The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1878-02-06
SECRETS OF the PosT-oFFlcE
CHARhEL house.


In the early colonial times, so the old
yellow pamphlet in the Department
archives tells us, great pains were
taken TO recover letters which had
been lost. \ 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 having to white out
YOUR own pen from a quill, and i'm
pressing on the back Of the missive
the immense seal 50 customary in
those DAYS. Some of these remarkable
epistles are still to be seen at the
Dead-Letter Office. Their faded lines
and yellow appearance lures one into
a deep reverie of those long-gone days,
and the imagination pictures the wri-
tiers who years ago have crumbled into
dust from which they came.
From November, l777, to Decem-
Der, 1888, all the letters that went
astray are recorded in book of forty
five pages. This covers period OF
twelve years. A marked contrast
is evident when it is known that for
the wear 1877 more than four millions
of dead letters were received by the
Post-Oftice Department. When let
let is misdirected or the postage has
not been prepaid, it is sent by the
postmaster Immediately to the Dead
Letter Office with the other letters
which have not been called for. Here
they are opened. If anything valua-
BILE 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 la
dies inspect them, and if the address
of the writer is found the letter is en-
closed to the person by whom it is
written. If the letter has been held
for postage, a circular is sent to the
person to whom it is addressed, in
forming him that there has been re-
ceived at the Dead-Letter Office let
ter directed to him, which will be for
warded upon the receipt Of the neces-
sary postage. To this circular the
Department receives many very funny
replies. If no response is made within
thirty days it is treated as an ordinary
dead letter.
The great amount Of money passing
continually through the mails can be
imagined when out of the dead letters
alone-a small percentage-over $780,
900 in money and more than a million
and half in drafts and commercial
paper was taken within the last year.
All but about $4,000 of this has been
returned to the writer's. A great share
of this comes from the mis- and nom
directed letters. People seem to be so
intent on what goes into the letter that
they forget the superscription. It's 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 a letter received at
the Office not long since.
my Dear Mag resieved your
very wilkim letter yestuday it gave
me CRATE ease of mind to hear that
YOU are we'll as this leaves me in at
present, thank God !"
The writer then adds sad story OF
disappointment and disaster, and fin
ished by saying: 81 send you ten dol
lars for you need it more than | do"
Poor Mag! The $40 for which she
has longed and waited has gone into
Uncle Sans rich purse 49, not from
choice, but from necessity.
Foreign letters are treated in very
diplomatic manner, and are in all
cases returned across the water with.
out being opened. America seems tc
be perfect geographical enigma tc
foreigners when they direct letters tt
friends here. They mix all the states
and cities up in one grand mass, ant
then put a considerable amount of thu
mixture on each letter. For instance
one address reads as follows: "Ol,
Anderson, Rockaway city Pa. Nortl
Amerika, New York" Who will un
take to forward that letter?
In the gallery there are forty or fift.
ladies whose business it is to returl
the letters in official envelopes to tn
writers when their address can b
I found. Every day the huge sacks
which 60 forth from that place cram
med with letters, show the amount c
: work which the ladies do. One hand
some young lady is kept busy all til