Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-05-02

tiunS' from "GriT'S" brain. 1t consists of
a huge piece of shrrt-iron l am afraid to
say how long-Onr end of which is fastened
somewhere in the neghhorhood Of the
roof and the other end of which Is
armed with big handle, by which
tn shake the thunder pcIls
out Of the sheet. With a
stout man at the helm, or rather handle.
that thunder sheet is capable of blasts and
drtnmatinmS Of thunder which are calculated
to ill the breasts Of the most veteran
theater guer, with wild terror. and Ia
nature in the same direction. One of the
combinations which visited this city not
long ago had a remarkable SurIy stage man
ageT. The man was a regular bear, i'll fact.
and "chawed up every one around him.
tiguratyrly speaking. During the first two
acts he Snarled and snapped continually.
In the third act. nuwryer. there was a stage
storm with plenty of thunder III il. Thc
savage stage manager grabbed the handle
of the thunder sheet and shook ont VlgO-
rou> peal Gradually his Snarl gave place
To smile. The more he Numbered. and
the Swreter he smiled. When he had
>tormed sufficiently, he went up to "Grih
and said with the sweetest expression in
the world. Great guns, sir, but you've go'
the greatest thunder sheet in the country"
If the thunder at tine Grand could be
a lded to the lightning at Blacks opera
house, storms could be produced which peo-
pie would foot it miles in the ram to see.
and which would cause the weather proph-
cts to take to the wood in wild alarm.
''PeopIe say that You know the hand
writing of every man in Springfield, Mr..
PettiCrew." | remarked TO Mr.. o. l.. Petit
crew. Of the puSt0fice, the other day, ''and
that when letter is put in the office with
insufficient directions or no postage that
You are able to return it to the writer for
correction oT postage"
Il can make no such claims aS that" said
Mr. Petticrew, smiling 1T is true. how
ever, that am acquainted with the hand
writing of many citizens of this city, eSpe
rially where there is any peculiarly about
the hand. Between Mr.. Brown and myself
we know the handwriting of several hun
dred men in Springfield"
What is done with letter dropped into
the mailing basket without postage or with
insufficient directions >"
If We know the handwriting in which
Of the address or in any other way we can
ascertain who is sending the letter. We It.
turn it to the writer for additional postage
or correction of the address. When
the card of firm or individual is printed
on the envelope, we of course return il To
them. Where We are unable To learn who
the sender OF letter without postage is, We
hold it at the Springfield office, and send a
card to the party to whom the letter is
addressed. informing HIM that there is a
letter in the Springfield Office addressed to
him which will be forwarded on receipt of
the amount of postage for which the letter
is held. The postage usually follows these
summons and the letter is sent. If it is not
the letter goes to the dead letter office"
How about letters directed without the
street address, to parties in this city of
whom there are two with the same Christian
name or initials? Do you deliver these
/ letters in rotation to all persons bearing the
initials given in the address ~
Certainly not. We first make inquiries
of these parties i'll order to find out which
is the right one. No one should ever direct
letter without putting the street number
at which the person lives TO whom the letter
. is directed If you do not know this put
/ the name of the street without any number,
and if You do not know even that it is best
| to put the occupation of the party or some
, direction by which he may be identified.
! This is a common business rule which is
violated every day. If we receive a letter
directed to some person at Springfield. u.
without any street number. and there is
/ another person in the city with the same
/ initials We put the letter into the general
delivery. To be held until called for, pro
| vided we are unable TO ascertain pretty
surely 10 which of the parties of the same
/ name the letter belongs. Such letters are
often intended for travelling men. Every
one should caution his correspondents to
! direct plainly to his street and number and
| then no mistakes can possibly occur"
| Out of curiosity consulted directory to
~t.t' whether there are many persons in this
city who have names and initials which are
| identical The directory showed a large
number. For instance, among the Smiths
there were two Charles w. Smiths. two
/ Frank j. Smiths. two George VI. Smiths,
two James f. Smiths, three VIM \. Smiths,
two VIM. NJ. Smiths, and three VIM. II.
Smiths. Among the JontSeS there were
three }. W. JOneSeS and two Win. f..
/ JoneSrS. and many other similar COincl-
drnceS of like character. OF course Spring
htld persons whose names are duplicated
do not suffer near the Inconvenience which
results in large cities where it is almost
necessary Ia issue supplement to the dl-
rectory to contain the John Smiths alone.
But all things considered it is surprising
how few mistakes are made in the postal
service and how accurately letters are de-