RURAL MAIL SERVICE 



79 



assistant. It means a great saving of time to call up the 

 village store for needed supplies in order to have them sent 

 out by the next car, or by some neighbor who happens to 

 be in the village. When haying and harvesting are in 

 progress, the notice of a probable change of weather may 

 mean the saving of many dollars. In some places " Cen- 

 tral " reports the weather forecast daily to all the farmers 

 on the line. 



GETTING THE MORNING MAIL. 



48. Rural Mail Service. A very few years ago country 

 folks had no government delivery or collection of mail. 

 To post a letter now and then, or to find out whether one 

 lay waiting at the post office, the farmer himself had to 

 drive to the village perhaps over many miles of wretched 

 roads. Packages of more than four pounds could be sent 

 or received only by freight or express, and express rates 

 were extremely high. Under such conditions the farmer's 

 family sent little mail and received little. Now the par- 

 cel post and the daily rural mail service bring to his door 

 the merchandise of a distant city and the latest news of 



