Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-05-29
PROF. BIRGE's LOVE LETTER.
1t Takes Eleven and One-half Years to Go
Ten Blocks.

Ten Blocks.
The Northern Budget, printed at Troy.
New York, in recent issue gives very
interesting account of the loss of love
letter written by Prof. Birge, of the uni
versity, and addressed to his present wife,
then Miss Ann Grant.
The Budget says: 1.-The most singular
case of slow travel probably on record
came to light Friday at the T roy pos
office. When people send letters to their
friends they expect in the course of time,
at least, to hear from them When the
writer happens to be sending a letter to
his ''best girl and the girl does not get
it, it generally causes trouble and explana-
lions are In order. There are
many reasons for letters going astray.
Sometimes they are incorrectly directed,
sometimes they are dropped into the
postoffice unstamped and eventually find
their way to the dead letter office. But
when a letter is correctly addressed prop
erly stamped and mailed reaches the post
office in the city where the party addressed
resides, and then misses its destination,
the mystery is deeper.
A. E. Birge, professor of zoology, in the
Madison university at Madison, Wis, on
October 2, 1873, wrote and mailed letter
to Miss Ann Grant, then residing at No.
SO North Second st. The letter reached
the old postoffics on First street Octo-
Der 4, 1878, and was duly stamped
as having been received at that time.
What became of that letter until May 2,
1890, no one knows. One thing is certain,
it was not delivered to Miss Grant. For
ten years Miss Grant has been the wife of
Prof Birge, of Madison. Wis, and re-
sides at that city. On May 2 last, the
letter, unopened and in good condition,
again made its appearance in the Troy
Office. 1t was given to carrier, and he
took it up on what was once North Second
street, now Fifth avenue, but he could find
no one who knew Miss Ann Grant,
and the letter was brought back
and placed among the 'unknowns.
An old carrier looked at it the other day
and he happened to remember that Peter
Grant used to live at No. SO North Second
street, and the letter was taken to Mr.
Grant, who at once said it was for his
daughter, now Mrs. Birge. The letter
was sent to Madison, and Friday, Professor
Birge returned the envelope to Postmaster
Ashley with the explanations as given
above about his having written the letter.
He writes: i would be glad to know how
it is that it takes eleven and one half years
to transport letter from the old post
office on First street to the address on
reads Of similar slow transports in the
comic journals, but always, | believe, in
connection with district messenger boys,
rather than concerning the postoffice. If
not interfering with the secrets of your
Office would be G lad to know how your
carrier who received the letter October 4,
1878, put in his eleven ond one-half years
of work on this letter. Perhaps
he died en- route and so the letter came
back to the general delivery
The post Office officials are at a loss to
account for the long absence of the letter.
They are inclined to believe that the letter
was delivered to the wrong person, that it
was mislaid, and when found recently was
dropped into some letter box and thus
found its way back to the postofice Gil
bert Robertson, Jr., was postmaster when
-he letter first came to Troy. The post
office has been changed since then, and it
IS not likely that the letter could have re-
NAMED in the postoffce all these years