The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-09-13

from the New York WorlI.]
The New York postoffice is large,
dignified building, situated right where
the roads fork being the place where
you can turn off to the right from the
main travelled road in order to get to
the bridge. 1t is used partly for post
office and partly for a court house, so
that one end Of the building prac-
tically pays the expense Of the other
end. \ self supporting postofice and
court house here, where competition
is hot and rents high, would aturally
show that times are good and money
plenty.
Mail comes here from all foreign
countries and Europe also. It is dis
tributed at once, and one is permitted
to mail letter at any time, day or
night. It's wonderful. In tall build
ings now there is an arrangement by
which one may shoot his letters into a
runaway or fume, and they will be
carried into a United States mail box
on the ground floor, where a trust
worthy young man in speckled straw
helmet comes and fills his valise with
them, after which he carries them, away
to the postoffice and personally uses his
influence with the postmaster to have
them sent away by he early train.
stood near the small box at the
bottom Of the chute in the Standard
Oil building the other day, and re-
manned there 10 Or Is minutes counted
forty-nine letters as they We're laid,
one by one, hot from the cracking
typewriters above, and all no donbt
reeking with the bloody and startling
statement, coming like peel of thun-
der from an unpeeled sky, Dear Sir
Your esteemed favor of the-th inst, (or
ult, or proX.) is before me. In reply
would say" etc, There's just about as
much use in this opening las there
would be in stating that ave take our
pen in hand" or in opening prayer
by reading the minutes of the previous
meeting.
The New York postodice is directly
connected with the dead letter office
at Washington, and those who have
never corresponded with that prosper
Gus morgue have missed good deal.
The dead letter office is, after all, 4
great boon; though it does not return
some things which reach it. \ man
in Saginaw, Mich, mailed pair of
dress shields by mistake which he had
bought for his wife, and though that
was two years ago come July they
have never been returned. Another
. man il Nashville, Tenn, erronerously
mailed a porous plaster which was al
most as good as new, though he has
threatened to go down there to Wash
ington and identify it and expose the
whole system Of the dead letter Office
til he got his property back, nothing
as yet been done about it.
Ten years ago, there We're 100000
letters sent to the dead letter office in
one year, Of which 700 had no county
Or State, 100000 lacked stamps, and
5000 were posted without any ad-
dress at all. Ninety-two thousand dol-
lars il cash and over 100000 in
drafts were contained in these letters.
1t appears that right straight through
every letter sent to the dead letter
Office contains on an average 81, so
mine really fell below the average.
Queer things happen to letters even
when they do not get to Washington.
A Wyoming postmaster used to claim
that circular letters, unsealed, if not
called for with a day or two, We're
good things to use in starting the fire.
lie therefore kept a coal hod near the
general delivery, which constituted a
y little private dead letter office for
his own special use. One day his chill
dren were playing tag with each other
inside the postotfice and canceling each
others nose with the NJ. O. IS. STAMP,
when suddenly they decided to inves-
tigate the coal hod in search of adver-
tising cards. In each of the two large
circular envelopes they found a small
Ter sealed letter which had worked in
by showing large mass of letters to-
gether for cancellation. The children
had torn these two letters open and
were playing Fourth of July and Rally
Round the Flag, Boys, with a $40
check and $500 draft when the old
gentleman looked up. Justice COM
pels me to say, however, that he
spanked the children soundly for his
carelessneSs and refused to let them
have fun with his dead letter office
after that. BILL NYE.
P. S.-Since the above was written a
white woman's scalp has been received
at, the dead letter office. The lady, in
an absent minded way, forgot to mail
herself, and according to the rules of
the Office she cannot now recover it.
B.. y.
VIII THE POPE LEAVE ROME.