National Republican., 1883-03-13
A sTATEsNrAN,s MAIL.
The Thousand and One Things Great
Mans Constituents Write 60 Him.

The Thousand and One Things n Great
Mans Constituents Write 60 Him.
Much has been said and written about our
postman's daily budget--the hopes and fears,
the joys and sorrows, the wit and pathos it
brings to our homes butsurely of the hetero-
geneous collection he spreads upon.the public
mans reading desk each day the average
private citizen never dreams. Letters varied
as the faces we meet in the street, stamped
with an individuality easy to recognize, and
all containing requests entrcatios, and de-
mands that impose burdens which $4,000
salary however desirable, cannot wholly
tighten.
A congressman's constituents think no de-
mand upon his time and patience too great.
One man writes for statistics on matches-not
the ones said to be made in heaven, but those
tipped with sulphur in which Lucifer plays
an important part. lie wants to know how
many match factories there are in the United
States, how many employers and employees,
how many boxes are sold, and how many
matches are in each box. IL does not
occur TO him to consider how much time must
be spent TO collect all these details; he only
knows he has given his vote, and, of course,
his representative must do his wishes. What
did he send him to Washington for?
One constituent, with an evident thirst
for political literature writes that he has
been loyal subject always, has shed his blood
in bis country's defense, and has never asked
any favor at her hands. He thinks now his
faithfulness should be recognized and that
any request he may make should not be dis
regarded, and so he would very much like to
have somo-COngression Records! He gets
them.
Another writes q most laudatory letter, and,
after many brilliant predictions for the fu-
ture, predictions that begin with guberna-
torial honors and end only at the white house,
asks fora package of garden seed
This one of four pages, closely written and
crossed at the top, with no visible beginning
or ending, proclaims at once its writer fem
mime. 1t is only one of hundreds received
from women all over the state-tired, over
worked, homeless, and lovelCss women who
turn their eyes toward Washington rs pill
grims look toward Mecca, because IL is only
at Washington they receive adequate COM
pensation for the toll required, Perhaps from
a literary point of view these letters are the
most interesting and the saddest. Some
are witty and bright, as tho rare golden
sparkle of Mosello; others are weak and
querulous as their writers. There are frag-
ments Of heart history that must not be whis-
pered at home passOnately and recklessly
told to stranger; stories of ruin and disas-
ter, Of homesteads passing into the hands of
strangers and the home circle broken for
woman, who simply and honestly tells her
story, and as honestly asks help, but depends,
too, upon herself and smiles while she hides
her heartache and her bitter dread of future
which no ray OF hope illumines.
One has lost fortune and lover at one fell
blow, but will not sit all day with her head
in her hands and wcap over the heart ruins
of her life. Another has wearied of the mo-
nOtonous dead level of country existence.
She realizes that God has given her intellect,
and longs with passionate, intense longing,
for means to busy books, the opportunity to
see something of the great world outside the
narrow country place where her lines have
fallen. She longs for the companionship of
learned men and brilliant women, that fresh
thoughts and fancies may filter through her
brain; but aboveall is q purer, nObler longing,
the desire to care for herself, to help tighten
the burdens OF the old farther at home whose
white hair is already drifting in the cool
breeze that comes up from the valley of death.
And so she writes for an appointment to office,
and as u means to that end asks the influence
she is helpless without.
There are saddest bits of homo history
simply and pathetically told that stir the
heart to pity. There are always postofiico petit
tions urging requests for the passage of GER
tain bills through the house and for the
creation of special labor to suit special cases.
There many grotesquc, misspelt letters-one
man desires to hear from his pension claim
"wunst weak :" letters in endless variety;
but seldom n letter of honest appreciation and
encouragement that would be US invigorating
as draught of new wine.
All want wOrk-some as n panacea for
wearying thought aud heartache, others for
the money that work will bring; and all write
for tho influence they are powerless without
tho influence that is the Archimodean lever
that moves tho world,