New Ulm review., 1921-12-21

up in order that Jim Connery, living.
on rural route number six in Farmrrs-'
burg, Missouri, may get his morning
paper from Kansas City, his seed
catalog from Oregon, his new Whiffie-
tree from Chicago, and his N oney order
from New York, to say nothing Of the
letter which his daughter has dropped
ina tin Bella Vista, California. To
Jim and to Nellie, his wife, and to a.
hundred other Jins and Nellies, those
things the mail carrier thrusts into the
patent aluminium box with stenciled
name and number on it, are the things
that keep the wheels of their own in
'dividual lives turning; and it makes
very little difference whether jim is a
clerk in a shoe factory or President Of
the United States; or whether Nellie is
a social leader or general housework-
er; it is the mail carrier who brings the
outside world OF people and things to
his or her doorstep. #
A Business That Is Human"
There is something stirring and
wonderful about the relation Of that
faithful figure in gray to the daily
lives Of the, great hundred million. He
is part Of vast business which can
be tabulated in terms Of annual turn
over and mum Der Of employees. and
curves of profit and loss like any other
business, but which is nevertheless the
strangest, most human and most re-
mantle business in which men were
ever engaged.
On the New York post Office is this
inscriptions:
Neither snow nor rain nor heat
nor gloom Of night stays these couriers
from the swift completion Of their
appointed rounds. b
We all know that that is literally
true. Whatever the heat or the cold
or the storm, the mail carrier goes out
into il. with hisFtbag lslung On his
shoulder. It is his business, and he
is paid to do it; but that fact tneed not
blind us to a greater fact that as he
goes from house to house on his zap
pointed round" he ceases to be merely
a cog in great chine and becomes
in sense the agent Of inscrutable
Providence. To sone man he. brings
news, which means disaster; to another
message that opens the gates of
Paradise; to one woman he brings news
Of a loved ones return, to another news
sof Loved ones death. Everywhere,
men and women and children leap up
at his ring, He is the most welcome
visitor who comes to the door. Even
though he. may have brought bad
news a dozen times he is always vel
come, for the next time he comes the
news he brings may be good. He is
the children's Santa Claus at Christ
mas, and the grown-ups' Santa Claus
all the year round. The mail carrier
plays more important part in the
average family than the family doctor,
the family lawyer, the family preacher,
and the school and the bank and the
life insurance company rolled into one.
He is their main point Of contact with
the world. He is the one greatest
shumanizing agent weih have.
True Dignity of the Postal Service.
Important, indeed, IS the postal
service. Years of magnificent service
to the country, are behind it. It Gust
not be forgo often, either, that during the
war the postal service Of nearly every
nation in the world broke down except
our own. 1t was a wonderful ;ac-;
complishment and entitled to the
greatest commsndation. Great, how
ever, as has been the postal service,
greater yet it should be. Anyone who
does not daily try to make his mental.
processes keener, his moral fiber finer,
and his service to others broader, is
guilty of an inexcusable dereliction Of
duty. Just so as to any institution.
It is the fundamental principle of,
demo ocracy that we shall help one
another, that all citizens shall co
operate in the work of government.
And the work of government is not
merely electing men to Congress to
to execute them 1t is just as truly
government work to collect the mails,
to transmit them to their destinat ton
and to redistribute them and deliver
them; and it IS fitting for every citizen
20 realize his deep concern,in and his 1
duty to that work. tits partnership
proposition the public, the postal Co
workers and the Goyernment = all
recognizing that we are engaged il the
same transcend dent prot blem. I, A ]. III;
Christmas Deliveries.
There will be one delivery each on
Rural and City Routes Monday, that
being q part holiday allowed by Uncle
Sam to his employees. Christmas Day
The post Office will be closed as usual on
Sunday unless Postmaster Pfaender,
gets special permission Ito have the
carriers windows open for couple Of
M Il.