Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-01-30
LErrERs FROM TINE pEopLE.
A soiourner's Experience at the City
Postoffice


'sLos Angeles is pleasant little city
and has within her borders many pleas
ant, courteous people, with, perhaps,
few prominent exceptions" is the opin-
ion often heard expressed by the stranger
within her gates. As sojourner beg,
by the favor of the HERALD, to assist in
locating the aforesaid exception.
In my humble opinion it might, with
out losing any Of lis identity, be found
in close proximity to the general deliv-
cry window Of the City Postoflice. The
building, or apartments occupied as such,
are wholly inadequate to the purpose.
being as lily constructed and arranged
as could we'll be imagined.
A stranger on entering its portals is
mystified most profoundly when having
occasion to visit it in search Of mail mat
ter, postage stamps or money order. My
experience, ] do not hesitate to say, will
tally with many il not ALL whose mis-
fortune 1t is, or has been, TO receive their
mail by way of the public delivery win.
dow OF the Los Angeles postoffice. Upon
application at the above mentioned win
dow for information concerning the rules
Of the Office, was summarily dismissed
by wave of the hand, and in dictate.
rial tone and ungentlemanly manner told
to "walls back" or ''walk black" for the
life OF me / could not determine which;
but the most natural Interpretation to be
put upon it, by ycompar:sonwit the bright
sunshine without, would have been the
latter, or, more xpressive still, the Black
Hole Of Calcutta" After icing relega-
ted to the rear began to explore its hid
den recesses, as well as the Egyptian
like darkness Of the surroundings would
permit. The first discovery was the.
young man ''round the corner" who dis
penses the postage stamps, and, mind.
full Of the lesson just received, modest
ly made my wants known. Matter duly
weighed and stamped, timidly and
meekly, as lamb led to the slaughter,
inquired where the letter boxes might
be. A point Of the index finger, and the
words east "Wes!," South" was
the answer. l Immediately looked in
the direction indicated, but ii n,y en-
trance into the realms Of eternal bliss
depended upon knowing the exact
points Of the compass could mt lave
told, the dalkne's Of the place being
more suggestive Of Hades than any 9TH
er place. Just then, to my infinite re.
lief, good angel in the guise Of gen.
tleman (how refreshing in this boosted
land Of sunshine and fowers) directed |
my vision to the letter box, over which,
in letters almost effaee1 and little darker |
than the background, was the word
East" Then and not until then did |
understand the language of the index
finger. Letter deposited, set out to
find the possible location OF the money
order window or department, and after
peering around for some time and failing
to see anything that would seem to indi-
cate the place, espicd young man ar
rayed in gray regimenials, standing be-
fore an aperture similar in size and style |
to Robin-box door; aud, feeling my ut
ter insignificance in the presence Of so
much dignity, I humbly asked
to be directed to the sought-for
place, and was answered in tone even
more discourteous and insolent, if such |
could be, than that of his predecessor.
Again good Samaritan took pity and
told me to ''go to the door" Well;
here was "stumper," using Califor-
nian dialect, as in all my researches and |
explorations l had failed to discover
anything that would serve as an apollo.
gy, even, for "door." In the land of |
cyclones, thunder and lightning, from
whence / had SO recently come, was
accustomed to knobs or handles Of some |
kind, answering the required purpose.
Following the Instructions to "push," /
pushed, land 10 +! the gates sprang ajar
and in less time than Can write it I
found myself standing within the inner
court, the "Court Of Couits,' so to speak.
Ga the throne sat the manipulatsr of
this department, and before him stood
an honest-appearing old German-a gen
tleman, l should judge, from his gentle.
modest demeanor, aud who in broken
English. was pleading for instructions
as to how to send two dollars and fifty
cents to newspaper for subscription.
The information was SO unintelligible
that the old gent stood as one dazed. A
young man. or lad. rather, who stood
waiting his turn, took the pen and
filed up the blank, as / understood it,
and no thanks to the officer or clerk
whose duty it was to attend to it. 1t
may be the rules of the office require
the exact change TO be presented,
know not, neither do know the U. ). I
government or postal department at
Washington has separate and
distinct laws peculiar to, and gov
erning the State of California
or the city of Los Angeles. and if SO,
beg a thousand pardons. One thing
do know, however, and that is that this
government guarantees to each and every
citizen rights and privileges which clerks
and employees Of the several departments
are bound to respect.
1t would be well for all such to re-
member that they are only servants Of
the people, to be retained or dismissed at
the will Of the same; that there is no
law which requires citizens to stand for
hours in rows and file up like so many
criminals or convicts in our State pris-
ons 10 receive their mail matter, and if |
by chance they ask question or make
an inquiry to be met with rebuke and
incidence at the hands of those sup
ported by them. 1t is an outrage, and |
the proper remedies should be applied |
to improve the present state Of affairs.
The weak and silly plea offered. in ex-
tenuation, when complaint is made as to
the inadequacy of the Accommodations
that the department at Washington has
been importuned to. in vain, is an insult |
to every person Of average intelligence.
*+%s%
(our correspondent, lady from Gin
cinnati, writes in very caustic vein.
We hope that her experience has been
exceptional. In her note she makes an
exception of the 'old gentleman at the |