Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-10-16
THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE.
[walsa for he Albany Register b. Re.urrsetioai.t.


Posr OFFICE and the first floor thereof there from
till night and day after day. body Of grave calm
men, whose duty it is deal with these mortuary
mains sadly exempying the scripture teaching of the
nearness of life to death Grey they have grown many
Of these men, and solemn all of them as BELTS their call
ng The rooms which these co-laborers with the
nhabit are tombke and dark-echoing to the football
ike crypts and like them, finished with groined arches,
while the air is close and smells of decay Here
sounds Of mrth bursts of rbad hupor are defect
ed from these massive walls but all is silent labor save
perhaps when one workman having feeling of his
business than his neghbor quavers dreary stave
Of some forgotten hymn, or huns snatch from Stern
hold and Hopkins.
Piled in the halls outside the doors Of these meancho
y vaults are great sacks locked and sealed and labelled
$ Dead Letters" and ever and appears grim,
sexton-iike old negro, who, Selling bag disappears
with it into one other of the tombs You may enter
with me You WILL and, readng carefully the ashes
that lie scattered every where beneath your feet watch
the processes by which living thoughts and high aspra
tons and loves word and the burning phrases
of ambition, and hope and joy and the ful dreamings
OF the poet the cool calculations Of the money geer the
prophetic outgyngs of the potcianall the thousand
varied emotions ympathes and expressions that go to
make up correspondence, here converted life
less, meaningless trash And to do this understandings
Before letter can become what is termed sdead" it
have lain unclaimed in the Office to which it
sent for delivery during three months and have been adj
vetsed in the newspapers by its address At the end of
this PERIOD If still uncalled for it is dispatched to the
General Post Office there to be dealt with in those dim
mysterious chambers have alluded to- by the hands Of
the grave men who minister in them OF such letters
there sent to the Department during the fiscal year
last closed the number of 2, 100000.
When received ut the Department they opened and
examined which is the business proceeding in this
first of the yaultlke Here three seated
at tables and engaged solely in the process of opening
and examining letters Before each is heap Of mis-
sves Of all shapes, Sizes and conditions from the lace
edged, perfumed billet, to the heavy, yellow enveloped
official despatch from the squarefolded, greasy epste
of the serving girl to the prm, rcdwaxed document of
foreign embassy; thousand or more in number, no
two of which alike except in that sad likeness which
the grave gives to all things animate nanmate. See
how rapidly the accustomed fingers tear from them their
covers, break the seals that hold them and expose
their Utmost secrets And see too, how torn and
those fingers with labor in this neyerending still
beginning routine 1t is severely trying to the hands,
for letter paper is sharp the edge and many bleeding
wound is inflicted by these innocent weapons-though
not so lasting perhaps the contents of some of them
had they reached their destination See how the prac
tced runsover the sheet and without reading word
detects by its face whether there be for preserving
it for future and more thorough inspection Here is one
contains lock of harnothing more; valueless in the
hard unromantc judgment Of the law The next reveals
bills of exchange daguerreotypes ofhand receipts
emgrant passage tickets lottery tickets, old wallet
health fire. and life assurance policies, bunch Of keys
specimen of wheat bottles sugar samples, hanks of
yarn, bed quilt rattlesnake skim two diamond orna
ments old hat, draft for ten thousand dollars,
paving stone suit of boys clothing; box of tea nuts
from that indtfatgabe gentleman John Junius Smith,
addressed to some delinquent correspondent who has
omitted to claim them; pot of ointment, bundle of
watchmaker's tools maple sugar, bullocks horn, gal
vanic battery garden Seeds lawyer without end
officers commissions and discharges ewery of all sorts
and values, forget not" worked in worsted per-
forated card driver patterns of silk goods for
city cousins to match for country friends, &C. These
of the thousand and varieties Of articles found
in letters and laid aside the valuable to be returned to
their owners, If they be found, and the others to
serve as credits to the postmasters against whom they
stand charged With postage But not letter in many
contains any thing beyond the chrographes Of the writer
The many thrown down unread and at the close Of
each day the accumulation is bundled into sacks At the
end Of each quarter these transported for the last
time, to place without the city, and there solemny
burnt human being but their writers knowing how
much Of labor and Of pain has been expended upon them
thus to perish by fire and be exhaled in smoke.
most touching and paihtive letter was received at
the Department some months since, from poor woman
in State anxious to obtain tdings Of her
in the CALIFORNIA;. She old, she said very old,
palsed and nearly blind and her boy who had been
ward and reckless was her only hope He had reformed
of late she had to believe and she had thrice
written him. telling him Of her forgiveness, but she feared
neither had reached him. for she had received none in
reply When she read of the thousands Of letters yearly
destroyed the Department and thought Of the bodily
and mental agony ii had her 10 ndte these three
epistes OF forgiveness and joy her poor erng child il
seemed she said great waste, so wanton destruc
on that she was induced beg Of the head Of the De-
parment that he would personally make search for her
missing letters and finding them she had no doubt
he would forward them direct TO their destination Poor
woman she little knew what she asked, but there was
something painfully touching in the innocence Of the
great worlds affairs, displayed in her humble request
Let hope that long time elapsed the honest old
ladys heart was grafed by the receipt Of good news
from that land which has been the tomb Of SO many
hopes.
Having traced the Of the Dead Letters to their
ultimate destination let what is done with those
Others considered Of sufficient value to warrant inquiry
into their ownership. And first let enter for
posed Of BY virtue Of postal arrangements with Eng
land and Germany engage TO return TO the General
Post Offices Of those countries, unopened, all unclaimed
letters coming through their nails they recprocatng by
similar course regard TO letters from this country
and undeliyered by them Letters thus received from
transatlantic countries with which have postal
angcments treated precisely in the
those written and sent for delivery within terri
tories with this reservation, that such letters can only
be returned 10 their writer's, II they to be found
since the persons addressed residing in foreign States
are supposed be without the reach Of departmental
machinery Hence, smaller proportion Of those letters
reach their proper through the aid Of the Dead
Letter Bureau but they chiefly contain bills of
ton Of the Is almost certain reach the persons for
whom they intended very nearly full justice is done
all parties Another reason, and very important
for the nonrecept of letters by the parties addressed is
the want Of accuracy shown in directing them Nothing
is more than for letters to be mailed without any
address, with the name Of the town State omitted the
wrong post Office indicated, the names Of State and
county transposed Among bankers particularly, the