The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1913-01-02
THE MAIL
CARRIER
His Christmas Delivery Proved
ali Eyentfm One
BY HELEN c. CHAMBERS

monsoon WAS Dlll carrier on rOu:e
| 8. rural free delivery. Being in
| sparSely settled country he covered tie
route but once ii day. and the distance
| was considerable. Monsoon drove a
| four wheeled one horse calash with a
| 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.
a good looking fellow and of a cheery
| disposition. 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 letter for her. when he did
have one he would hold it up for her to
see long before he reached her
Monsoon 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 impatient and read them before
the carriers eyes. He became SO skill
ed in reading the epistIes through the
/ faces of the recipients that he was sell
dom mistaken in the principal part of
| their contents. AT one time Ep0n de
liyering Il letter. noting the girls eX
preston. be would say to himself.
Loves me-" at another it would be.
Loves the not"
To one girl. Daisy Hardness. Monson
was accustomed To deliver letters adj
/ dressed in a masculine hand replete
with hOuriSheS. They came very irres-
ularly 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 Us. He's rolling stone and
| gathers no moss. He doesn't care any
thing for Daisy and is f0oling her
What a pity Daisy herself, who
every word of his letters, could not
have interpreted him as MonsOn did.
Many Il time when the carrier saw her
waiting for ii 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
cd 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 reassuringly:
None today. but when left the post
Office half the mails We're 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
1t is said pity is akin to love- but it
is rather singular that Monson should
have grown to love IARisy 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 i'm the we'll known hand the
flonriShes were more hateful TO him.
Daisy grew fond of confiding her hopes
| apd bor foarS with rd fO bo,. lovar
to Monsoon. who was not long in COM
ing to the conclusion that RUDE. 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 Monsoon ON approaching Dali
sy, 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,"
Monsoon said this simply to soften
her disappointment mt not hearing
from RUDE and had no expectation of
predicting the truth When Daisy
opened the letter in his presence and
took out a ten dollar bill he was quite
delighted. Daisy was somewhat con-
| sOled
II 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 t?''
There's a lot of em during these
Christmas times with money in 'em.
There being no bank I'm this region, the
only way to send Christmas gifts in
! funds is to send the cash. | wish they
wouldn't do it. don't like the re-
sponsihility of carrying 'em. If some
villain should get on to 1t he might
hold me up and take 'em away from
me-
The expression of anxiety for him
that PAINE over Daisy's face was
grateful indeed to the carrier
.Oh. dear" she exclaimed with a
gasp. II wish Christmas was over"
MOnson drove on. but so delighted
was he with this ingenious expression