Some rise with the sun, others with the moon. The latter is true of Arthur Carter, 78, and his 13-year-old Havanese Gizmo, who start their days a couple hours past midnight.  

By 3:30 a.m., the pair are out the door. Carter meets the truck for Hudson Distributors in Topsham and loads up, spending the next six or more hours delivering newspapers across Lincoln County from Waldoboro and Damariscotta to Bristol and New Harbor.   

He’s done this seven days a week for the past 48 years.  

Ever since March 21, 1977, to be exact. Carter remembers the date for two reasons: It was the first day of spring, and the weather was atrocious.  

“I was driving through Edgecomb, and it was snowing so hard I didn't know if I was in the road or if I was in somebody's lawn. I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if this is a good decision.’” 

Evidently, it wasn’t enough to deter him. New York Times, New York Post, Boston Globe, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Daily News – you name it, he’s probably delivered it. He even distributed the Boothbay Register for about 20 years.  

Most of that time has been spent with a furry friend in the passenger seat offering moral support. His current companion Gizmo is a bit of a glutton (deemed “solid” by his veterinarian), but hasn't needed to go on a diet yet. “He's my little shadow. Wherever I am, he's there," Carter said.

The duo has had their share of memorable experiences. “I've enjoyed doing it all these years. I've met a lot of interesting people and made a lot of friendships (that) I wouldn't have if I hadn't been doing this.”  

Most of these friends have been everyday people, although Carter did cross paths with the famous broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite, best known as the anchorman for CBS Evening News.  

Just as broadcast television has changed since Cronkite's era, so too has the newspaper game. Carter said he used to deliver three times the volume he does now. Between the papers needed for just Boothbay Fruit Company, Common Market and Southport General Store, his pickup was filled to the roof. 

“In those days, at least in this area, you didn't get a New York Times until I said, 'You've got the New York Times.'" 

Carter attributes the shift in part to the rise of online news, with most young people preferring to consume information that way rather than in print. A lot of the mom-and-pop shops on his route have also closed. In just the Boothbay region, his stops decreased from 15 to four. 

Despite this, Carter is still busy. His "master plan” to keep with newspaper delivery to keep himself occupied while lessening his workload in his retirement years didn't pan out, but he doesn’t mind too much. “If you like doing something, it's not really a job.”