Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-07-07

onSprlng on the ground was worm
more than four in a tree, and set
off for the woods. Messrs. Harper
and Collins encouraged the tiny
coons to seek the safety Of the
woods, and had to presume there
would soon be great rejoicing IN
Coonville.--We had 4.67 inches
rain in June compared to 1884 In
May. Last month had IA cloudy
days, seven partly cloudy and nine
clear. The greatest rainfall was on
the 26th-173 inches Wind main
ly southwest Our highest temper
ature was Sc, the 23rd and 24tn.
The coolest nights were the 9Th and
84 rain in July, and firecracker
"a rain in July, and a firecracked
dry Fourth. Married folks seldom
possess such uniformity in years as
exists in the ages of Mr. and Mrs.
William M. Smith. Born the same
year they recently celebrated tnelr
birthdays, one on June ~, the
other on July 1st. One is 20 hours
older than the other.
A Coincidence That Might Have
Spoiled A Joke
Three comparatively young men
from this port were enroute through
Belle Valley to Cambridge the other
day and overtaking some young
lady hitch-hikers offered them
transportation in their car to that
city. The ladies accepted and one
of the gentlemen seeing an oppor-
tunity to work little deception
and derive a little pleasure from
observing the discontinue of the
ladies at being in the association OF
a trio of bandits, confided to them
rather cautiously that they were
enroute to Cambridge to stick up
bank. Well, bank had been rob-
bed elsewhere and they were, I'M
mediately after, looking for the des-
perados in Cambridge and he Won
ders now if the ladies are not now
carrying in their minds an image OF
his trio as the ones who pulled
the deal.'' He admits the ''Joke
could by coincidence, have proved a
boomerang. Nh and Mrs. Stan
ley Marquard of Orrville were Sum
day and Monday guests of her par
ents. Mr.. and Mrs. William NJ
Smith. "A son was born June 29 to
Mr.. and Mrs. Richard wheeler Oh
Sharon. The parents formerly re-
sided at Deavertown and Relnefs~
vile.
Postmaster Here II Years
Sherman L. Hill, in point of ser"
vice, is probably one OF the oldest
postmasters in the state, as ne mas
continuously served in this capacity
since May 10, 1897. Down through
a maze of Al years, he has, with
the exception of Sundays and rare
other days, stood at the little WIN
dow in a nook of his large general
store and answered the amazingly
hum-drum inquiry: "Any mail Tor
me, today?'' If the inquirlng pa
tron ranged a little out of line with
the postmaster's vision, it was some
times necessary for him to ask the
patron the seemingly Illuminating
question as to who ''me" was Inc
'sme" family has lot of individual
members, he knows, and he knows
a lot of them by tone OF their voices
but then handing out mail 10 the
right ''me'' is particular business.
In this past Al years he has wit
messed innumerable changes in the
personnel of the star carrier SER
vice Drastic changes in the routing
of mail by star service to and from
his office have been made at inter-
walls of years A memorable pc
riod in his career as postmaster was
| that of the 1913 flood when McCon-
nelsville mail was wagon-freighted
here from Caldwell on one day and
placed under his care during the
night to be transported to McCon-
nelsvile the next day. Sack upon
sack of accumulated mail was piled
high in his store and postoffice.
When he began his postmastership
and for long period afterward VIZ
tually two star routes were main
tanned at this office, with daily Tex
cepting Sunday carrier-service be-
tween each of the offices, McCon-
nelsville and Caldwell, and he
watched these routes finally merge
into the one to McConnelsville. Five
intermediate postoffices between
this point and Caldwell and McCon-
nelsville, which the Reinersvllle car
riers served have been discontinued
during his term of service-Wood-
grove, Renrock, Olive Green. Bris-
tol and Meigs He has watched the
mail depart from his office, accord
ing to schedule, before daylight ana
return after night scheduleless, but
what account was schedule to
carrier with IA miles of knee-deep
mud ahead of his horse. Postmaster
Hill understood and waited pa
tiently for the carriers return. Thus
in
ance of mail has already transplred
during his career as postmaster
here and the credit for all this ad-
vancement goes to the road build
ing enterprise of the county and
state Good roads made the SER
vice dependable, whereas in the old
days, Postmaster Hill could not
tell within hours when the prodigal
mail man would return, and his at
tention would have to be given to 1t
from the duties of his store. Astride
the back of a weary horse, in the
weather unprotected seat OF ram
shackle old buggy, in sleigh or
sled, he knew those carriers in the
old days were an under paid, he
roic lot, but he knew also that
nothing could be done about it, The
best Of word painters could not
cause this generation of youths to
visualize the -plodding mail
carrier and his exposure to the
most intemperate weather astride
horse over % mile route each day
But Postmaster Hill knows all about
how it was done in "the good old
days." for he was on the job over
IL years ago, seeing to it that the
mail was made up and the sacks
locked for the daily trip. At this
job of locking the sacks he should