The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-09-01
MAIL ODDITIES.
Some Curiosities That Lodge in
the Postal Pouch.
Animate Objects That Come
Under FoStoffice Ban.

Many queer things pass through the
mails. Some OF them afford amuse-
nent for the clerks, and others for q
time cause them to forget their religious
training. Every conceivable thing that
cones under the rules of mailaIle mat
ter, and many others besides, is daily
received at every large posto flee in
the land. Many packages are stopped
. because OF violation OF the law and
are conis Gated, while occasionally an
unavailable article slips through under
the guise of something else. Speaking
Of the matter to Herald reporter,
Baltimore postoffice official said:
The mailing of merchandise, samples
and other things has reached such al
extent that ] wouldn't be surprised at
any time TO see a man come in and
ask il he can mail ton of coal to San
Francisco. A great many things are
sent by would be jokers. A short time
age fashionable uptown lady received
neatly done up and periumed
package from point In
Virginia. On opening it garter
snake jumped out and ran across the
floor. The lady screamed, and when
some Of the other memb ers of the fam
= lily went to her rescue she was standing
OF centre table and the snake was
coied up on a sofa. A few days ago
when mail pouch was opene ed small
diamond back terrapin crawled out.
The little reptile was carried to Mr..
Gus Warield, who placed it on his
desk. !: crawled about quite actively
for while, and then pulled in its head
and feet and went to sleep. Mr.. War
field 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 a paper
weight, and went on working. In
few minutes the terrapin awoke.
stretched out its head and craw.ed over
on the clerks paper as if to see what he
was writing. The young man had never
seen live terrapia before, and, still
thinking tina; it was a new fangle pa.
per weight, he picked it up to make a
closer inspection. Somehow his right
thumb got cauch. in the teri apin's
mouth. and par; oil it stayed there.
lie now knows what q terrapin is. but
very careful about inspecting new de-
Igns IN paper weights. On a recent
occasion box full OF lizards was found
In ore of the pouches. They were
thrown op..
Very frequently commission men re-
oeive samples of ali kinds of grain and |
other farm products, with Inquiries con-
cernlng their value. Often in the spring
samples OF strawberries are sent this /
way, bu' on their arrival they are gen.
orally smashed INTO pulp. Handsome
bouquets frequently make their way
through the mails. but on arriving at
nelr destination. they are usually
crushed and worthless. A watermelon
came from Florida 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 tho
owners door, but it made no difference.
as II was green anyway. Small orders
OF all kinds of goods are sent in every
direction all over the country. The
neanes; tricks ever played in this direc-
u0n was when the envelopes for hospital
uay were collected. Many of them
were not stamped. and az the depart
ment had been requested not to stamp
worthless ones, they were opened and
'Ound to contain peanut bulls, bugs,
'An'' pieces Of matches, potato parings,
|''faps OF paper, pieces of bacon rind,
morn buttons, tin, etc.
0ne OF the most annoying things to
we oileials was candy, and recently a
'He was drawn there. That is, a rule
''s adopted That candy should be put
Up 10 such manner that it could n ot
fe' loose among the other matter. For
merry nearly every pouch contained
|foKen box Of candy and q lot of stickv