The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-12-22
UNCLE SANS MAiL5AcS.


when Worn Out, They just Begin to Re
Really of Service.
To see the government economically
administered, go where they mend mail
bags. When a mailbag is worn ont, it
Is considered as just fit for service. 4
new mailbag is stiff, u~nyielding. When
Ii has knocked abont the world, had the
starch taken ont Of it and its weak
places discovered, it grows pliable, gives
when it can't force its way and is now
prepared TO do business successfully.
Like a human being, the mailbag has
had its experience. The most active
mailbags now in the service have scarce
~ a hands breadth Of the original fabric.
The ordinary jute mailbag is mended
by This is one Of the now few
branches of the public service outside Of
the civil service rules. The women who
mend mailbags are appointed by on
gressmeD or public officers in the old
way. A more democratic gathering can-
not be found in Washington. It is dirty
If not difficult work. In the numbers of
women clad in their worst clothes, their
heads hidden in paper fools caps with
long curtains, their hands guarded by
leather bands and at work on sewing so
rude that it seems like a travesty ON the
gentle art of the needle, it is difficult to
detect from one another the delicately
nurtured woman, the sturdy foreigner
and the negro. They are all there work
ing in perfect amity.
Each woman sits on a low chair. She
has exchanged her street dress for her
working clothes in the commodious
dressing room. She receives every morn
ing a mailbag holding 10 bags. Five
Of these are comparatively good; five
are more or less bad. 1t is a mild sort
Of lottery, which these women expert
ence twice or three times a day, and the
element of chance is not the less excit-
ing though it lie in the depths Of a dirty
mailbag.
Bad or good the women are paid 81
cents a bag. For the woman who a n
not earn at least SLOT a day there is no
place in this room. They earn on an
average about $3.50 a day, and some
women exceed this amount. Each wo-
man works with a d~arning needle and
Irvine thread. Her first requirement is
the sailors stitch. With this she can
patch, darn or embroider. When she
has finished the bags, they are carried to
a central table, where on a bulletin
board her name is scheduled. There her
work is examined by n Of three men
and checked off accordingly.
Not all sew. Some string the bags at
the neck and put on the tags and locks.
One of these is a blind negress. She has
not seen since a child, but she works
rapidly and deftly while she tells with
pride how she can embroider and sew
at home.
These women from such varied walks
in life work together in perfect accord.
When to the foreman the dusty air and
unsightly work seem to have depressed
the workers, he suggests to some one,
generally a colored woman, to start up
some music. The wave of sound gath
ers until the whole room has joined in.
1t is usually a hymn, for hymns come
most easily to wOmen's lips.
The government is a kind taskmaster.
The room is finely lighted and venti-
lated. The Mushrooms are abundantly
ana nneIy equipped Win marble mount
ed stationary stands. AT noon a tea and
coffee bureau is opened, and the workers
have all the tea and coffee they desire at
the expense of their country. Washing
ton working hours are easy. Vacations
of a month are given, and certain sick
leaves are provided for. The sweat
shops of the government, where the new
mailbags are made by contract, are in
this city.-New York Sun.