Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-02-02

man, woman and child in the township
j. opening letters and taking out the
hated stamps. but this force is made
quale 10 make even small impression
upon the rapidly growing pile.
HER PLAN WAS SIMPLE.
Miss Browns plan was simple, and it
was that very simplicity that caused all
the trouble. Writing three letters TO
rs many friends she asked that each
send her ten or more cancelled stamps
and also 10 write three letters each to
other people with the same request
They, in turn were TO follow the same
procedure. thus making an ever increas-
ing chain of letters that was not to he
completed until fifty persons had writ
ten. Possibly Miss Brown did not
stop to figure out her problem in geo
metrical progression. She was not much
Of Il mathematician, and did not tire
her-clf in the arriving at the real ans
wcr To the problem proposed Had she
been possessed Of a knowledge sufficient
TO carry her through 10 the end, she
would have discovered that the chain
she began to weld in such a modest
way. increasing without single break
10 the end, would finally haul in many
times the million stamps she WAS 50 am.
bilious to collect.
The number Of letters being receiv-
daily nj the present time ut kaneville
is greater than the mail Of the largest
corporation in the United States, or
any other country in the world, for
that matter. for the letters that come
every twenty-.our hours addressed TO
Miss Brown aggregate seventeen thous-
and Ii is predicted that the number
will vet reach twenty thousand, and the
poor country postmaster who is com
PEELED 10 receive this vast correspond
cnce is in the lowest depths Of deepest
despair His salary is only 5000 per
year, and he cannot imagine what he
has done To merit such punishment
Not only does he work day and night
himself. but he has been compelled to
hire clerk, paying him out of his own
meagre allowance. Residents of the
village regularly take turns in assisting
the postmaster. and were il not for this
timely aid both he and his overworked
clerk would I've utterly and entirely
swamped under the mighty avalanche
of letters.
When the millionth stamp arrived
the interest of the Browns in the
scheme began to wane, for the goal
WAS reached. But still the stamps kept
rolling in, and Miss Brown, feared that
she had created Il monster that would
eventually destroy the happiness OF
their quiet town. There were stamps
everywhere. and it was an impossibility
to stem the tide. Boxes. drawers. bar
rels. the cowshed. the cellar-every
available receptacle were filled, Scores
of sacks remained unopened, and there
are thousands OF letters whose contents
will in all probability never see the
light. The postmaster and mail car
rier sw0re in choicest and most vigor.
Gus terms, but this did no good. II
was profanity thrown away.
"Old Joe" Gardener. owner and
driver of the stage carrying passengers
and mail between Sugar Grove, the
railroad station, and kaneville, looked
up in Il mild and protesting surprise
on the first day of November last when
the postmaster of the railroad town
threw him two sacks of mail instead OF
the one he had carried for many years.
A few days later the mail had increas.
ed to three sacks, and then both Joe
and Postmaster John Shellhorn, OF
kaneville, began to grumble. Their
pay didn't warrant any such addition
to their labors as this, and they looked
askance at the fair and smiling Miss
Brown. They didn'; appreciate her
philanthropic efforts, although they had
encouraged them heartily enough at
first, but Miss Brown said she didn't
care people shouldn't work for the
government if they didn't want To do
the governments business, she said.
But the mail sacks at Sugar Grove
kept on increasing in number until. on
Thanksgiving Day, there was small
room in the old stage coach for the three
kaneville passengers and the driver
The latter began to consider himself a
deeply injured man, and said it was
plain to I've seen that he would lose /.