The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-02-19

condition of existence in the white cat.
This defect destroys the sanitary con-
dition of the nerves, thus rendering the
auricular organs impervious to sound"
1t strikes US this is the correct answer.
Stamp Mysteries.
The late Sir Rowland Hill, in devils
ing and successfully advocating cheap
postage in Great Britain, whence it has
spread all over the world, was unques-
tionably great benefactor. But every
public blessing and every great reform
or is followed by some great abuse.
share of these. The system begun by
Sir Rowland Hill had scarcely been
adopted by one-hah the civilized Ma
tions of the earth, when some brilliant
genius broke out with the idea of max
ing collections of stamps, and this was
eagerly taken up by all the little boys
and girls, who began by covering with
them the pages Of cheap blank books.
more elegant, and the publishers and
binders have been supplying this de-
mand, until now there are splendid and
costly stamp albums with q postage
stamp literature and history full of q
kind of learning that is curious If Lot
valuable. The rage for the study and
collection of postage stamps lasts only
two or three years with each individual.
The boys leave it off long before the
baseball age, and the girls before the
age of dancing school. But there is q
never-ending succession of new students
and collectors, and, as there are new
varieties of stamps continually appear
ing, the size of the new albums has to
be increased and their manufacturers
do . business Of increasing profit. The
business of supplying the albums and
the stamps to the little ones costs q low
ing parent sometimes as much in a year
as their clothes or their schooling; some
of the parents may truthfully and Ia
mentally say that it would have been
money in their pockets il Sir Rowland
Hill never had been born.
Within half . dozen years another
business in connection with postage
stamps has grown up, causing at times
. very aggravated amount Of worri-
ment and labor. Some one informs a
child or q benevolent adult that the
sum Of 500 will be given
for 1.00O, 900 stamps that have
been already used on letters.
The De to which they are put is not
generally explained. Sometimes it is
said they are for the manufacture OF
papier-mache. At other times it is
solemnly stated that they can be sold to
persons whose lives are devoted to the
endowment of hospital beds at one hun
dred dollars apiece. Again it is said
there is an extraordinary demand for
cancelled old stamps in part of China
where they are used to paper walls OF
houses, the style of decoration having
some mysterious effect in averting Ca
lamity, and especially in saving the
lives of little children who would be
devoured by their hungry parents OF
friends but for the saving charm of the
old stamps ON the walls. There is
probably scarcely one Of our readers
who has not assisted In the collection
of old stamps to make the million that
some friend has undertaken to gather;
but no one that we ever heard of has
been able to ascertain that it has
yielded 500 which have been applied
in areal or pretended benevolent object
A strong presumption exists in reason
ing minds that there is fraud in the
business. Every one knows that many
stamps 60 though the mails uncan.
celed, or with the canceling marks sc
indistinct that they can easily be re
moved. Probably at least ten per cent
of the whole number used could b.
made serviceable q second time. Ii
1000. 900 old three-cent stamps, costins
800. 100, 900 could be used over again
and these would be worth o., 900 to the
parties buying the million stamps fol-
800. The profit from the business il
thus seen to be enormous.
The British Post-office Department
has for some years found that the
amount of stamps upon the letters il
carries exceeds the amount issued Il
the public, and of course the excess
must consist of old stamps from which
the cancellation has been obliterated
A new penny stamp has been devised
printed with inks that are intended Il
set at defiance the various devices b,
which an old stamp is made to look q
good as new. Whether the plan vii
succeed is unknown. But the fact tha
more stamps are used on letters u
| Great Britain than are issued by the de
partment shows that fraud is extensive
.ly practiced, and leads to the inferenc
that q considerable number Of eacl
million of old stamps collected AM
sold are used again on letters, instea,
of helping to endow hospital beds an
save Chinese from cannibalism.-Phil
adelphia Bulletin.