Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1882-09-13

and tried to smile over Il, and all III
NJ family endeayored 10 make light OF i
while each member did Ia a measur
N sympathlze with him on tho exclIln
point II came up At every meal,
- baunted him at his desk, his dreslde,
u II had rested q little while, but on'
day II appeared again at dlaner, wheI
Mr.. Bradshaw, an English gentleman
travelling In this country, had been in
yited to meet few friends, lie was
indeed, planning to come and live II
the States, ~ he termed II, and Mr.
Calyerly was glad TO show him what
|, were the advantages Of Boston. Ol
course, Mr., Bradshaw very soon be-
D gan to extol the free institutions Of the
country, free government, education
: free, the ballot free. Mr.. Calyerly IN.
terruPted him. bringing his closed fist
Oh the table with such force that all
the glasses rang, and tho family knew
that tho subject was loose once more,
Free he exclaimed, "a free govern
mentI Despolic IN one point, lot mo
tell you Aud It eats tho heart Of do
nestle happiness, Yes, wc educate
our children, we can vote Tor Govern
or, but, do what We will, in spite of
this the government claims tho right
to snatch u letter from me, and keeps
II three weeks, merely because care
less clerk in somebody clso's Office,
over whom | have no control, has seen
it to put on u red two.ccnt stamp, in
stead Of n green thrcc.ccnt one.
Il beg your pardon! What is itT
asked Mr., Bradshaw, too much taken
up with his hosts vchemencc to COM
prehend the close of his sentence,
What is ii about stamp? remcm-
ber the stamp act was at the bottom of
the separation Of the colonies. But
now
But now said Mr.. Calvcrly, with
bitterness, snow the red stamp will
sepcratc me from my country, will
drive me to some other part Of the
world, no matter where
The red stampT asked, Mr.. Brad
shaw of his neighbor, Miss Clara.
verly went on, important letters that
affect stocks, my income, family affairs
they arc delayed and sent to the Dis
trict of Columbia, because some fool
chose to be forgctful enough to put ON
red stamp instead of II green one
by n red stamp he means the Or
ange.colorcd one,' explained Clara ;
they are two-cent stamps, the green
ones are threc-cent.'
'Ah, but indeed, stammcred Mr..
Bradshaw, 'there should be some dis
tinction, you know
'All very well, said Mr.. Calverly {.
'but why not mark the letter, Due
one cent, five cents, whatever fine the
government sees fit to impose for such
carelessness but why abstract ~ letter
from the post-oilice that the govern
ment is bound to deliver? The govern
mcnt becomes its own mail-burglar,
filches the property of its citizens
But surely the cases must be rare,
began the Englishman.
Rare = exclaimed Mr.. Calverly; if
you will step into my Office 1 will show
you the large volume of cases | am col
lcctiug, not merely from my own fam
ily's experience, but from business cor
respondence. 1t was only yesterday a
letter turned up for me from the Dis
trict of Columbia. Two days before,
we had received notification Of q let
ter for 'Calverly & Co.. awaiting suf-
ficient payment at Washington. We
sent on the tliree-cent stamp, and re.
covered the letter-too late. lost
81 900 because an idiot in New York,
fortnight ago, took up two-cent
stamp by mistake for a three-cent one.
I would willingly have paid what the
government considered due, the six
cents for Washington, for example,
plus the original two-ccnt stamp. But
l do not see that it has Il right to de-
mand sacrifice of $40, 900 on account
of an idiot clerk whom l did not ap-
point
You ought to say, papa, put IN
Clara, sthat the same mistake has been
made in your own Office
'Oh, yes, there are idiots every
where allowed Mr.. Calverly, 'and the
government is very considerate towards
them. The fact that have them in my
own office, where l kept such careful