The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1878-05-02
WASHINGTON. April II. 1878.
ToOrrespondence Of the citizen.I

w a 4OhOs
In my last letter 1 briefly alluded
to the postal system OF the United
States-how it had grown up in a
hundred years from few letters
packed about the country in saddle
bags, to a most wonderful, omni-
present, complicated but ever act
ing agency, whose operation brought
manifold blessings to forty-five mill
lions of people. But the most Gu
rious work assigned to this postal
machinery is that which it fails to
perform. These failures however
must be charged to the people, and
not to the mail carriers. If you
wish to see how many ridiculous
mistakes and blunders people can
be guilty of, there is no better place
to study this subject than in
THE DEAD LETTER OFFICE.
Here come every day thousands
of letters, packages and postal cards
from all parts of the United States,
which have by some means or other
missed reaching the person for
whom they we're intended. These
are thrown in huge piles upon Ia
bles, and score or more of clerks
deity open the stray missives that
have come back because they could
find no owners. The cause of GO
ing astray is frequently made appa
rent by slight examination, Alb
sent mindedness has more to do in
the matter than anything else. One
man forgets to put stamp on his
letter, and the only way to correct
this omission is to send the letter
to the p. o. d. at Washington,
where it is opened and returned to
the writer. Another man writes his
own name instead OF his friends in
the superscription, and after wan
dering thousands of miles like a
lost spirit, it finally gets back to the
writer through the dead letter of
fee. Another forgets to write any
direction at all, and the poor white
faced envelope must needs carry its
enclosed treasure to the general re
ceptacle for all stray waits. Still
another directs his letter to "John
Smith, New York City," AS there
are several hundred Of this distin-
guished name in the great American
metropolis-one or more to every
carriers beat-the letter is opened
and examined by scores of the John
Smiths, and after many fruitless eff
forts the much worn missive is sent
to Washington and thence back to
the writer. 1t is the rule of the
dead letter Office to return to wri-
tiers all letters of any possible value,
where the name of the writer APP
pears. This does not always appear
however, and still more frequently
is so badly written as to make it
impossible to do anything more
than attempt to initiate an ugly
scrawl on the returning envelope.
The queer things embraced in the
text or enclosures of these vagrant
epistles must fully satiate the curl
osity of the lady clerks who operate
in this department. If Madame
Eve had been in dead letter Office
it is doubtful whether she would
have ever attempted to seek forbid
den knowledge by eating forbidden
fruit. pa =
Outside of the letters however,
there is an immense number of
strange and curious things that find
their way to the Dead Letter Office,
and as these cannot be returned to
the senders, they are sold from time
to time at public auction. There
has lately been an auction sale OF
this kind, the printed catalogue of
which embraced nearly ten thou
sand different packages. This i'm
mense omnium gatherum embraces
enough to stock several provision,
clothing. jewelry and notion stores
besides large curiosity shop. Here
are q few sample bricks from the
collection. l Doz. smoked herring,
l Whittaker's ham, link Bologna
sausage, loaves of bread, crackers,
cheese, &C., 6 lamp mats, birds
wings, flags, small saws, pocket
books, stockings, carriers, false hair,
tooth brushes, knives, porous plas-
tiers, bed spreads, underwear, slip
pers, toy engines, shoes, canned
pigs feet, chemise, playing cards,
pills, corsets, fox skin, comfort, base
balls, cartridges molder's tools,
knobs, gas stoves, gas bags, hanks
of yarn, locks, watch crystals,
lamps, looking glasses, sheets, leath
er apron, cameras, revolvers, au-
tumn leaves, telegraphic instru-
ments, mink skin, bear skin, straw
berries, condensed. milk, horse pow
der, untanned furs, wax flowers,
mathematical instrument, glass or
naments, iron ore, mill hammer,
dagger, centipede and t,rantula in
liquid, life preservers, billiard balls,
3 boxes of snuff, bustles, weights,
atomizer, liz ounces of opium, dc.
SIGHT SEEING AND STAR GAZING.
Last night 1 went with Rev. DR..
Wills and my friend Col. Gustin OF
Georgia, upon pleasant invitation
from Prof. Hall of the National OBJ
servatory to take a peep at the
moon through the monster tele
scope. This is the largest and best
instrument of the kind in the world,
and best of all, it is of home manu-
facture, having been constructed by
the Messrs. Clark, the famous in
strument makers. This telescope
is a refractor with an object glass
20 inches in diameter, and more
than twenty-five feet focal distance.
The view of the lunar mountains
was most satisfactory, as well as of
some double stars. Prof. Hall has
immortalized both the instrument
and himself by using it TO discover
the two moons of Mars, and l am
heartily glad that a man so learned
in the heavenly science of astron-
omy, and so distinguished for his
modesty and urbanity should have
made the grandest celestial discov
cry in the 10th century,
have just now returned from
the room of the Senate Committee
on Patents, where met for the first