The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1878-03-27
DO THINGS RIGHT.
Mysteries in Mailing Letters.

To the Editor Of the Morristown Gazette:
remember of having read some
years ago a statement that q letter
had been carried at the bottom Of g
mail bag for fourteen years. The
maker allowed two pieces of leather
to protrude beyond a reasonable
width which ought to have beelr
trimmed off. The letter in question
had been put in as thousands OF
others we're, but caught between
these two pieces ofleather aud there
stuck. riding each week sixty miles,
thus making an aggregate of 1850
miles.
1t is only a few years since Tread
Of an extraordinary hunt for lost
letter by New York post-office de-
tective. A gentleman doing busi-
ness in New York city made com
plant to the post-office authorities
concerning lost letter containing
an amount OF money, which he af-
firmed he had placed in the office for
transmission on a certain night
and had failed to reach its desti
nation. A detective was ordered TO
hunt for the letter and the supposed
thief. He could find no clue to the
letter whatever, aud called upon the
sender several times to get, if posi-
BILE, additional information concern
ing it. After thus calling, at inter
walls, he came in one day, after weeks
of vain search, to confer just once
more with the sender, and while
there, rain began to fall and the
weather turned so cold that it was
desirable to put on thick clothing,
and the gentleman loaned his over
coat TO the detective, which had hung
upon a nail in his office several
weeks, because the weather had been
SO warm the owner had no use for
it. The detective put the coat on
and started out for further hunt FOR
the lost letter. AS he was going up
Broadwa cogitating as to future
he instinctively placed
his hands in the side pockets Of the
borrowed coat. and there he felt a
of letters, which he took out
and looked at. and behold he held !
in his hand the identical letter he
had been so assiduously in search
Of. The gentleman pat the letter
into his pocket On the night in ques-
zion and started for home. He went
by the post-effice on his way to his |
residence, but, probably, in state
Of perturbation Of mind, or absent
passed by without de-
posting the letter. The next day |
was dry and warm indeed, thu warm
weather had set iU, and overcoats
were no longer needed, SO he hung
it up in his office, where it remained |
till the cold, rainy day
the detective called and borrowed |
it and thus, curiously enough, found |
the letter and money safe.
A few days ago some one Inserted |
a letter iRto the outer letter-bex of
the Morristown post>office length
wise across its mouth. The letter
was just long enough to be forced |
in. but it caught so completely at !
each end that it stuck, and allowed |
letters to pass above and below it.
1t was too far up to be seen by the
post-office clerk when he opened the
box to get out the letters, and too
high to be felt by the hand as he
passes it up TO make sure he gets
out all the letters. 1t was observed |
by lad, but he said nothing about
it for three or four days. when he
called the clerks attention to it,
and it was found as described.
Postmasters and posi-office clerks
are mertal, and make mistakes, but
are blamed for many they do not
make. In nine cases out of ten the
fault is with the senders Of letters
themselves.
There is moral to be deduced
rom these incidents, viz Do every
hing correctly. There is a right
way and a wrong way to do every
hing. The right way is the best.
If the maker Of the mail bag in ques-
ion had trimmed his work as he
ought to have done that letter would
lave ridden but so miles where it
ode upwards of 43. 900. and it would
lave reached its owner on time. If
he person who put that letter in the
etter box in Morristown had put it
n right end foremost it would have
cached its destination in less than
hree hours after leaving the post
,fIice here. Let us have peace I"
9 w