The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-03-06
DEAD LETTERS.
Communicnti tions That Fail to Reach Theil
Observation-Disclosures Unenrthed.

Communicntions That Fail to Roach Their
Observation-Disclosures Unenrthed.
Every day hundreds of precious and
important letters go astray and hundreds
of hearts are made sick by hope deferred.
In the early colonial times, 80 the old
yellow pamphlet in the department ar
chives tells US. great pains were taken
to recover letters which had been lost.
! A letter in those days was an expensive
affair; paper cost a great deal, and the
postage was considerable, ranging from
twenty-five cents even up to one dollar,
to say nothing Of the annoyance of hav-
ing to whittle out your own pen from
the quill, and impressing on the back of
! the missive the immense seal 30 custom.
!, ary in those days. Some of these re-
/ markahle old eplstles are still to be eeen
at the dead letter Office. Their faded
lines and yellow appearance lure one
into a deep reverie of those long gone
days, and the imagination pictures the
writer's, who years ago have crumbled
into dust from which they came.
From November, 1777, to December
1889, all the letters that went astray are
recorded in book OF forty.one pages.
This covers period of twelve years. A
marked contrast is evident when it is
known that for the year 1877 more than
four millions of dead letters were re-
/ ceived by the post Office department.
For the handling of this immense
| number fifty-nine ladies and twenty.nine
gentlemen are employed. It is an easy
matter to talk about millions of letters,
| but when it is understood that each par
ticular one has to be separated, handled,
! marked, inspected and the majority
! opened and returned to the writer. the
! magnitude of the work can be imagined,
if not appreciated. When letter is
misdirected or the postage has not been
prepaid it is sent by the postmaster i'm
mediately to the dead letter Office, with
the other letters which have not been
called for. Here they are opened by
the gentlemen who sit at long tables in
the large cheerful room. If anything
valuable is contained in them they are
handed over to another division, .where
the contents are registered and placed
in large safe for future redemption. If
there is nothing in them of value they
are sent up stairs, where the ladies in
spect them, and if the address of the
writer is found The letter is inclosed to
the person by 'shom it was written. If
the letter has been held for postage o
circular is sent to the person to whom it
is addressed, informing him that there
has been re eeived at the dead letter
Office letter directed to him which will
be forwarded upon receipt of the neces-
sary postag a. To this circular the de-
partment ecfives many very funny re-
plies. If no response is made within
thirty DAYS it is treated as an ordinary
dead letter..
The g!a,at amount Of money passing
continually through the mails can be
imagine / when out of the dead letters
aloue, O. small percentage, over $50, 900
in mon ey and more than 81, 500, 600 in
drafts and commercial paper was taken
withiIl the last year. All but about
s., 900 of this has been returned to the
writer's. A great share of this comes
from the mis- or non-directed letters.
P eople seem to be 30 intent on what
goes into the letter that they forget the
superscrirtion. It is a sad thought when
one reflects upon the vast amount of
suffering in many cases that comes from
this neglect Here, for instance, is an
illustration, an exact copy of letter re.
cei we'd at the office not long since
"My dear Mag-I received your very
w;lkim letter yestudsy it gave me CRATE
e'e of mind to here that you are we'll as
t,ais leaves me in at pre- sent, thank
f1od W
The writer then adds sad story of dis
appointment md disaster, and finishes
by saying: II seni YOU ten dollars
for you need it more than do"
Poor Mag The Ten dollars for which
she has longed and waited has gone into
Uncle Sans rich purse-not from
choice, but froD1 necessity. Foreign
letters are treated in very diplomatic
manner, and are in all cases returned
across the water without being opened.
America seems to be perfect geographic
cal engima to foreigners when they di-
rect letters to friends here. They mix
all the States and cities up in one grand
mess, and then put considerable
amount of the mixture on each letter.
For instance, one address reads as fol-
lows: "Ole Anderson, Rockawy citi
Pa North America, New York" Who
will undert AXE to forward that letter ?
And yet the dwellers across the sea
probably make no more mistakes of this
US fully understand all the geographical
localities OF the miner cities and prov
inces Of Germany or Sweden, or, in fact,
any codntry on the continent?
In the gallery there are seated forty
or fifty ladies, whose business it is to re-
turn the letters in official envelopes to
writer's when their addresses can be
foun'l. Every day the huge sacks which
GO forth from that place crammed with
letters show the amount Of work which
the ladies do. One handsome young
lady is kept busy all the day in stamp.
ing the envelopes, and she does it with
lightning rapidity. It is said that these
ladies' are the best readers of bad writing
in the country, and it is not to be Won
d cred at when one sees some of the
pecimens of their work. The average
lady reader probably will say that it
must be "too funny for anything" to
be continually reading other peoples
love letters but even gold furnishes
with much handling, 30 it is with read
ing other folks letters when it has to
be done ut the rate of from twenty to
fifty an hour, day after day and month
after month.
A few months ago an application was
received for letter which had famous
history. Forty-two years ago it missed
it's destination and landed in the dead
letter Office. No call was made for it,
and there it remained in the archives
till the descendants of the writer, wish
ing to prove their right to his property,
obtained from old journals the informa-
tion that the deed had been mailed at
such a time to such person, but had
never reached its destination. They
then made application to the department
for the letter. The odds were so greatly
against them that their surprise must
have been boundless when the old yell
low document WAS returned to them just
as it had been mailed over forty years
ago.
Many will remember the great sensa-
ton caused by the account Of the mar
riage of Don Cabral, the diamond
King" "a fictitious character created by
Mr.. William q. McElroy, Of the Albany
Evening JournaD. Papers all over the