MESSENGERS’ ODD DUTIES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10408, 23 July 1912, Page 6

MESSENGERS’ ODD DUTIES.

“Can you gat me a unsband?” wrote a lady from Vie’-na to the head office of the District Messengers.

It was the most startling request they have ever bad to answer, and one a£ the very few they have refused. This lady offered £SO to the man who would go through ‘ the ceremony with her, after which they were to part and never meet again. But the quickly-answered summons may mean many things- One messenger boy arrived at a house to find a terrified lady perched on a piano stool, while an even more terrified mouse tore round the room looking for a way of escape Everyone knows that a German band stops playing when wicked little boys suck oranges and lemons before its envious eyes They may last out from one to 60 seconds, but never snore. From practical jokes to politics seems a far cry. but politicians composing a speech have been known to swear when disturbed by German bands. They have also been known to rid themselves of the disturbance by ringing up a district messenger and supplying him with oranges.

The police call is the most thrilling a messenger can answer. Like any other boy, he loves adventure, and often, if the truth be told, would like to rush to the spot without waiting for the policeman he has to direct. Two hoys directed a policeman a few months ago to a house in Hampstead from which a call had come, and they were in time to catch a burglar as bo left the place with his booty. Small boys going back to schpol, elephants arriving at the zoo, oats and dogs going to shows, blind people crossing from station to station, all come in for the district messenger’s assistance. < His latest doty has been made by moficiM Onauffeurs from country places cannot find their way in the crowded .uondon streets, so a messenger la Bent for to sit beside them at the wheel and give directions. The Lite Colonel MoOalmont left a letter one day marked “For immediate delivery”—in Oal fornia. In less than two hours a messenger was en route for Liverpool, where he caught the first boat for New York, and at New York', the first train for California. He delivered the letter several hours before the regular mails. . AS A SPORTSMAN. An Industrial Order of Merit was conferred on another by the Sultan of Turkey, to whom he had delivered a valuable English collie with great speed and care The famous Jaggera, however, is the best known long-distance messenger. He Is now a prosperous manager of an oil-shop in the Bayswsterfßoad, but he was only a slim young messenger boy when he took urgent letters to Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia, and got back to London in record time. He was presented to Queen Victoria, who praised him for his long and plucky journey. One boy was engaged to field tennis bails for the Duke of SaxeCoburg. His was a comparatively easy “sporting job” compared with that of a youngster who arrived In the Midlands at the call of a wire from an M F. H., and found ha was expected to exercise hunters owing to several grooms being ill with influenza. After such an experience it must have been very tame to return to London and be sent out the next morning to wheel a perambulator in Hyde Park, which was what he actually had to do. . Other boys have gaffed salmon in a Highland river, acted as loader in a country house party, and checked accounts at a race luncheon marBut the most curious London job was given to a boy who had to spend the night la a dense fog looking for a carriage and footman who had lost their way, and had last been seen outside a theatre. After so many varied services, it will be no surprise to hear that a messenger has been seen buying penny toys in the streets—not for himself, but for an Indian potentate!