Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-09-22

From the Washington Correspondence o. tho Clcv,
land Leader.

The Dead Letter once Museum.
From the Washington Correspondence o. tho Cleve
land Leader.
Tho paradise of fools, ''to few unknown,
Is the mental comment as one sees the man,
evidences Of peoples carelessness, foolish
ness, and stupidity which are displayed q
the Dead Letter Office Museum. Arranged
In g lass cases on the four sides Of the room
are all of these waits of travel, displayed
with view TO their respective attraction.
and suggestive of the treachery of postag,
stamps and the adverse fate which some.
times oyertakes even mail bags. There i.
everything known to the useful and orna.
mental: everything not smaller than a
thimble or larger than stovepipe hat. Such
a pathetic array of might-have-beens, so elo
| quent Of disappointments and blighted
hopes Locks of hair-there are whole
switches of them-and as for photographs,
We are told that there are 40 bushels Of them
IN the basement Of the building. But fancy
yourself the recipient Of a nice parcel from
the hands of the postman some morning,
which upon being opened discloses a live
snake Whether one would go into raptures
or Mysteries at such a treasure would be a
matter Of taste, suppose. But then peo-
pie do send snakes through the mail, and
sometimes they come back to the Dead
Letter Office for want of a claimant and
We see them leading serenely spiritual
existance in a glass jar, among other stray
postal curiosity. 1t is fact that post
master once found a small live alligator dis
porting among the letters and papers in
mail bag, There vas also bouquet of fresh
flowers, which had slipped out of its box /;
and a couple of empty boxes, very similar in
size and shape, and both addressed to ladies',
left the poor man in doubt as to which the
alligator belonged and to which the flowers.
Imagine the fair recipient Of the flowers
finding monster in her bog, instead Of the
delicate offering which she had expected
But the postmaster made no blunder he
put the flowers into one box, the allga-
tor into the other notified the ladies Of the
slight confusion of property which had taken
place, and directed each to exchange with the
other if she should receive the wrong article
But he was gratifed to learn, shorty after
wards, that there had been no mistake made
Jewelry is one of the articles most common
ly intrusted to letters and postal packages.
One can hardly realize that there is
daily average of 1900 or 5000 dead let
lers, or about 400 900 a month. Allowing
one person to a letter, there are 1000
persons every month who undertake to send
letters either without stamps, without ad-
dresses, or with cancelled stamps, insufficient
postage, or illegible or incorrect addresses.
Many Of them are without either stamp or
address, and often with no signature which
gives the slightest clue to persons sending
them. There are 40 600 month received
that either lack postage or address, or else
have insufficient or cancelled stamps and,
strange as it may seem, these are sometimes
the most valuable letters, often containing
currency or drafts for large amounts of
money. 1t is estimated that is about So
600 900 in drafts and $4,000 in cash re
ceiyed yearly through dead letters. This is
all returned, II possible, to the persons send
ing it. but if any portion of it fails to find a
claimant 1t is turned over to the postoffice
fund. Very little difficulty is experienced
in restoring the checks and drafts to the
rightful owners, but the money generally
comes in small sums, and is usually sent in
the most careless, haphlzard fashion, and
the loss Of these small sums and the ignor-
ance or carelessness with which they are
launched upon journey represents deal
Of suffering and disappointment. Some
hard working man may send $50, the say-
ing OF month : labor, TO his wife and little |
ones, whom he has had to leave behind him, |
but, alas he Is one Of forty thousand who |
trust to providence, without a stamp or ad |
dress, or else his writing and orthography |
are beyond moral ken, and 80 the poor wife |
never gets the pittance which is her all.
1t Is very amusing to see the letters open
"a. and guess at their contents before they
Ire brought to light. Three out Of five from
. bundle OF unaddressed letters contained
money, one of them IS note. Then there
are such quantities Of dress samples in let
ers One would imagine that all woman
kind had discovered language in the inter
,hange Of these scraps Of dress fabrics. One
lali show their prosperity in bits of silks
md satins, the other half in slips of sixpenny
,slico, and it is only in the Dead Letter
Office that they meet on common ground.
Certainly every fifth letter contains photo
,raph, and | don't imagine that any great
are is taken to return lost photographs
)ut any one 50 bereayed has the privilege OF
among the 10 bushels of human
'counterfeits" which have accumulated
iere, and if be does not find his own, there
nay be chance, among 50 many, OF finding
me he likes better.
Continuous complaints of rural pOstofhce
'omewhere in the wilds Of Georgia pointed
o the postmistress, an ancient maiden, who
vas accused Of opening all the letters that
ell her way. The most aggrieyed ones were
pair Of lovers whose letters passed through
Ter hands almost daily, and were invariably
,pened and the contents devoured by alien
yes before they could reach the loving ones
or which they were alone intended. A
pecial agent investigated affairs. and, find
ng that there were no g:ounds for suspect
ng the old lady of theft, he asked her mo-
i've in opening the letters, and was much
unused 10 find that she thought 1t her pre-
ogative as postmistress to read all OF the
etters she chose to or had time for reading.
,he had shown much discrimination In
hoosing those that would be most interest
ng-fOr instance the love letters-and,
Judging from her opportunities she was
,robably the best posted gossip in that
own.