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SER/O Cie hos Page 130 vessels. Reports of arrivals and clearances as well as passages at other points are printed daily for the benefit of lake sailors. From these reports a complete record of the movement of ships is kept on board the mail boat, so that the expected vessel's passage at Detroit can be timed within the hour, and sometimes the timing proves right to the minute. The carrier in his rowboat has room only for the mail to be deliver- ed to the ships expected within a few hours, the bulk of the postal matter being carried on the steamer, whose cabin is fitted up for that purpose. Sometimes some quick work is nec- essary in getting out the mail for a vessel appearing unexpectedly on the river, but never yet has the mail been lost or delayed. The min- ute detail in the work of the United States postal service is here shown by the record of every ship passing, kept to the minute, as well as the number of letters taken on and off each vessel. In service of this kind the unex- pected often ha pens. Every ship must be visited alongside, no matter whether it is day or night, or wet or blowing hard. The carrier never knows what the next hour has in store for him; he may be drenched to the skin as his little boat goes leaping like a monstrous fish at- tached to a long line through the rolling swell of: some close-passing boat, or splashing from crest to crest of a chappy sea dug up by a screaming sou'wester straight up the river. Whatever happens, he knows he can swim, and so does not get nerv- ous when his boat crashes over that of the clumsy newsboy who has tried to take the starboard side also; but he cuts his line and rows back in time to rescue the vendor of papers from his sinking boat. Once in a while his boat fetches up under the condenser discharge, and it takes only a few seconds to get enough water in her to make it unpleasant; but as she is built to float always, the mail delivery goes on just the same, although the letters may be a little damp. As all sailors are used to the wet, they care little for tinaitee The number of lives the mail boat and carriers have saved during their few years of service amounts to more than a score. Anxious to get their letters, sometimes sailors have leaned too far over the ship's rail, and gone overboard with the pail they were lowering to the carrier... only to be picked up by him a little later and placed on board the vessel again. In her trips back and forth on the river, the mail boat has been present at more than one accident, and so has several times been the means of saving life. From the lazy drift alongside a low, slow-going lumber tow to the coolly calculated effort necessary to land his line on the forward deck of some high freighter going up light, lies an experience, during a season, in strong contrast to that of the carrier who handles our mail ashore, and who always has the solid earth under his feet. Toward the close of the day, after a busy day, the crew of tiie little white steamer watch for a chance between ships to get into the dock again, sometimes leaving the carrier in his rowboat bobbing up and down way out in mid- stream. If the hour 1s mear si o'clock, as the day crew step .to the dock and the night crew take their places aboard, and while her signal lights are being lighted and placed, the little steamer has a few minutes to rest in the deepening twilight. She seems to heave a sigh of re- lief as a puff of steam escapes from a pipe near the water and sputters and dies out in a little whisper of sound while she rises and dips on a passing swell. She rubs her nose against the spring pile that has softened so many bumps for her in the past, and sleepily nods while waiting for the signal that will start her into the activity of her useful life again. ni