Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-11-15
THE SUNDAY EVENING MAIL
Peculiar Scenes at the City Post Office
How the Citizen Labors TO Get Hi,
Maidstone Comments by an Official
and his Fate.

liza stranger should happento be In the vicin-
ity of the city post Office any Sunday evening
about six o'clock. he would be apt to imagine
that there was political meeting in progress
AS viewed through the windows that look
into the corridors from the street, the spec
tacle is very much like political meeting or
perhaps gratuitous distribution Of bread and
coffee on cold morning. You can see that there
ia mass of people and that they are all tightly
wedged in. From the vantage ground of the
sidewalk, 1t Is not difficult to see that the ten
dency Of the slight movement, which is per-
ceptbe now and then in the crowd. is due to
the efforts to reach the windows when the let
Ter carriers hand out mail to citizens from the
hours OF and 10 in the morning, and and z
In the evening. The space before the windows,
however Is SO narrow, and the citizens so
numerous and impetuous. that after the crowd
once gets tightly wedged in, it is not easy to
get out. Those who have their mail naturally
would like to move on, but unless they have
the shoulders of Sullivan. it Is difficult for
them to elbow their way through the crowd. In
consequence, the casual spectator, who
Is calmly viewing the difficulties Of the situa-
tlon from the outside Of the building, is apt to
see some rather singular phenomena. At one
time the crowd sways back until the lines are
| far enough apart to allow the passage through
OF some one who has been at the window. Then
the lines close up tightly as before until all at
once it appears as If an earthquake had occurred
In the center Of the crowd. The mass scatters,
here and there person Is thrown back q few
feet, and then the disturbing cause an able
bodied citizen. energies calmly from the midst
of the scattered debris. as it were and walks
quietly Off. 1t Is these little phenomena that
persuades the female citizen that she has time
to walt, and consequently the fringe Of the
crowd Is largely made up of women. Some
times it happens that the crowd parts when an
unusually
CONDITIONING GIRL
appears and she walks up to the window
through line of respectful admirers, gets
her mail and goes away as If she was accus-
toned to cause difficulties in her pathway of life
to melt away and disappear at a glance Of her
eye. AS o rule it is very cold day for even
woman's eye at the post Office and she has to
stand back and view the contest of the survival
Of the fttest with all the patience she can
summon.
In spite. however, of the trials Of the physical
sort that awaits the man who wants to get his
mail on Sunday night, 1t is wonderful with what
evenness of temper the average 0equenter of
the post office bears the rude buffetings Of an
unfeelng crowd, and after many trials fights his
way to the windows only to hear that there is
nothing for him. He does not get mad. he does
not swear; he simply worms his way out, and
sustained and soothed by the feeling of duty
performed he goes his way and on the next
Sunday he again goes through the same per-
Torrance.
'.There is not one In Eve of this gang that
ever gets any mall" remarked post Office
official as he surveyed with evident disgust the
struggling crowd.
"What do they come here for, them" inquired
The STAR man ashe wrggled his foot out from
under the shoe of q lady who had planted it
there instead Of on the floor, and who. unlike
the rest of her sex, evidently had big foot
II am sure don't KNOW" said the official, as
he buttoned up his coat preparatory to plunge
through the crowd that some Of
letters on Sunday night. If only those came
after their mail who either had some to receive
or some which had to be answered right away
you would not see such a crowd as this. In
windows were open. The man who hasn't any
thing else to do, the man who is always hoping
to get letter and never does and the man who
tells his wife that he is going to the post ONCE
for much the same reason that he tells her he
is going to the lodge, may all be found here
on Sunday evening""
THE PROUD POST OFFICE OFFICIAL.
The STAR man thought that he detected In
the tone Of the officials voice . recognition Of
qualification, that he was quite glad that the
crowd was there, and moreover that It was
large and clamorous. He seemed to regard it
as tribute to the ONCE with which he was con-
nected, and in an indirect way q sort Of public
ovation to him In his Official capacity.
For these reasons, and perhaps Others the
official smiled benignantly around, and espe-
cially allowed the radiance Of his smile to rest
tor q moment upon q nice-looking young lady
who stood on the outskirts Of the crowd She
smiled In return, and the oficials smile grew
broader. Just then one Of those periodic earth
quakes or dynamic commissions which affiicts
the post ONCE crowd broke loose, and the
official, with smile half finished, was tossed
out upon surging wave and borne helplessly
young lady may still be waiting for the rest Of
that smile.
Cur RATES TO TIE W1sr.-The rates to Chicago
nom New York have been reduced In the o6ceSoft the
Erie, the West Shore and the Lackawanna reads 60