PAPER ROUTE ARTIST: PALMER'S CARTOONS CAN STRIKE AT THE HEART OF THE HUMAN CONDITION

Hubert Palmer looked through some of the engraving lettering guides he uses to hand engrave metal plates at his home. Palmer used to engrave greeting cards.

Hubert Palmer cleaned up some lettering on a engraving.

Palmer uses his experiences on the job to inspire his sketches.

A full morning's work behind him, Hubert Palmer finishes his job at about the time many alarm clocks are sounding.

A single-copy deliverer for the Southeast Missourian, he takes fresh-from-the-press newspapers to racks and stores at some 38 locations.

Traveling his route, Palmer greets dawn and occasionally finds himself in unusual circumstances. Most of the time, the faces he sees are friendly.

"I found out there are a lot of good people out there, and I really appreciate them," Palmer said. "I just follow my routine," he said, "If somebody along the way wants to talk to me, well, that's fine, too.

"I'm just a common, ordinary country boy who's trying to do his thing the best that he can," Palmer said.

At times when he returns home, Palmer's early morning experiences are rendered on paper. Palmer also is an artist and cartoonist, and more often than not his cartoons poke fun at himself.

"Sometimes awkwardness can be turned into something amusing for another person," Palmer said.

Cartoons can strike at the heart of the human condition.

Occasionally, Palmer depicts an unusual circumstance, but usually it is a thought or situation that rings with familiarity.

One of his earliest cartoons shows him falling, face first, feet flying, after snagging his foot in newspaper string.

He remembers the occasion. Instead of being concerned about possible injuries, he recalled, he immediately looked around to see if anyone saw his fall. "I thought that was kind of funny, so I drew a picture of it," he said.

Two sketch notebooks later, each chock full of detailed pencil caricatures with themes ranging from blizzards to exchanges with night managers, Palmer still finds joy in putting pencil to paper.

It is a joy he discovered as a child. On several walls of the home he shares with his wife, Donna, hang paintings by members of Palmer's family. When it comes to drawing and painting, he said, "My whole family was inclined that way.

"I just picked it up along the way, during my lifetime."

When he was a teen-ager he won an art scholarship for a correspondence course by sending in a "draw-me" after seeing the ad in a publication.

But the lack of formal training never stopped Palmer, a World War II veteran, "I never really thought I couldn't do it. I thought, 'I'd like to do that.'

"I was taught to do everything the very best that you can; anything less than that, you just don't do that," he said.

Though he has worked with pen and ink, watercolor and oil, Palmer favors pencil, primarily, he said, because of the control it affords. "I like the rubbed effect. I can blend it so much easier."

But Palmer has directed his talents in other artistic directions too. He learned the art of steel-die engraving and embossing while employed by Hallmark in Kansas City.

He's still amazed he got the job. "I went up there just about quitting time, just grabbed a few sketches and drawings that I had done, nothing fancy, no portfolio. It just happened I came at the right time; they were planning on expanding their engraving department," he said.

The experience was great, but city life wore on the young family from southwest Missouri. After about eight years there, the Palmers learned that American Greetings was opening in Cape Girardeau. They jumped at the chance to move to a smaller community with a reputation for excellent schools. He stayed with American Greetings for 19 and on-half years, until the shop closed its doors here in 1985.

"I always thrilled at just seeing the results of what a series of lines could do as far as making a finished picture," he said.

The highlight of his engraving career was making the engraving plates used in the sentiment portion of Christmas greeting cards for President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale in 1978. The hand-cut, presidential die is in the Smithsonian Institution.

"I was so involved with engraving and graphic arts, I kind of got away from my drawing and painting for quite a while," he said.

These days, much of his art work and other hobbies are accomplished in a part of his basement he calls his little corner of the world. Eleven years ago Palmer went on his first route delivery for the Southeast Missourian. And, when the mood strikes, sketches or other art springs from his practiced hand.

Often, the idea to sketch strikes unexpectedly. "I just suddenly say: 'Hey, I think I'll do a sketch of that. Maybe somebody will enjoy it somewhere along the way.'"

Another of Palmer's cartoons shows a policeman questioning his movements. Palmer chuckles with the memory. The newspaper company had secured a rental moving truck for him to use temporarily, he recalled. However, the police, he said, "were used to seeing me in the Missourian van.

"Suddenly some lights came up behind me from two directions. I thought, 'I've been had.'"

But he is grateful for just that kind of security, he said. "It gets kind of lonely out there that time of night. I appreciate seeing them in the area."

Palmer is devoted to his delivery job. "I am very conscious of getting that paper in good shape and in time for delivery," he said.

Plus, there's always an element of surprise in the job he's been working for more than a decade. Palmer faces each new workday, which begins half way between midnight and dawn, with, "Well, I wonder what's going to happen tonight?"