Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-02-17

nAlA Ii, OO-1fOOD0U ~
"MIss BROWN UPON THE PRO
POSED EHGHT.HOUR Law.
Cannon Of Small Caliber.
q. s. TREASURY DEPARTNKNT,
February 16, 1883.
| HI DEAR star:
When the Immortal Artemus Ward expressed
the height and strength Of his patriotism By de-
ciaring himself willing to ''sacrifce all his wffea
relations he described In one pfthy sentences
| the spirit which fired the congressional cannon
into the ranks of the department clerks.
And when He who was called "a teacher OF
men" said Of certain persons, 'For Trey bind
heauy burdens, and g-ieuo,ss to be borne, and la,
them on mems shoulders, but they ate,nselues riu
not nsous them ss;th one Of their fingers" have
| haunting suspicion that poor Judea must have
| been afflicted with whole battery Of that par
| ticular kind Of eannons at the time, and can
| understand cAy It's condition should have called
tears from the eyes Of q compassionate Saviour.
Especially when He adds, "But all their .corks
they do for to be seen Of men" then-ah! well,
the likeness becomes so striking as to be slightly
personal. and, imagine, for the moment that
those ancient sinners were either trying to make
| and were doing their level best to get even with
| somebody.
OF course. the knowledge that you are saving
| the country by economy aud hard work-when
these blisters are applied to other backs than
| your own-must be highly satisfactory. indeed.
Besides, there is precedent for it. In the good
old times, of which we hear 50 much, they had
! very ingenious way Of correcting bad little
boys. when they happened to have been born
with the royal brand upon their august little
a{yayal In Nod on1vv
| lovable little fellow as companion for the royal
| little scamp, and then, when the latter pulled
| the cats tail or hid his grandmother's specta-
| clee, they gave the former an awful trouncing;
| culated, no doubt, to impress the fact of their
respective conditions very thoroughly upon the
tender minds of both boys In these
later days we don't seem to take
| kindly, though, to these good old
methods. and are not at all anxious to play the
our doing so entails consequences upon US OF
which such public benefactors seem to have not
| the slightest idea What do l mean7 Well,
| I'll try to explain Many Of our Congressional
ances on hand, who are anxious to "do" the
city, will walk through the departments, receive
! so-caled Information and know Just about as
much when they leave the building as they did
| when they entered tin regard to the work
done there, / mean. Now, for their informa-
ton I'll take you, my STAR, into my confidence,
| and describe the days routine.
NOT A HAPPY LOT.
At o'clock am. leave home (you know we
can't all live next door to the office or have car
r,ages to take US there in short meter) Before
9 o'clock everything is in readiness on my desk
for work; at 9. precisely there is tap of the
bell and work begins.
Ours is the redemption division of the United
| States Treasurer's Office. the Mecca to which all
| the worn, torn and defaced greenbacks silver
and gold certificates and fractional currency
| must return from their wanderings all over the
| country. And oh! the state In which these
| wanderers do return! Perhaps some aspiring
| cow, intent upon accommodating riches swallows
a rural fortune. pocket-book, vest and ALL She
! is ruthlessy slaughtered, and said fortune
comes here for Identification and redemption
Or an esthetic mouse nibbles up few hundred
! dollars to decorate her parlor with. Envy and
superior force rob her of parlor and decorations
both, and hand them over to US for a general
fixing up and returns in good money. Or,
pleasant thought! some poor fellow dies and is
buried with an unsupported fortune in a con-
| cealed pocket. After months Of quiet rest he is
| resurrected and made to deliver his money the
! latter finding its way into our hands. Or, q.
steamboat eXpiodes. and weeks after a swollen
floating corpse Is found, which yields up its
| cash in state better to be imagined than de-
scribed. Money from smallpox districts and
fever hospitals; money which has been buried,
or burnt. or torn by children, maniacs or drunken
peOple-al comes into our hands for careful
identification and manipulation, with its odOrs.
Its dust and general power Of vitiating the at
mosphere. And then comes the care the strain
on eye and brain, which must not relax for
minute; fraud has skillfnlly counterfeited or by
ingeniously altering or cutting, multiplied the
money, and the slightest oversight in this re-
spect, or in verifying the amounts. must inevi-
tably make US repent in sackcloth and ashes
for we are touched in that tenderest of spots
our pOcketbo0k.
CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES.
Oh! yes, when Mr.. Secretary or Chief Clerk
declares that he can do ten hours Of his work
every day, say yea and amen every time. Con-
slider, the gentleman has a large, airy beautifully
yes, luxuriously furnished room entirely to him.
self, (unless he INDUCES in the ornament which
sits opposite him and Is called stenographer,
| believe); he signs his name, receives visitors
talks, laughs, walks about, when he feels likes
1t, and can keep utter WEAKNESS at bay as much
as he likes. We are packed into close rooms,
where ventilation means open windows and cold
in the head; where the Odors above referred to
turn your brain dizzy and take away your appe-
tte. and here we work, without cessation, from
nine till twelve and from half twelve till the
bell taps at half-past three and we are
too tired to eat even Besides. for months when
an extra pressure of work fell upon our division
we worked an hour daily after ali the other Offices
had been closed. And for weeks at time we re-
turned at Z p. m. and worked two hours, cheer
fully and earnestly, because we knew that our
doing 80 would bring up the work of our Office
to the point required and please our chief. who
held that, as servants Of the people, we should
do all In our power to deserve esteem and conf
dence. I say We did it cheerfully, for we knew
that when at other times the work fell OIL, we
should have extra rest and chance to recup-
crate again, thus equalizing the work and neces-
sary rest more nearly than would appear at first
sight. Years ago, when was industriously
engaged in teaching the young idea
&C., made the observation that
in the most densely ignorant neighborhoods-
there, where people believed In witchcraft and
stubbofnly maintained that, were 1t true that
the earth turned upon It's axis, the motion
would cause the smoke from the chfmneys to
always float In one direction Gas that Of loco
motive, you understaud, there any kind Of
mental labor was estimated as peing ft only for
a mild kind Of idiots and superlatively lazy
people. They held that p1owing and chop
ping wood was altogether more wearing work
than the closest application in any kind OF In
tellectual pursuit. measured every attainment
by the muscular force emnlOYed and looked