Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1881-11-08

A directory Of al the streets In the
lstter-carrier cities OF the Union.
which number ITO, has been prepared.
under the direction Of the Postmaster.
General, by Mr.. L. J. Dallas, Chief of
Dead Letter Office st Washington.
The directory, says the New York
Tribune, is intended 10 facilitate
the delivery OF letters misdirected or
insufficiently directed. Under the
names OF each street are grouped the
names of the cities having such street,
and with the help Of other little details
il is usually easy TO tell to what city .
letter bearing, say. only q street address
without city address, or having the
wrong city address, should go. The
book is curiosity in its way, IS well
as great convenience, showing, as it
does almost at q glance, the names that
have been selected to distinguish the
streets in the cities OF the United States,
so many OF which are new growths, and
therefore show principle OF selection
in names more clearly, perhaps, than in
older countries. Nearly ninety out OF
the one hundred and ten cities have
their Washington street, and more than
thirty a Washington avenue. Fifty
cities have an Adams street, while Old
Hickory has no less than seyenty-seven
named after him. There are over sixty
Madison streets and over seventy JET
fersons. Polk has poor fifteen, while
Lincoln, in spite OF the short time allot-
ted for this form OF csnnonizat:on. has
named nearly fifty, and Grant over fifty.
One city lCleveland) has already Gar
field avenue. The American honors
his Presidents when he lays out streets,
or ia il because their names como
handy3 New York outstrips oil com
peti,ors, OF course. in the numbered
streets, but what city is it that contests
most OF the way with her? No other
than the metropolis OF Bloomington,
ILL.,, which has anoble series OF streets, {"
whose excellence is officially recognized
by tie Post Office Department, num-
bered all the way to One-hundred-an
fourth streets. Brooklyn, n. T., and
Galveston, Texas, keep even with
Bloomington, which had IN the census
OF 1870 population of fourteen thou
sand, mp to Si1ieth street, but from
SiItieth street to northumberland.
fourth street Bloomington alone keeps
step proudly with New York. This is
surely typically American. In the one
hundred and ten cities, there are fifty
BroadwAys, over sixty Main streets. the
same number Of Front streets, seventy
five High streets, and so on through the
list OF stock names. There is not n
great deal Of invention shown, Henry,
John, George and William, those ex.
emplary names. are conferred upon
about fifty streets each, and so on.
Some OF the queer names are more
interesting, just as queer streets are apt
to be more attractive than the most
brilliant Of the conventional thorough
fares. In Augusta, Ga, for example,
there is Pigtail alley, and three cities,
Washington, Baltimore and Petersburg.
boast Of Pig alley. New Orleans has
Piety street. and Providence a Benevo-
lent street. Richmond and San Fran
cisco have Charity street. In Lowell
there is CARPET lane and in Pi,tsburs a
tiist street. There are ten Ivy streets,
one OF them in New York. Melpo-
meme street is in New Orleans. and Isl,
street 10 San Francisco. Melindy alley
and Paralllx street in Cincinnati, and
Parafline street in Cleveland. There
are over sixty State streets. Trustee
street is in Chicago, and Tust alley in
Baltimore. There are Pine, Plum,
Elm, Maple, Walnut and Oak streets
without number. Four cities have a
Friendship street, New Orleans has q
Virtue street, L oston Peaceable street,
three cities eace street, two cities q
Love street me Love alley, one a
Love avenue. four Love lane and one
Lynn, Mass.--a Lovers Leap avenue,
which last ought to be forever sacred to
timid swains. Louty's place is in Phil!
adelphia, and Tombs Row in Camden,
j. Longitude lane is in Charleston,
S. G. There ere five June streets and
two called Jnstice. 10 street is in
Providence, and Joe street in Savannah,
while Go Bill road is in Worcester.
Perkenfine's court is in Philadelphia,
Perkiomeu avenue In Reading, and
Picnic stree. in Cleveland. New Or
leans, like Providence, sbpunds in tho
most edifying names. Humanity street
is one of them. There is Wealthy
avenue in Grand Rapids, where no one
bat millionaires ought to venture to re-
side. Philadelphia has Placid place,
aud there are no less than forty-five
streets Pleasant in name whatevei they
may be in fact. Boston has Maudlin
street, while Cincinnati, Grand Rapids
and Paterson atone for this with streets
that are "called Straight, " with more pro-
py;otv narhana than that of Danas sons