The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-02-20
The Postage Stamn Mxih

The postage stamp myth has got back to
Maine again and numerous children are pester-
Ing their elders for cancelled stamos An old
woman in Boston vt seems has been offered a
home at SOM asylum for the aged aad isfirm
If she will collec $4,000 stamps and the Chart
abe gentleman who made tue offer has also
promised $500 to any one who " ill gather them
for her. The plan SEEMS to be to suppor the
old lady on the stamps which is an economic
idea worth of our present reform and retrench-
ment L. g stature.
1t is amazing what vitality this postage
stamp yarn is possessed Of When aud where
it oTiginated nobody kLows, but sl attempt, to
kill 1t have proved utterly futile. II as. umps
as many forms as Pto,eus. Now We arr tod
that son ebcdy has offered worthy young
man education If he will collect N llion
stamps; again Mother Superior of . Catholic
Home stands with outstretched arms ready TO
embrace an orphan child when it shall have
ten hundred thousand heads of certain of our
states en in its pocket; enc verv roman
tic story in this connection is that the
missionaries ia Iudia want the stamps to ram
som children whose unnatural mothers are
about 10 plunge hem into the Gauges This
tale, however. hasb's proved verg popular b.
cause the Sabbath School papers have over
worked the Garges aud made people suspicious
of romances from thar quarter Then again
it has been said that be Asatcs wanted
stamps to paper their houses with and that hey
were IL a. great request as Co. Sellers eye
water But the old lady's home yarn has al
ways proved The mosIt Elective. The spectacle
Of 10 In.f u;a,
hors du combat struggling to collecL a million
stamps that she mi ht pas her few remaining
years inside an asylom is very moving one
and it is no wonder hu dreds and even thous-
and feel their sympathies enlisted in her be-
half.
Il wa but day or two ago that we noticed
a case of this kind wbsre the worap actually
succeeded in getlng the million. She liveu in
Philadelphia and charitable gentleman Of
that city offered her 5000 if she would collect
that number. The offer got abroad and as
sstance came from every quarter. An en-
thusiastic lady in Connecticut, the veracious
newspaper which tells the story informs us, at
a terrible sacrifice of her feelings, cut the
stamps from box of letters which had been
packed away with great care and nicely.
Stamps Came By train loads from all parts of
the country and in few months the million
was secured, the charitable gentleman paid
over the 5000 and The old lady entered Home
for the Friendless. We suspect that the in
dustrous collectors we're the Old lsdy's rela-
tves who had got tired Of supporting her.
What the chair abies Pbiadelpha gentleman
! is going to GO with bis stamps we are OF in
formed. Perhaps he is gong to wash them
and sc pei the government TO support The
Old lady. Be is prOosbly rad cal CIR erback-
CT who telievts the government should be
psternal PERHAPS, however, the newspaper
that Fills this story les. NtwspspeIs to the
East and wtst Ct US sometimes do lie. We
should be il cliDed to take this view If the peo-
Pile who are collecting stamps in this Stair at
the present tune had not SO much evideu ce
to sustain tbs story which they tell and which
is similar TO me Philadelphia tale. Ii seems
that somebody in this state has al aunt in
M sssc husetis, and this aunt has a sister, and
/ and this sister has husband, and this husband
has brother, aud this Tother has another
brother, and one of this brothers children
KIN ws the chilo of some other man who Knows
Is little girl VITO collected Is GOO stamps and got
$500 therefor. Thus tie evidence is so direct
that we ar compelled 10 bell. We the story and
that whoever colscts $4,000 old postage will
certainly get $500 besides eJjoying the sweet
satisf4 ction of knowing that an indigent old
lacy Is cantentedly smoking he pipe inside an
old ladies' hone 10 Consequence of his efforts.
There IS oily one suspicious point about the
story aud hat IS the tact that notv ithstaDd ug
THIS is n ytar of Ietfenchme,t aud reform the
nursper OF Stamps has Deed reduc7a from /
100000 TO $4,000, add he price rAistd from $500
to 500 RetvrmtIs p cBar1 aud Bfowp should
took into the m 4ittr r.