If you asked a typical Harding co-ed how she felt about mail, her reaction probably would have been like that of freshman Mary Clark's: "Do you mean m-a-l-e or m-a-i-l?" Although these homophones represented two very different subjects, it seemed that to many female students they were at least interrelated since mail constituted a vital link to males. "It 's great to get mail from guys, even if they're just good friends. It's nice to know that they think enough of you to take their time and send you a special note or something," said one co-ed. Inversely, campus mail was also useful for communication from the campus females to the campus males. " It's easy to just go up and tell girls what yOll think. It's not as easy to tell guys if you appreciate them," she continued, "it 's more special, 1 guess." While girls openly thrilled over getting mail from guys, the masculine personalities played it more low-key: "it's just like a little surprise or something, " commented Steve Allen about getting mail from the girlfriend, Sharon. But, campus mail did not replace the excitement of receiving letters from home, particularly if the delivery included money. Sleven Tifferliller - Gainesville. FL Alfred Tennison - Texarkana. AR Scoll Tennyson - Harrison. AR Jena Thomas - Columuus, GA Christopher Thompson - San Anselmo. CA 200 Kimberly Thompson - Carmel. IN Mitzi Thompson - Carrollton, TX William Thornton - Malden, MO Jenn)' Tindell - Searcy. AR Justice Tillow - Greensboro, NC Jolene Todd - Shreveport. LA Ronald Todd - Odessa. TX Brian Traughber -Anchorage, AK James Treece - Carut hersv ille. MO Diane Trisler - Bloomington. IN Terry Tritschler - St. Louis, MO Darrell TruiU - Amana, IA Brian Tucker - Millington, MS Cheryl Tucker - Li verpool. NY Shelia Tyler - Clarksdale, MS Lisa Uhlich - Ponca City, OK Marla Upton - Greenwood, IN Stanle)' Valentine - Searcy" AR Mark Villines - Durant, OK Joel Voorhees - Clinton, IA David Voss - EI Dorado, AR Lisa Waggoner - Fayetteville. TN Darrel Waire - Oes Allemands. LA Sophomores Campus courier It was debatable, however, whether handbills, flyers, and "junk mail" were preferrable to no mail at all. To many students the " filler" mail was not only disappointing, but aggravating. Few students bothered to peer beyond their 4x5 inch boxes to see what happened in the mail room beyond, however. One student, having checked her box for the third time in one morning was heard to say, "Boy, they're taking their sweet time today. " Such demands seemed reminiscent of the herculean expectations placed upon pony express riders in the In spite of complaints from impatient students, however, Dale Gould, manager of the campus mailroom and student center said, HI think we ordinarily do a good job (of getting the mail up)." The delivery of first class mail, including those precious letters from home, was included in the morning mail and was in the students' boxes by 10:30 or 11 :00. There were days when the mailroom was flooded, however, and the notes slid through the slit for campus mail faster than the workers could put them in the respective boxes. Rush seasons included pledge week , Halloween, and Valentine's Day, but the biggest season of all was Christmas, according to Gould. Related to the giving and sending of mail was the post office, just down tlie hall from the mailroom. Run by Postmistress Lucille Bohannon, the Office conducted all the business of a regular post office, including stamps in every denomination, money orders, registers, certifieds, and parcels. But selling stamps, said Mrs. Bohannon, is what she did most at the window. Once a month she ordered enough stamps for six weeks, which. at Harding, was about SlO,OOO worth of stamps. While there seemed to be a lot of money tied up in the mail business, the expense was not half as bad as the pony express days. when delivery of letters was $5 per half-ounce. Even in more recent history, however, Harding students have been known to conserve. "Why waste paper?" thought one Harding female, who wrote part of a letter to her boyfriend on a napkin . She was actually protesting his typically masucline habit of using any syntax, any chicken scratch, and any writing utensil available at the time to write her . Nevertheless, her napkin note was received with happiness - anything was welcome, it seemed. to avoid the dreaded reality of "air mail."
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