The herald., 1896-01-26
A Much=Traveled Letter
Lying in a COM
posing Room
A ROMANCE CLEVERLY TOLD
1t Was Begun Here in California, But
Had an Ending in Chicago When
the Tramp Printer Called
for His Mail

wiz luhy WlSh " nave IL I'LL CCbOd OhOl o.
The accumulation is often torn into
tatters. There is always, and probably
always will be, a class of printers no.
madic in nature. Like Richard III.
on the eve of Bosworth the printers of
the class referred to might appro-
priately say:
Here tonight. but where tomorrow?
Wander as they may, however, they
keep in communication with some of
their former associates, or try to. And
letter may travel thousands of miles,
in criss-cross way, before it finds the
man to whom it was addressed. And
often it reaches box where it remains
for months, the man to whom it is sent
having neglected to forward his ad-
dress; or he may be on the road to the
place where the letter awaits him.
The letters in box in the compos-
ing-room are looked over by hundred
men daily from two to six times. Those
that remain are sorry looking objects
within few days. These letters or
the envelopes containing them, singu-
larly enough become public property
in the composing-room. A composition
will not hesitate, if he has nothing else
at hand for the purpose, to figure up
his "string" on the back of the envelope
or make any other computation that
he may want to make.
In one of these boxes was a letter
which had been there for four months.
1t WAS postmarked Petaluma, Gal. The
chirography of the superscription was
plainly that OF woman. The letter
was originally mailed to Butte City,
and was forwarded from there to
Denver; then to Tombstone, and to
Tuxton, San Antonio, New Orleans,
Memphis, Little Rock, st. Louis,
Springfield, ILL.,, and finally to Chicago.
AS the envelope was of the size in
which a woman usually places her
letter, it will be understood how it
looked with 30 many erasures. 1t caused
considerable comment on the day of
its delivery, and for several days after.
Old printers who had "auit the road"
years ago looked at it and read the
the various addresses, grunted and
went back to work.
After the first ten days the question
was passed around the office, but no
had ever known a printer of that name.
After several weeks the question found
it's way in the other composing-rooms
of the city, but no one knew any such
man.
"It's from woman" said the fore
man one day, land 1 guess rll have it
forwarded back TO Petaluma."
II wouldn't do that" said one of the
compositors, a big man, the goodness
of whose heart broke through his face.
He'll show up some of these days. I've
known them to come in after year on
the road. Besides it might worry the
woman to think he hadn't got it,"
81 guess you are right" the foreman
replied, and threw the soiled and fray
ed thing into the box.
September, October, November and
most December came and we're shelved
away. Curiosity about the letter had
died out. Nobody seemed to care, and
several times it was picked up from the
would come in, looking for work, or for
mail, and he would be seen reading the
various addresses on the envelope.
One of this class, the WORSE for ill
luck, came one night and was about to
appropriate the letter when he was
questioned, and he had to give it up.
He afterward admitted that he was hard
up, and he couldn't stand hunger and
cold, and that he thought that the
letter might contain little money.
This suggestion was laughed at by
those who heard it. "If there had been
any money in it," said the galley boy,
sit would have worked out long before
this" So the old letter WAS put back
into the box, and the clicking Of type
and the sound of the linotypes went
on.
A few days later man walked into
the room and showed card to the fore
man. He looked tired, this new caller.
There was nothing, however, of the
tramp, in his apparel, or in his appear
ance. Still, the wear and tear of travel,
and the mans eyes, and his COM
plexion, showed that the tire with
which he was suffering was of kind
for which there is no rest on this side.
He asked for drink Of water and sip
ped it slowly. 1t revived him little,
and then he asked the foreman if there
was any mail for him.
The foreman remembered, He fairly
jumped out of his chair. He went to
the box himself and got out the letter.
In the same time IL took the foreman
to carry the letter from the box to the
travelled around the room. Those who
we're there were heard to say: "He has
come at last" and they found it con-
venient to walk around where he was
80 that they might get clearer and
better look.
As the foreman handed the stranger
the letter he said it had travelled some.
The stranger replied that he had been
travelling to get it.
"Shall open it for your" asked the
foreman.
"Please," was the response.
The foreman opened one end of the
envelope and took out the letter. The
stranger said he was very tired and
asked the foreman if he would do him
the favor to open the folds and read.
As the foreman did there fell to the
floor three crisp, new $100 bills. He
picked them up and handed them to
the stranger, who took them carelessly.
The foreman read the letter:
"Dear Jim hope that this will find
you and that it will do you good. l
wish could have gone with you, but
we couldn't both 60, and can die here
where it won't cost anything. have
worked hard for this, but it will never
do me any good. I saved it for you,
Jim, because knew long time before
you would admit it that you had that
disease which kills, and which is drag
ging me down.
1 thought, Jim, this would do you