but with large post office pat
ronage. The most dreaded part Of her
trip at times Is crossing the North
Fork river, a mountain stream nearly
as large as the White river, which at
times gets to be q raging mountain
torrent. The stream Is fordable at low
water, but when 1t goes on q rampage
1t Is dangerous even for, ferryboat
to cross One time when 1t was past
fording she swan her horse across In
order to get her mail to its destination
that night She came out on the OPP
posite bank with dripping skirts, but
with mail high and dry on her shout
ders. s 81 q II
ri In the spring and summer the route
Is pleasant to ride. as some of the
finest scenery In the Ozarks lies along
the way. Wild flowers and grass cover
the woods floor and the hills are a
mass OF green, with the rocks OF the
river bluffs sticking out In bare splen-
dor. In autumn, too. 1t is beautiful,
when the woods present an ever.
changing color, but when the winter
winds begin to blow and the days OF
falling snow and binding biting sleet
come, It would try the nerves and
spirit OF man, but Floe sticks to her
post. The winter season Is short and
the warm spring days to come buoy
her up. .ss5 \
The family lives few miles north
OF tfie place. and in the worst weather.
her sisters, Pearl and Hannah. help
her out. Hannah or Pearl goes after
the mail at Henderson in the morning
and bring it to the house. where Floe
picks it up and carries 1t on to Bakers
field and brings back the morning mail
from. that point. They take it then to
Henderson for her. letting her get of
and rest. f, & 53s6,5g \. i; 4
The parcel post has made the daily
load a great deal heavier for the girl.i
and many times the horse is loaded
down with all he can carry. Some.
times the load is more than can be car.
ried on horseback, and then the single
buggy is pressed into service. good
roads or bad She is very popular. and
does many favors for her patrons in
the way Of bringing things from the
stores for them when they are too
busy to 60 to town.
Asa Brown, her father, is an old
man. The family live on a farm and
he specfalizes on fruit. He says he
Is glad his children were girls. and
that he could not get along without