The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-05-13
DOING THE "8lGN0 RsADIN3."
Tracing Out Mvst srious Hieroglyphics
and Supplying o nisslols.
From the Washington Post.

and Supplying . nlS5IOl as.
From the Washington Post
The young allies who do what is called
the ''blind reading in the dead letter offies
know everyt ing. They receive an av-
erage of 1000 letters day, the addresses
of which are so impertecj that the posi-
masters cannot make out what they were
intended to be. These young ladies' do n
open an envelope. Thsy merely e their
wits to follow out some clew sug rested by
the meager ad lress, and 1T is a remark Die
fact that they find owners for IS per cent.
of all the letters that come to them, while
in that departn of the de id let
ter Office where letters are opened only
about so per cent. eyer reach their y %
destination. That the experiences of thess
''blind readers" } not ,naEe cynic' Of them
is greatly to the credit of their patient good
nature for their dealings are all wit the
70 | end of mankind. They live amidst the
ha di work of ignorance and dunder-
headism, and, what is worse. they ave to
acc unit for what the ig loras MUSES. and
dunderheads d.. II they cannot par PHRASE
Carlyle I'd say America is made up of
90, 600, 900 persons, m silly fools, we don't
know wno can. Some exa nples of addr, sses
that come to the wi !. perhaps give to tle
relder a shadow Of an idea of VIII 1t onese
young ladies have to endure. Not long ago
there came an envelope addressed tauS:
TO THE POSTWAR.
twice burned city is my destination
And Madison street the distributing station;
Sevsn hundred seve ty.eight my number stares
On a boulevard famous for the names it bears.
II you wish to learn WAC this letter is for
And deliver it safely acc riding to aw
Seek your Bible, AMI her name you'll under
stand
Is his who delivered nation from Pharoah's
hand.
This is not given as a nipple of the diff
cul addresses received, for, as compar d
with thousa IDS of Others, it is easy to IN
ravel. The letter was sent to Miss Moses,
us Wa hingt)n boulevard, Chicago, but
before sending it the "blind reade $" had to
K low the fire history and the "lay of the
land" in Chicago, as well as Sons bi0lic Il
history: and, 81 ice the st ldent OF Caicayo
seldom also a stute t of the Bible, it must
be seen that the g young ladies have very
wide an re of Information.
CareleSs1ess is mIrs frequent cause of
misdirec ed letters tina ignofance. Per-
sons write all sorts of things on their en-
We opes. One MN abse I5ui ldedly writes
"My darling wife" on his euyelo1e and
drops it in o the box; another writes "Y ours
truly ana signs his own name; many give
only the ams Of the state. a I'd not few
{ reigners adore 8, for example, Joan
r ibinso1, America" Ons of the youl-
lad .es in this office, who is gifted
with wonderful me nory, once traced
man and delivered to him
letter thus meagerly addressed. Two
years later letter lme for the same man,
but was directed TO the wrong city. This
young la iy RENE ubered not only the mans
name. but MS street ldreSs, I'd sent bis
letter to him. Although nearly a million
letters 60 through her hands in year, it Is
said she never forgets an address which sac
has tr ICED out. The result is. she knows
the addresses Ct millions Of persons whose
cores pondents do not know as much about
them.
PERHAPS the most interesting phase of
these young ladies' work is that whica re-
lates t. the tracing Of persons intentions
by nsso iation of ideas. For example, a
letter is addressed to ca tain street and
nu nber in Nj CARA Theirs is no such
street i Niagara, but there is in ratoga,
Niagara AID Saratoga are both res rus.
The letter is sent to Saratoga and the pc sol
is fou I'd. Another letter IN misdirec5ei TO
Sum nerf5ld Mass. The writer IT it had
season of tbs year in mind. The young
ladies' send his letter to Springfield, and find
me per>ei 10 whom it is addressed.
To pers ms interested in the study Of met
aphysics by means OF mental pheno uenl
the 9 could be nothing more attractive tnan
a volums which these young ladies', with
their eKtraordi airy experielce and clever
wits, might prepare.