The Osceola times., 1884-03-29
AT THE DELIVERY WINDOW.
The People who Walt for Letters That
Never VIII Come.

The People who wait for Letters That
Never VIII Come.
New York World
Perhaps you don't know it, but the
place to see the tragedies of real life like
a panorama is right here,' said postof-
fee habitue before the general pcstofiice
building on Park row.
"How could one see tragedies in the
Postoffice?"
"Ill show you" he said. "Come in
here"
Damp stcne corridors, very dirty and
chilly jostling people, rude and anxious;
great dingy glass partitions with square
little hole in the bottom behind which
were seen at intervals the clerks faces.
Nothing very tragic about this"
"Nop Wait bit. These are the for
eign delivery windows; people come here
to get foreign letters. They are coming
all the time. 1t is an unending process
sion of tired feet. Watch EN-"
We did. There was woman leading
little girl. She was waiting her turn to
ask at the window. She was dressed in
rusty black. She had pretty, sad face
with few premature wrinkles on it,.
She looked modest, nervous, anxious.
Presently she got chance and went up
her head down to the hole.
Anything for Mrs. John p"
That's all we could hear.
Nothing" said the voice of the clerk
after moments delay.
The woman stepped back as if the
clerks voice had hurt her. She looked
down moment and then feeling herself
ostled by some other applicant shrunk
all together and went away-like a
ghost.
"Do you see anything in that" asked
my companion.
"Not much"
"Well, she has been coming for a
month, the day after every steamer.
She expects letter from her husband,
and she will never get it,"
"Why"
Because when he went away he never
intended to write. He went away with
another woman The wife hasn't dis
covered the deception yet. You see he
left her with kiss, promised to write
by the first steamer, and she has been
counting the hours ever since. | call
this tragedy. Whenever heart is
torn to pieces slowly by villainly there
is tragedy"
"The clerk at that window gets to
know some of the sad white faces that
come regularly. There is an old woman
who sometimes-Ah there she is now,
standing over there waiting for her
chance. Look at her"
We both stared at her in silence mo-
ment. She must have been so. But she
was still hearty save foi the traces of sor-
row and toll on her brown old face
There was wstery expression to her
eyes as if she was used to crying. She
was poorly clad. A faded shawl was
wrapped about her shoulders, and sn one
of the fingers of her bronzed hand shone
an old wedding.ring worn very thin.
"She comes once week and asks for a
letter from Frank" said my companion,
"but she never gets it."
"Who's Frank?"
"Well who can he be? Franks her
boy. All you've got to do is to look at
her to know the whole story. It's the
oldest one on record. She bore him she
wept and prayed over him she poured
all the affection of which a mother is
capable. She worked till her fingers
bled for him. Don't you see all that
The first thing he did when he was able
to get into the world was to get into dis
grace. Then the whole world turned
against him. That is, the whole world
with one exception. This poor old VIC
man stood by him. She was getting
along in life, but she doubled her work I;
she toiled night and day she boarded
her pennies; she denied herself the
n scessaries of life, but she got money
enough to set him at liberty and let him
begin over again. He ought to have
been the comfort of her old age. He
wasn't. But she never upbraided him.
| All she hungered for was his love. All
she asked Of him was to do right. Final.
" he went away. taking her last dollar.
He had to go. He fled, in fact. But he
told her he was going to reform in a new
land, and be man and come back some
day and take care of her. And she saw
him of, hung on his neck, could not tear
her old arms away, you know because
she hadn't anybody in the world but
Frank"
"Well, he will come back some timer"
"No his bones are lying white in the
bottom of the Gulf OF Mexico. That's
where Frank is, and the old woman
comes regularly to look for her letter
that will never come. You'll see good
deal of the emotional side of life at that
wicket. If YOU know how to interpret :"