The Red Cloud chief., 1885-09-18

sent up instead Of down. and eventual
ly NAV find its way to the desk of the
Secretary. OF even to the President In
the ordinary routine. however. a letter
first goes TO the city post-otiicc. then "a
the department. and then. sep bv step.
to the chief clerk of the bureau. The
chief clerk Of division and tire particu-
lar clerk vino is assigned to attend 70
its subject matter.
Then. in du. progress. the reply
goes back, on thick white letter paper
of official size. deliberately healed. and
gathering Endorsements n. il proceeds
red marks and blue MARKS. hunters and
dates. circles. squares and crOsses-a!
it is finally signed. folded and mailed
again. Necessarily there is some I'd
tape. for unless \ rigid system wa. fol-
lowed there would BE- fatal confusion in
a week in al the large departments.
These mysterious marks AL have a
mem NJ. a tie careless o. stupid clerk
finds out soon enough. for by them
every step is registered and . blunicI
trace back TO its source.
The last hour or two of each Office
day IL the De- artments il devoted 20
iinisin1 up the correspondence and
signing it. The latter means great
dru1g.ry 10 the Secretaries and
their responsible subord mates. Some
DAYS these Ollie rs sign their anne for
two hours a, rapidly rs they can write.
with a messenger ut their elbow to pass
them sheet alter sheet. and blot the
signature as IL is scratched Oft. Rarely
are the contents OF the letter noticed. Il
comes 10 the desk through the proper
channels. AMI is assumed 10 be correct.
Ii not, tue II WHO suffer, by the error
VIII be likely 10 complain. Of course
the more important correspondence IS
trcatel more carefully.
And now The reply begins lis travels.
Again the department. wagons. from the
heavy red a to the s~usp.clOusly neat
carriages. convey the sacks 10 the city
p~o,t-O!iicc. where they are empt!cd and
the letters hurried from clerk to clerk.
One arrangcs them in piles. then the
cancel NJ stamp ard the post mark are
put on. and then the first rough di>tri-
button 10y States and chief cities beglns.
At the city post-oilicr, also. a further
distribution takes place 10 ease the
strain On the railway postal CLERKS.
About -. Oop post Offices are located by
the most direct railway mes. and ley
tiers are distributed for these lines, thus
saving the railway clerks from 4 vast
task that would have to be done Very
quickly.
The great Official mail goes ont to the
North and Nest al ten O'Clock at night.
but as nue.! matter Is pos- bic is lent
IT four o'clocS 10 help the railway
clerks. There are few buster spots than
the postal ears IN the zen O'Clock train
between Washington and Baltimore.
The Govcrnm nj mail consists almost
entirely of saa,cd packages. 50 that lit
tie need b. said of the methods OF
handling the lower grades Of mail mat
Ter. Some parcels ga open. however.
and these are handled in connect on
with newspapers. samples, books.
shoes. horned toa,!s and other bulky
articles. The size of In 81 parcels doe.
not admit of a y gcon-holc basis of dis
iributlOn. The clerks therefore stand
in the arena Of arrmic a~mphithcatcr
of labeled pouches rising about them in
overlapping tiers. and toss the bundle.
int the gaping mouths of the sacks.
IL looks easy. but it is Il special art.
One calm elderly clerk. who has spent
a life shooting pouches. has 4 perfect
aim. II is rs beautiful to watch him Il.
he pops the bundles into the proper
holes as il is to see DR.. Carver break
glass balls OF Ewing throw TO Gcriiardi
81 second basc.-N. Y SIM.