Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1859-08-04
A Row~about a Postage stamp..

The following incident which a French
exchange brings US as having taken place
in Paris, is so good. and contains such a
capital moral for the edilication Of people
prone to finding fault with Postmasters.
that we translate it with pleasure
Northern Gazette"
The widow Bichard is an old lady
badly addicted to making bulls and is
Of a piece with the good woman who
poured out tire coffee TO feeat aFan the
grounds. 1t was a blunder something oil
this character she has come to answer at
the police Office.
The cause of the hubbub had occurred
in one of the city post Offices in Paris,
where a clerk, whose duty it was to at.
tend to prepaid letters, was suddenly &C
costed by a woman who rushed into the
Office in great trepidation.
Sir she exclaimed, addressing the
clerk, in a voice tremulous with anger,
how does it happen, / should like to
know, that when one has prepaid the
postage on a letter, the person to whom
it is sent is made to pay over again fer
it?'
How it happens, Madam ?" cried
the clerk, why, it does not happen at
ALL"
well, l say it does happen, and
what's more that it happened to day
there!'
"And tell you again, madam, that it
is impossible that it should be So"
"But here is a person of my ,acquaint
ance, to whom | wrote yesterday, and
whose letter l prepaid, who says she had
to pay for it too. She was furious about
it. and | don't wonder she was; for |
wrote to her concerning my own affairs,
and she had TO pay the postage. Its
a downright robbery, | say u
And thereupon the widow kicked up
such a rumpus that it. was found necessa-
ry to call a policeman and. take her be-.
fore o magistrate.
Instead of pacifying madam Biohard,
this proceeding nearly threw her into the
last degree. of desperation. Although
the officer requested her to assume a pro-
per line of conduct, the widow persisted
in the most uproarious manner
ITO be told, that | don't know what |
have done with it?" she cried.
Done with what?" inquired the ma
gistrate.
THE receipt" answered the widow ;
''the receipt which proves that / prepaid
the letter." So saying she fumbled in
all her pockets.
"There!' she exclaimed suddenly. 81
have got It'll Here it j sI'
and cha avhii:faI 1-l--
magistrate-what can you imagine it
was ia postage stamp! The poor old
lady had taken it as a receipt for the mon.
ey she had paid the clerk, and had treas
ured it secretly instead Of pasting it upon
the letter!
The blunder was duly explained to her,
amid roars of laughter from the specta-
tors. She promptly acknowledged her
fault, and regretting she had given way
to her anger, begged the Cont to deal
leniently with her. She plead her ignor
as the cause Of the storming and
abuse Of which she stood convicted.
The court took the culprit's general
good conduct into consideration, as we'll
as her contrition, and fined her sixteen
only. However ridiculous this
French Pa~rtingtonianism may seem to
the reader, he can rest assured that
scarcely a week passes at any post Office
10 this country without some a~bsnrdity
like it occurring. for which the poor post
is roundly berated, without en-.
the satisfaction Of seeing the blum.
punished for their perYerseness.