Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1888-10-05
QUEER MAIL MATTER
'"ss ihat Amuse the Clerks mr. MAI.
Them Tride Profane

ss mat Amuse the Clerks or MaLs
Them Trins Profane.
M'thy queer things pass through tho
mails. Some OF them afford arouso.
heht Tor the clerks and otbers for n
tirne' cause them to forget their rel;g-
lous training. Every conceivable
'iing that comes under the rules OF
niaiiaoie matter, and many others be-
sues. Is daily received at every largo
post-olfice in the land Man packages
are stopped because Of violation Of the
Ia" ana are confi5cated, while occa-
slohaiiy an unavailable article Sins
through under the guise of something
else. Speaking OF the matter a Balti.
more post-ofiice official said: The
mailing OF merchandise, SAMPLES
anu otner things has reached
such an extent that / wouldn't
De surprised at any time to see a man
come In and ask If he can mail a ton NJ
coal 10 San Francisco. A great MANY
thlngs are sent by would-be iokers. A
SNORT tiIne ago fashionable up town
,aay received aneatly-done- and per-
'uned package from a point in Wiz.
ginia. On opening it a earter-snal,e
jumped out and ran across the floor.
ne lady screamed, and when some of
ihe o5her members OF the family went
70 her rescue she was standing ON I.
comfortable and the snake was coiled
up on sofa. A few days ago when a
hiail-poueh was opened small dia-
Mond-Dack terrapin crawled out. The
little reptile was carried to Gus War.
held, who placed it on his desk. II
crawied about quite actively for
a"hlie' and then pulled in
ITS head and feet and went to sleen
Mr. Warfield placed 1t on the desk OF
one OF the clerks who had gone out for
lunch. When the clerk returned h.
noticed the terrapin and thought il
was paper-weight and went on work.
ing In few minutes the terrapin
awoke. stretched out its head ana
crawled over on the clerks paper. az
II TO see what he was writing. The
young man had never seen a live terra
pin before, and still thinking that il
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 a
part Of 1t stayed there He now knows
what terrapin is, but is very careful
about inspecting new designs in paper
weights. On recent occasion a box
full OF lizards was found in one of the
pouches. They were thrown out.
Very frequently commission men re
celve 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 thew are
generally mashed into pulp. Hand.
some bouquets frequently make their
way through the mails, but on arrlv-
ing at their destination they are
usually crushed and worthless. Al
watermelon came a few days ago ad-
dressed to a 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 nc
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 direction 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 We're 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. a rule /
was adopted that candy should be put
up in such a manner that it could not
get loose among the other matter.
Formerly nearly every pouch con-
.ainc-l q broken box of candy and
ot OF sticky letters. Baltimore Her
I'd.