Dear Abby: I am an 84-year-old lady, living alone. On Christmas Eve, I bought a Christmas tree. The lady I bought it from said, "It's not very heavy," as she put it in the trunk of my car.
When I got home, I tried to lift it out of the trunk. It wouldn't budge, so I used a pole for leverage and flipped it out onto my driveway. I tried pushing it, I tried pulling it. It still wouldn't budge. I tried a "dolly"; then I tried a rope. It simply would not budge. I bowed my head, clasped my hands, and prayed, "Dear God, please send someone to help me."I heard a car, looked up, and saw a Palm Springs Gas Co. truck pull up and stop across the street. The driver got out, walked toward me and said, "Can I help you? Where do you want that tree?"
I said, "If it's not too much trouble, I would like it in my house," so he carried it into my house, set it up and made sure it was straight.
I asked him, "Do you believe in the power of prayer?" With tears in my eyes, I thanked him. Then I thanked God. Abby, do you believe in the power of prayer?
- Olive B. in Palm Springs, Calif.
Dear Olive: Yes, I, too, believe in the power of prayer. You found an angel - employed by the Palm Springs Gas Co.
Dear Abby: You recently suggested that at Christmastime we should not forget our postal carriers - we used to call them "mailmen." (You said, "Be a `deer' and slip them a couple of bucks.")
Well, Abby, postal carriers are now paid $28,000 a year, plus added perks that include health insurance, paid holidays and pensions. In our area, they no longer walk their routes - they deliver the mail in jeeplike cars. And the people on their route are required to provide an approved mailbox at the curb. (These boxes are a favorite target of young vandals. I have replaced our box four times.)
Fifty years ago, I was dating a girl at a college 70 miles away. On weekends when I was unable to visit her, I wrote to her. If I dropped the letter in the corner mailbox before 5 p.m., she received it before noon the following day - and it only cost 3 cents. Today it costs 29 cents, and you're lucky if it takes less than four days.
I give what I can to my church, the Salvation Army and the United Way, and I suggest that you advise your readers to forget additional gifts to those who are well-paid, and give where it will do the underprivileged some good.
- Fed Up in Indiana
Dear Fed Up: According to a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, the entry-level salary for a mail carrier is about $26,000, increasing to about $31,000 after several years.
It is not your carrier's fault that the cost of postage has gone up and the volume of mail has increased.
You and I belong to different schools of thought: My philosophy is that those who put forth extra effort all year to make my life easier should be remembered at holiday time. Without the U.S. Postal Service, I'd have to rely on carrier pigeons.
For Abby's favorite family recipes, send a long, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $3.95 ($4.50 in Canada) to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet No. 1, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054. (Postage is included.)
1993 Universal Press Syndicate