Communications and Community Life 8 Friendly Faces / love the friendly faces I meet in country towns, The sincere, open faces Untouched by pouts and frowns. I love the little twinkles That reach and banter mine; I love each wordless message That only we define. I love friendly faces, The real folk with a smile Who lift a weary spirit Across the sober mile. I love the little flashes Of kindred thought I meet When I am but a stranger Walking a small town street. I love the friendly faces Of any race or clan That strengthen all my thinking My faith in God and man. I love the thoughts that linger For days and days and days Long after we have twinkled And gone our separate ways. S. Barlow Bird POSTAL SERVICES Mail communications in this province have changed greatly from the early years of settlement. The only post office on P.E.I , up to 1827 was in Charlottetown , where a station had been established in 1801. At this time all mail had to be picked up in Charlottetown by the addressee and notices were often placed in the Royal Gazette advising individuals that mail had arrived for them. In 1827, inland mail routes were established with eleven new post offices. The Western route from Charlottetown made a circuit of Princetown , Traveller's Rest, Bedeque and Tryon . The mail was delivered to these localities once a week in summer and once every two weeks in winter. The Bedeque post office, established in 1827, was the earliest in the Freetown area. The Colonial Government took charge of postal affairs on the Island in 1851. This continued until July 1873 when the Government of Canada assumed responsibility. Canada postage stamps were then used on all mail replacing the P.E.I , stamps that had been first issued in 1861. According to legislative records, a post office was opened at Upper Freetown in 1854. This was one of the earliest in the area as suggested by the list of openings for nearby post offices: Summerside - 1851 Barrett's Cross ( Kensington ) Freetown - 1854 North Bedeque - 1860 Middleton - 1863 1851 Somerset ( Kinkora ) - 1867 Lower Freetown - 1867 Newton - 1871 Norboro -1872 County Line ( Emerald ) - 1875 Kelvin Grove - 1900 .. A second post office in the Freetown area was opened in Lower Freetown in 1867. This office remained operational until 1913 when a rural mail route from Upper Freetown replaced it. In the early years, the mails were distributed to the main country post offices by horseback or stage coach. Contracts were let to haul the mail from major centers, like Bedeque , to the smaller ones, like Freetown . In 1875, the mail was hauled by the newly completed Railroad. This made a vast improvement in service 149