Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1858-07-09
CLEVELAND, FRIDAY MORNING. JULY 9, 1858:
MORNING LEADER.
An Hour in the Dead Letter once.

MUM 11NO LILA OG1Ns
An Hour in the Dead Letter Once.
A female correspondent of Life illustrated
gives the following account Of visit to the
dead letter office at Washington:
We had been fortunate enough to procure the
entree to this place through special favor and
influence, although, as general thing, no visit
ors are admitted. 1t was a large, light room,
with two OF three desks, at which were seated
aged officials in silent occupation among literal
drifts of letters The walls were lined on every
side with huge mail sacks that had been re-
turned fell of unclaimed epistles, from myTiads
of post Offices; there might have been fifty or
hundred of these sacks, and each probably
( contained thousands on thousands of letters
'How rapidly you dispose Of them :" said i,
watching the lightning sIs,d with which the
clerks tore Opeu the epistles, glanced over them,
to see that no d;afts, checks, or other imPor-
tant documents were inelosed, and then threw
them upon an immense heap Of opened letters
at their feet
1t is all in habit, ma am" said the gentle
man nearest me. We are accustomed TO open
a certain number daily, and to those who do
not understand the expedition aud accuracy
with which we WORK, would seem almost in
credible"
As he spoke, tiny gold ring rolled nom the
folds of a rose tinted letter, whose pages we're
evidently written over by a delicate female
hand.
A chiId's ring" he said, taking it up;
would you like 10 look at it, ma am -
took it in nv hand-it was fairy circlet
of virgin gold, with the words, MARY, to E. ""
engraved within-and wondered who the
A." Mary was, and whether the little 4. w."
who never received the tiny gift, was dead or
living
Meanwhile the clerk had been taking q rapid
note of the signature, direction, etc What
will you do with it Z" / inquired, returning the
ring to his care
'Welay all such things aside, in case they
should be called for"
"And are they often redeemed -
a Not often-not once in hundred instan-
ees," he replied, taking little gold dollar from
beneath the seal of another letter, and laying it
carefully on the desk
We stood in silence, regarding the pile Of
opened letters, which was growing higher every
moment. 1t was strange medley Of styles and
handwriting. Some were inscribed on huge
sheets of foolscap, in manner that conveyed
the impression to your mind that the writer
must have grasped his pen with both hands and
gone at the paper as he would dig spade into
the earth, and folded with glorious disregard
to all geometrical precision; others, again, were
daintiy written on colOred tissue paper, and some
were in that easy, flowing hand that bespeaks
energy and refinement Of character in the CALI
grapher.
@Oh, how should like TO read these lettersl'
said I, involuntarily. The official smiled That
is what the ladies say. 1t would be almost i'm
possible to preserve our charge from the curios-
ity of the female ser if, fortunately, our rules
did not protect us from many visiturs
sBut do you never read theml"
"Neyer, unless they seem very important, or
contain Enclosures of value. Ii Is all we can DO
to keep up with the arrival of dead mails now.
If we were TO stop and read one letter in hun
dred, we should be lamentahly behind hand; be-
sides, the privacy of these letters Is point Of
honor with us. We have no more right TO read
them here, unless it is necessary, than to pry
into any personal secrets"
Here one of the clerks leaned over and hand
ed our companion tiny package
From one of the letters, he said; II thought
the lady might feel interested in it."
1t was single curl of golden hair, tied with
bit of pink ribbon and wrapped in little
piece of paper, on which was written Baby's
J hair'
knew the history Of that letter in an instant.
Though had never locked on its folds, could
see the fair young mother parting the sunny
tress from the infant head, and placing il, with
half smile and half tear, within the closely
written pagelthat was to gladen the heart OF the
/ far away husband. And he never received the
letter. Perhaps he died under the mighty
shadow of Sierra Nevada : perhaps the turf Of
some Mississippi valley lay cold and close on
on his pulseless heart, while she, the faithful
wife, was growing more sad and less hopeful
with every day that brought no answering
word.
" Baby's hair ;" 1 could not bear that the
bright curl should be thrown carelessly among
the host of letters. 1t seemed like desecra-
ton.
MAY keepthis little losk :"
Certainly, if you like" And placed it
carefully in my recticule with tender hand.
know not where the soTowing young mothers
heart is breaking, day by day, but certain am
there is an invisible bond Of sympathy between
her soul and mine, clasPed by link OF curling
silky gold Z" Babys Aair."
1t would be vain to attempt to chronicle the
numerous enclosures which dropped from the
various letteis which were opened during the
short space of time we stood there Bits of
rainbow eolored silk, sent for patterns. tiny
muslin collars, newspaper paragraphs, bank
bills, gold, cards, eoarsely writ messages
from little ones at home, whose hands were
guided by mother or sister, so that the absent
father, cousin or brotler, might have a lit
tie letter, and innumerable other affecting
relics
"Where do all these letters 90 when they
have been opened and examined Are they
| burnedi"
"No; that was formerly the custom, how
ever We used to make great bonfres Of them,
but aside from that, bits Of written paper would
always escape from the flames, thus destroying
all privacy in the letters; it was found that
many people made IT 4 business to seek among
the ashes for the gold, jewels, dollars, &c,
which often escape our notice here, and go ont
IN the opened letters. So nov they are all sent
to paper mill and manufactured as writing
paper
We passed another room, where were many
mfmentOs Of the good old days before the laws
OF PTe-Paying postage went into effect. There
were two or three huge stones which had been
sent for q a joke" involving an immense
amount of postage to be paid by some unfortu-
nate, who luckily never received the pOnderous
packages gigantic red baby said to have
been sent by young man to some vinegar
faced old maid-a neatly manufactured Righs
I'm which some INDIGNANT oid bacbalor- -rar,a