The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-05-03
UNSTAMPED LETTERS
Why Many Missives Never
Reach Their Destination.
THE CARELESS lETTER wR'TERs.


sixte<n hundred letters kays been
dropped into The Seattle postofncs since
list June without stamps sud without re-
tam exrsss 70 sh0w from whom tney came
II 10 Unnecessary 10 say that they Al vent
70 waskington CITY. where they we're
opened probably By soEne inqSisinss
nnssdsn 81 doubffui aee with suspicious
Looking wrinkles around the eyes thai have
perusea 20 many setters intended for others
Besides these .s)p letters. ssost the same
namb<r have been dropped into the post
ofsee with printed return cards On the cor
ners. which enabled the clerks 70 retarn
them 70 the writers. OF the letters which
went To the desd-lstser Office . large per
cent vess Lightly addressed. and II the
postmaster Ia seattle bad gone down Ia his
pocket and brought up 81 for stamps u is
reasonable 70 suppose they would aiI have
reached their destination A good share Of
them we're addressed to snadanes, nearly
~ many more we're intended for misses.
the third class were for men and the re-
msifdef .ere for frnas. Ninety eight per
cent we're addressed 10 places in the United
states and two per cent 70 foreign coun-
tries,
Ii IL surprising % see What differences
the lack Of George washington's picture
on letter will make In Its travels. The
first clerk that gets hold OF ii after IL gets
into tbs postoffice scowls moment, turns
IL over TO ZEE il II 10 sealed and then throws
Il over In On out-of-she corner. With
oat any more wtste OF time. however. 1t
goes into the postmsstss's Office and he
makes an effort to find the writer. II his
efforts fail be sends IL to the deadIetter
Office
II IL generally supposed that only the ig-
norant or iIliterafe class Of people are guilty
OF the eareiessness OF mailing unstamped
letters. but such h not the case. Some Of
the brightest men and women in the city are
guilty Of this very trick. Not few Of
them after they have sbsent-mindedly
mailed these letters suddenly recoiiect the
fact and cali on the postmaster TO get their
letters retained. They are profuse in their
explanations OF how II happened that they
didn't put stamp on, and the postmaster
smiles 10 himself Is he calculates the scores
OF times he mas heard the same story.
rs this the postmaster ?" said one Of this
class the other day. IS she timidly opened
the door and turned her brown eyes in
quiringiy toward the official who Is sup
posed 70 spend his time in reading postal
cards.
Yes, ma'an." replied the postmaster,
dropping his hali-read postal. and turning
his face reluctantly toward the visitor.
"WeiI, Ill dropped . letter in the
postofhce last night on the way to church.
and-snd forgot TO put a stampon it; can
you"
..oh. certainly. but what was the adj
dressfr
1T was 10 Mr., In Detroit, Mich
The postmaster instantly pulled out
big bunch OF letters from . pigeon-boie,
and after running them over q moment
handed out the one addressed to the De-
trout Young man.
That's II On. thank yonr she ex-
claimed. ~ she caught sight of dainty en-
yelope addressed in delicate hand.
The postmaster handed it over M stole
ally a. II such occurrences were everyday
affairs. Before the young man had time to
get out, the door opened and In sfalked a
big. hashfni young Norwegian lum berman.
Il mailed letter here Saturday" he be-
gan, las didn't have no stamp on. They
tell me down tn camp rs hew's you've
got il here. Yere's two cents"
He was shout TO hack out and,escape, but
: the postmaster was too quick for him. and
caught him in time 10 ask him who the let
ter was addressed 10. As the big fellow
stumbled out OF the door he was met by a
busting business man. who began hur-
riediy.
'.i-er-my Office boy dropped lot of
letters into the box a few minutes ago
without stamps. Could you-er-get them
for met"
Though these three cases all happened
within = few minutes. only . small proper
ton of these letters are ever recovered In
this way. IL Is possible that some OF the
people who mail letters have an idea that
they viii get TO their destination without
stamps II they can only succeed in mailing
them unseen Others may suppose that
the stamp sili be supplied by the depart
snent. but the large class pat unstamped
letters ia the hox from absence OF mind or