St. Landry democrat., 1888-08-18
QUEER MAIL MATTER.
Things That Amuse the Clerks or Make
Them a Trife Profane.

Them a Triie Profane.
Many queer things pass through the
mails. Some of them afford amuse-
ment for the clerks and others, for a
time, cause them to forget their relig-
ious training. Every conceivable
thing that comes under the rules of
mailable matter, and many others be-
sides, is daily received at every large
post-office in the land. Many packages
are stopped because of violation of the
law and are contiscated, while occa-
sionally an unmailable article slips
through under the guise of something
else. Speaking of the matter Balti-
more post-office official said: The
mailing of merchandise, samples
and other things has reached
such an extent that I wouldn't
be surprised at any time to see man
come in and ask if he can mail a ton of
coal to San Francisco. A great many
| things are sent by would-be jokers. A
short time ago fashionable uptown
lady received neatly y-done-up and per-
fumed package from d point in Vir-
ginia. On opening it garter-snake
jumped out and ran across the floor.
The lady screamed, and when some of
the other members of the family went
to her rescue she was standing on
center-table and the snake was coiled
up on sofa. A few days ago when a
mail-pouch was opened small dia-
mond-back terrapin crawled out. The
little reptile was carried to Gus War
field, who placed it on his desk. 1t
crawled about quite actively for
awhile, and then pulled in
its head and feet and went to sleep.
Mr.. Warfeld placed it on the desk of
one of the clerks who had gone out for
lunch. When the clerk returned he
noticed the terrapin and thought it
was paper-weight and went On work.
ing. In a few minutes the terrapin
awoke, stretched out its head and
crawled over on the clerks paper, as
If to see what he was writing The
young man had never seen live terra
pin before, and, still thinking that it
was a new-fangled paper-weight he
picked it up to make closer inspec-
ton. Somehow the right thumb got
caught in the terrapin's mouth, and
part of it stayed there. He now knows
what a terrapin is, but is very careful
about inspecting new designs in paper
weights. On a recent occasion box
full of lizards was found in one of the
pouches. They were thrown out
Very frequently commission men re-
ceive samples of all kinds of grain and |
other farm products with inquiries |
concerning their value. Often the
samples OF straw berries are sent this |!
way, but on their arrival they are
generally mashed into pulp. Hand
some bouquets frequently make their
way through the mails, but on arriv
ing at their destination they are
usually crushed and worthless. A
watermelon came few days ago ad
dressed to man on Pratt street. The
carrier who took it down had the mis-
fortune to drop it just as he entered
the owners door. but it made no
difference, as it was green any way.
Small orders of all kinds of goods
are sent in every direction all
over the country. The meanest tricks
ever played in this direc ton was when
the envelopes for hospital day were
collected. Many of them were not
stamped, and as the department had
been requested not to stamp worthless
ones they were opened and found to
contain peanut hulls. bugs, sand,
pieces of bacon rind, horn buttons, tin,
etc.
One of the most annoying things to
the officials was candy, and recently a
line was drawn there. That is, rule
was adopted that candy should be put
up in such manner that it could not
get loose among the other matter.
Formerly nearly every pouch con-
tanned broken box of candy and
lot of sticky letters.-Baltianore Her.
1ld.
INFANT PRODIGtES.