The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-08-09
QUEER THINGS IN THE MAIL.
A Museum of CuriOsities IN IN the Dead.
Letter ONCE.


The Dead-Letter Office in Wash
ingtcn is, in one sense, the greatest
museum in the world, for here are
daily received the queerest things i'm
aginable. Everything that goes astray
in Uncle Sans mail goes to that
office, and in the course of year
every conceivable kind of an article,
from a paper of pins or a box of soap
to corset and an ak handle is re-
ceived. Once each year the depart
ment has clearance sale of the mis-
cellaneous articles which have &C
cumulated during the twelve months,
and about $4,000 are disposed Of at
each sale.
It is estimated that every day in
the year about $4,000 letters, parcels
and packages go astray in the mails,
nearly all of which find their way to
the Dead-Letter Office. As fast as re-
ceived this great mass of mail mat
ter is assorted, opened and classified.
The Dead-Letter Office is not very
large, but is one of the busiest places
in the national capital at any hour
of the day. The operatives en-
| ployed are nearly all women, as
they are more accurate and skillful
than men in opening, asserting, cor
recting and returning the stray mail
| matter.
All about the room are tables
piled high with letters, parcels and
packages. About twenty-five men
and women are engaged here. In
the gallery above, seated at tables,
are sixty women, who do nothing
but read the letters received, in order
to determine if they are of sufficient
Importance to be returned to the
writer's. All kinds of letters are sub
| ject to their perusal, from the daint-
lily perfumed billet-doux filed
with love and endearing terms, to
the brief and prosaic business letter
of the hurried commercial man.
Many are the ardent messages breath
ing the hearts sweetest emotions
that are perused by these unsenti-
mental women and then consigned
to the flames, for all letters that are
| not returned to the writer are bur
ned. If these women were given to
gossip, many are the mysteries they
could unravel, the tales they could
tell, and in many cases perhaps ex-
plain the reason ''that the letter
that he longed for never came"
Misdirected and only partially ad-
dressed letters are turned over to
woman who from long experience
has acquired great skill in studying
out addresses, and who knows every
city, town, village and hamlet in the
country. She also knows the names
of the streets in the different cities
and is, in fact, veritable United
States Gazetteer. From her almost
infinite knowledge of names and
places, the faculty of deciphering all
kinds Of illegibie chirography and
her familiarity with English, French,
German, Italian, Spanish and Rus
sian, she is enabled to send to the
rightfuI claimants, unopened, about
so per cent. of the misdirected and
partially addressed letters received.
AS a rule, English, German and
French are the prevailing languages
used in addressing letters, although
those inscribed in Italian, Hebrew,
Spanish, Arabic, Persian, Russian,
and, in fact, every other tongue,
reach New York from a sea voyage,
and many of them are sent to the
Dead-Letter Office to be deciphered
and re-addressed in English, so that
the postmasters whose linguistic &C
complishments are limited may de-
liver them in the good old Anglo
Saxon.
All letters which cannot be de-
ciphered by the expert are turned
over to force of clerks who open
them and remove all valuables. They
are then put up in packages of 100
each and sent to the sixty readers.
Money, checks, drafts and all valu-
ables taken from the letters are re-
turned to the sender, unless the party
for whom they are intended can be
found. Last year nearly $10,000,000
was taken from letters, all of which
was returned except $4,000, the own
ers of which could not be found.
Connected with the department of
the Dead Letter Office is museum
where the many curious articles that |
come in the mails and cannot be re-
stored are placed on exhibition. ALI
about the room are upright cabinets
in which the articles are displayed. |
Here can be seen toys, jewelry and |
pictures of every description. One |
of the rarest curiosities ever received, |
and now on exhibition, is sheet of |
parchment on which is penned the
Lords prayer in ffty-four different
languages. It came to New York in
1912 in the mail from England, and
as no trace of the owner could be dis
covered it was sent to the Dead
Letter Office. It is said to be a
duplicate of a parchment which
hangs in st. Peters, at Rome. A
beautiful crucifx of solid gold rests
in a case in one cabinet. It reached
the Office marked unclaimed" from
a Southern postoffice, and no trace
of the owner could ever be discov-
cred. A lady's fan, made of stork
feathers, the plumes being richer and
rarer than the finest ostrich plumes,
is without question the handsomest
thing in the whole collection. It is