The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1888-02-17

sual Here is my packet for yesterday.
1t is marked on the outside, you see:
One hundred and one dollars, and for
ty-iivo letters"
Quite enough for careless sendcrs,"
laughed l.
"Ah." was the reply, "but we have
some tremendous sums in drafts. Only
yesterday there came one for one hun
dred thousand dollars"
We all drew long breaths.
"Will the owner be found? He must
with such care rs you take here
II think so, in the case of so large a
sum. But we are not always success
full, for with all our efforts to find eth
er senders or receivers for all the
money passing through our hands. last
year alone we turned over to the Gov
eminent eight thousand dollars.
''And speaking of carelessness, he
added, What do you think of this?"
holding up five letters just opened.
All were directed in the same business
like hand to different gentlemen in Ohio,
no other postal address being given,
and each contained check.
WELL" said lady of our party.
''it is evidently masculine bit of for
getfulness. lam glad to see it,"
Then we passed on to the next room,
where packages were being opened
! and their contents examined.
Only gentlemen are employed in
this department, as the packages
sometimes contain dangerous articles.
and oftener still gross and vulgar
ones. These last are destroyed, but
the rest are forwarded to the owners.
if they can be found, on receipt of
postage. If owners are not found the
articles are sent to the basement
where men are employed to sort them,
tie them in neat, brown-paper pack
ages. labelling and cataloging as they
/ proceed. Once in every year these
things are sold by auction. The bid
ders buy rather blindly. as they can
Judge of the parcels only by brief de-
scriptions published in a catalogue.
Here is a sample Of the motley collec-
ton sold last year:
Zone dozen jew s-harps; seven dam
aged handkerchiefs; map of New
Jersey; eleven undertaker's cmbalm-
ing-needles; hair wig; six tin teaspoons
and Il butter-knife; child's damaged
calico apron and II sliced map; six
cheap fingcr-rings; and so on through
a list of more than six thousand separ-
ate packages, each package contain
ing several articles.
Passing on to the misdirected-lette
department. we were perfectly amazed
! at the wonderful acutoness displayed
by some of the ladies at these tables.
Here are few addresses, rs they were
written, and as at last correctly de-
ciphered and forwarded to their desti-
nation:
MRS LUxIA WAGY, MRS. LUCY wAGY,
Yownc towne, Unontown,
Kns. Kansas.
MR. j. II. RICE, Mr. j. Il. RICE,
Neuricespring, Eureka Springs,
Ark. Ark
HENRY SMITH, HENRY SMITH,
p. o. ILL., Peoria, Ill
Prisner Prisoner.
AS last example, letter all the
way from England addressed to
"Horsewigger Co.." and deciphered at
last as "Oswego, Oswego Co."
Thus you see an expert at reading
illegible handwriting becomes doubly
expert at these tables. Perhaps it is
because of the proverbial patience of
women that they are given this work
30 10 Of HnlI
while the men who open the packages
receive twelve hundred.
Upstairs. in a sort of gallery, and
screened from the lower floor by little
baize curtains, like an old-time church
choir, sat ladies sorting. re-directing
and "jacketing" more letters. This
last process consists of making n care
full inventory of the points in a letter
inquiring for lost mail matter, writing
these points on the outside of sheet
of blue paper. which is then folded
around the original letter - the
'iacket," you see-and pigeon-holed.
Thus the task of such correspond
ence becomes reduced to the minimum.
But the table where we found our
selves perhaps more interested than
anywhere else was that where letters
re-addressed, and freshly-enveloped,
came to be sealed. To almost any
one of us the sealing of fifty letters
would be no small task, especially
if done in the ordinary way; but we
stood for three minutes beside this
young lady's table, and in that time
saw her seal one hundred and fifty
epistles! She took them up in
nnckn0es Of fifty. as theY are sent to