Chapter 50
-- Compiled by the Cumberland Women's Club
and Published by the Cumberland Advocate
1874-1974
(used by permission of the Cumberland Advocate)
Donated by Linda Mott
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Memories of a Mail Clerk
Much has changed in the handling of the mail since I first entered the postal service in 1916. At that time the post office occupied a small space in a building at the corner now owned by the Holiday Gas Station.
Mail
arrived four times daily, Monday through Saturday, and twice on Sunday
by train. Lew Thomas
had the contract for delivery of the sacks of mail between the post office
and the railway station. He had a horse drawn vehicle and the horse was
named Diamond. Rural mail, four regular routes and one Star were also delivered
by horse drawn vehicles. The carriers
usually
had to break their own roads in the winter. Stamps were cancelled with
a hand stamp, or by a machine operated by hand.
By 1919 we had advanced from a third class office to a second and moved into more spacious quarter in the corner building now owned by Schneider Drug. Soon after that we acquired, joy of joys, an electric cancelling machine which took away some of the drudgery of dispatching mail.
During World War I, the Treasury Department issued thrift stamps in the 25 cent denomination and war savings stamps at $5.00 each. The WWS were registered, so card indexes had to be set up for each purchaser. The registration numbers were figures of about 8 digits, and had to be entered on the cards and stamps along with the date and initials of the issuing clerk. This was very time consuming.
During
World War II, we were given the chore of registering all aliens, of which
we had a remarkable number. This included taking finger prints. Most of
the registrants had spent 50 or 60 years at hard manual labor and their
hands were dry, rough and often crippled. Added to that, their fear of
anything connected with the government made them very tense and taking
finger
prints was a monumental task. It wasn't minimized by the fact that the
registration period extended right through the Christmas rush season.
Since that time train service has been discontinued and mail is now trucked in at a very different schedule.
We used
to get our worst snowstorms and blizzards in late February and March. Trains
would be delayed for hours and it wasn't at all uncommon for us to work
until 10, 11, or even midnight on a late arrival. About once each season
we would have such a severe storm that the trains couldn't get through
for 2 or even 3 days. Such interruptions in service were accepted
with
good grace by the patrons.
By Katherine
Cosgrove Hopkins
Thanks for stopping by!
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