The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1877-01-02
cURIosITIEs OF THE DEAD LETT
TEN OFFICE.

ter OFFICE.
The paradise Of fools, "to few un.
known" is the mental comment as one
sees the many evidences of peoples
sss srs Yesbaflb S supiatsZ
Office Museum. Arranged in glass
cases on the four sides Of the room are
all these waits Of travel. displayed with
view to their respective attractions.
and suggestive OF the treachery OF
postage stamps and the adverse fate
which sometimes overtakes even mail
bags. There is everything known to
the useful and ornamental /; everything
not smaller than a thimble or larger
than a stove-pipe hat.
Snch pathetic ray of might-have-
beens, SO eloquent of disappointments
and blighted hopes Locks of hair
there are who'e switches OF them--and
as for photographs, we are told that
there are forty 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 live snake Whether one
would go into raptures or Mysteries at
such treasure would be a matter OF
taste, ! suppose. But, then, people do
send snakes through the mail, and
sometimes they come back to the
Dead-Letter Office for want Of claim
ant, and we see them leading a serene
ly spiritual existence in q glass jar
among other stray postal curiosities.
It is fact that a postmaster once
found a small live alligator disport-
ing among the letters and papers in q
mail bag.
There was also a boquet OF fresh
flowers, which had slipped out of its
box and a couple OF empty boxes,
very similar in size and shape, left the
poor man in doubt as to which the ALI
gator belonged, and to which the Jew
ers. Imagine the fair recipient of the
flowers finding monster in her box,
instead of the delicate Offering which
she had expected But the postmaster
made no blunder; he put the flowers in
one box, the alligator into the other;
notified the ladies of the slight con-
fusion OF their property which had
taken place, and directed each to ex-
change with the other il she should re-
ceive the wrong article. But he was
gratifed to learn shortly afterwards
that there had been no mistake made.
Jewelry is one OF the articles most
commonly entrusted to letters and
postal packages.
One can hardly realize that there is
daily average Of $4,000 or 5000 dead
letters. or sbout 400, 900 a month. Al
lowing one person to n letter, there
are 400, 900 persons every month who
unertako TO send letters either with
out stamps, without addresses, or
with cancelled stamps, insufficient post
age, or illegible, incorrect addresses.
Many of them are without either stamp
Or address, and often no signature
which gives the slightest clue to per-
sons sending them. There are 10000
a month received that either lack
postage or addresses, or else have in
sufficient or cancelled stamps and.
strange as il may seem, these are some
times the most valuable letters, often
containing currency or drafts for large
amounts OF money. 1t Is estimated
that there is about "a, 900, 900 in drsfts
and S75, 900, 900 in cash received yearly
through dead letters. This is all re-
turned, il possible, to persons sending
it; but il any portion of it fails to find
q claimant, it is turned over to the
post-effice fund. -r.a-.'-'
Very little difficulty is experienced
in returning the checks and drafts TO
the rightful owner, but the money gen.
orally comes in small sums, and is US
uslly sent in the most careless, hap
hazard fashion, and the less OF these
small sums, and the ignorance or care
lessness with which they are launched
upon q journey, represents a deal of
suffering and disappointment Some
hardworking man may send $50, the
savings of a months 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 Provi-
dence, without stamp or address, or
else his writing or orthography are be-
yond mortal ken, and so the poor wife
never gets the pittance, which is her
all.
IL is very amusing to see letters
opened and guess at their contents be-
fore they are brought to light. Three
out of FIVE from a bundle OF unaddress-
ed letters contained money, one OF
them IS note. Then there are such
quantities of dress samples in letters.
One would imagine that all woman
kind had discovered language in the
interchange of these scraps Of dress IA
brics. One-half show their prosperity
in bits OF silks and satins, and the
other half in bits of six-penny calico.
aud il is only in the Dead-letter Office
that they meet on common grounds
Certainly every fifth letter contains Q
photograph, and / don't imagine thai
any great care is taken to return lost
photographs, but any one so bereaved
has the privilege Of rumaging among
the forty bushels OF human counter.
feits" which have accumulated hero. =
Cor. Cleveland Leader.