The Couriers of the Postal Service
_Dear Mentor_: I have recently become a member of the Association, andpossessor of the five bound volumes of The Mentor. The following may beof interest to you:
On the New York Post Office, on a coping surmounting the portico, thereis an inscription: “NEITHER SNOW NOR RAIN NOR HEAT NOR GLOOM OF NIGHTCAN STAY THESE COURIERS FROM THE SWIFT COMPLETION OF THEIR DUTY.”
My attention was attracted to this last August, when passing throughNew York. I could not find out whence it came, until in January ofthis year, while at Headquarters of the 62nd French Division, ata small place named Rouez, about four miles from La Fere, on theOise, my orderly found a volume in a rubbish heap, and as it had theappearance of having been a handsome library volume, he brought it tome, and asked if it were any good. He held it before me, open, as itwas wet and muddy. On the open page I read of the line of couriersestablished by Xerxes. The book, although evidently long exposed to theweather, was in a good condition. As I read the words, referring tothe couriers, “QUE NI LA NEIGE, NI LA PLUIE, NI LA CHALEUR, NI LA NUITN’EMPÊCHENT DE FOURNIR LEUR CARRIERE AVEC TOUTE LA CELERITE POSSIBLE”(that neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor night shall prevent thecompletion of their course with all possible speed), I realized that inthis “History of Herodotus,” and in the couriers of Xerxes, some fourhundred years before Christ, I had found the source of the inspirationfor our postal service.
EDWARD H. PLUMMER, Brigadier General U. S. Army, Fort Sill, Okla.
_Editorial Note._--These lines are credited to Herodotus on the front of the Post Office building. The name of the Greek historian appears in small letters just after the quotation.
The Mentor in the Desert
It may be of interest to you to know that I came across a mutilatedcopy of The Mentor in a small outpost station in the Kalahari Desert,Southern Africa. How it ever got there, I can’t tell, for the nearestrailway station is several hundred miles away. The pages were a solaceto me on a very tedious journey in a wagon drawn by oxen. On accountof the mutilation I am unable to give you the full title of the issueof The Mentor, but I recollect that with it were four photogravures offamous composers. I further clearly remember that Beethoven was amongthe four. He was a favorite composer of mine, and, just at that time,I was trying to grasp the philosophy of his Ninth Symphony. Further,I can remember that I was greatly interested in the publication, sostrangely come upon in this desert place, and I made a mental note thatshould I ever come across its home address, and conditions were moreconvenient, I would endeavor to become more clearly acquainted with TheMentor.
BERTRAM ADAMS, New York City
THE MENTOR
A NEW VOLUME
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The beautiful numbers of the unique Mentor Library will never be outof date, as every Mentor is built on an important subject of enduringinterest. The concise form in which scores of subjects are coveredmakes it of the greatest practical value to the business man, to theactive woman who appreciates the importance of knowledge, and tochildren, who will find it of untold value in their school work. Yousurely will want Volume Number Six, which will complete your MentorLibrary to date; that you may receive it you need only send the couponor a post card _without_ money.
The Volume will be forwarded to you all charges paid. You can remit$1.50 upon receipt of bill, and $1.00 a month for only six months; ora discount of 5% is allowed if payment in full is made within ten daysfrom date of bill.
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THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, 114-116 E. 16th St., New York
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Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when apredominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were notchanged.
Simple typographical errors and unbalanced quotation marks werecorrected.
The statement beginning “PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF” appears atthe bottom of each of the six biographies near the beginning of themagazine, but only the last occurrence has been retained in this eBook.
The “Winston Churchill” discussed in this magazine was an Americanwriter, not the British statesman.
The Mentor: Makers of American Fiction, Vol. 6, Num. 14, Serial No. 162, September 1, 1918 Page 10