Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1872-11-21
J A JOURNEY IN A BAG.
BY OLIVE THoRSE.

d I! :
When my mistress had written her mes-
sages, she folded me up, put me carefnily
Tito my coat. sealed it, and gave me 10 the
lett er-carrier. * t., ,.,,j
was young and foolish ther, dear chill
iiren, and thought Twas starting on
pleasant journey to find the ...Jonn Whos1 mos.
name WAS written on my cost Little did
suspect that my very first trip would be- ia
hen in horrid dark. leather bag. tied up in
package between dirty yellow coat smell
ing of fish, and a dingy White one, SO strong
of musk zone could hardly breathe. Knew
SHOULD have the vulgar smell Of musk tor
ever after, - es,-
But It last reached Calif,rnia-Where
xas sent. and when. found myself IN
light. clean box. with glass front. hoped
| should soon find ''J@hn.' But alas when
| was handed out. with other letters, to
man who asked Tor us, he locked at me and
handed me Back. .s, a,,
.John Howard--tllere's no such name in
my house., The letter don't belong TO merp
.sBut it's directed to Box 4S7,7' said the
clerk. ~, -,
.Well. it's mistake said the man. and
nv heart sank as invent back into another
box. with lots of Others, ..
In day or two a,clcrk came and wrote
down the names ofus all, and passed us over
to 4 Young lady saying as he. did sea
t.Here are the advertised letters." Il |
wondered what. that meant. but she sor-
ted us over. and put me into pile with 9TH
ers. and stuck us into abox marked Il. Soon
found out that all our names were printed
in newspaper and every little while, all
day. some one would come aud ask for one
Of us. They asked for Howe, and Horton,
and Hanson, but no one. came for Howard:
| Ifelt very much discouraged, as Thought
ot nav lovely young mistress, ana now she
lpnged to have her message given to John"
| But what could debut wait?,'
! Z Trad good long wait, tool tell you, for
| I Iay in that office, two months. Nobody
came for me, and at last when began TO
think should die there, man came and
took us all out, and began to do us up
.sWhat are those?'' asked lady's voice.
.Dea:i Letters madam = repeied the man.
l..I.m putting them up for the Dead Letter
Office" IE t
So Iwas lead--was +?
Ihad heard of death, but II et,alive enough
and shivered to the end ofiny last page.
when Thought perhaps should be buried.
Buried indeed ?--I should think so! Back
+ went into that, horrid bag, and an awful.
LONG, iolting Journey Itook.. But at last our
4 prison was opened. and found myself III
the Dead Letter Office in Washington.
4 That's a curious place. In the first place
went into room, where perhaps dozen
| clerk ri were at work. at monatrous pil. OF
Iaf,ers OF all kinds. Business etters, love
letters. money letters. begging letters. Oh,
can't tell YOU half the kinds there were.
| Our bag was emptied before very ousy
onen t,s. Now, i knew he wasn't John
Howard. and felt very much insulteh,
! Rut of course I couldn't say anything, ana
/. SO nv coat was rudely jerked off, and he be-
gan to read.
The first pile were those ll1at had m1ney .hass
over one dollar. On the envelopes OF THESE
a he wrote how much money was ln them, aho
M understood from what heard that they
: wer. c.ref,ly sent back to the writer's.
: Thc second plie,w letters that had checks
or drafts, or valuable papers. Ihese toe
: were sent back to the writers. 49,.
The third pile was letters with smali sums
= OF money. letter stamps, receipts, and Ss,scn
= things. All sent back. -. -
g Tie fourth pile was of letters containing
- nothing. but with the name OF the write
. signed. SO they could tell where to SEND IL
i NV dear mistress had signed her full nam
= very h''e'' MoLrrs HowAKp,s ##
!, q Il 1876 Blank Street.
u New York. -
: "a went into tile fourth pile. But tel
+ ,on the fifth pile was Il sight. Ihe sletter
n ,yere stoned with all sorts of faficy names
o s,snny. Lu, Josie, Will, Harry, and SO OF o.
J., Half d them hadn't sign Ola da.s, hsu ~
~ lla1. 1.a Y. th..y couldn't be srntback, becaus
s 1n,,,d nov ~ ,;re 70 LnaH-addressed; .les.s
es '"o ','- .AffectiGnate Jenny,
..Nen, ork
as How do YOU suppose the. PpostnaseeI COZ;
a nick out the special ''afectionase 'e""s
le that big city? s:,st Q
to to the fifth pile, where an aWIoi iale aWu NJ;
y them. / tell you was glad my Miss MOL
wasn't so silly as to sign like that.
Those unfortunate letters were put, into
pc cruel machine which tore them INTO btts
10 Then they were "deah letters indeed, an
,y their remains were sold to paper-dealers,
W When the days letters We're sorted an
there were good many tnousalas oI .;asi :i5n ,
sd ali the plies were gathered up and carried
a other rooms All the fourth pile went 70
DI room. where each one of US was put. ovel
Il cnar anu all. into new envelope, anu uire'
ted to the one wlle wrote the letter.
n was directed as told you was sfgLe
ne Miss Moi1yEHoward.
ts. New York.
NJ NJ and was stamped with curious sign,
81 Wen, went into another horr.d bag, b
as had rot used to it by this time; besides, y
nt- 2 strong, buff evercost protected me pret
,5 and 81 my eighber: hsa also faan toI,
myself i'm another pOst-ofhce. :..,i
) Then was given to man with pig pa
i,e and knew him the minute saw him.
,eI-l was ffie very man who tsek me from 2
,ad mistress, SO long ago. and my heart beat
III; IN inv - thought should soon see her agal
~ and perhaps return to my dear Old home
the her desk. ls
IeffI She came to the door and took me.
ion ask cents due,' said hc..
81 sWhy.'' said she, looking atmy..neW oV'
3 coat. sfrom the Dead Letter Office =
ia She took out her purse and paid the carr
Au-I iii cents. That was 70 pay for my lourn
ds,1 rom California to Washington. and fft
ing Washington back to New York, two fafes
! Us, IS, or postages-y0u see. g.
IND When she had paid, she went into
house, and opened the letter I,
III ssMy own letter to John. 1 declare =
RAJ Exclaimed, sswritten last summer. W
'aw lerwhy he never got: it ?' and she iool
,ow carefully at me. s.Oh, see. II Is dlrecl
ess ,to Box 4s7, and it should be 4s6. ha
I in shameful blunder T. -. ~. :.
nd s.She laid me, with q siRh, into the q
desk, saying to herself;