The morning times., 1896-12-17
TOTS WRITE APPEALS
TO TIE SEASONS SAINT
Christmas Yearnings Of Little Ones
Lodge in the Dead Letter Office.
Queer Notes That Childish Fancy
Sends Through the Mails to
Santa Claus.
"Santalandp'

. Mr.. Santa Claus tits posfmarked Wash |
ington, and Eft the little writer innocent Of |
a stamp, but not lacking IN ingenuity, be- |
cause in the upper right hand angle of one |
OF big sisters pink note envelopes is a
neatly drawn square, in which the num-
ber is written four times. Such primi- |
tive stamps may go in Santaiand, but in i
this awfully prosaic country it only takes
a letter into the cataeombs of the Dead
Letter Office.
This dainty note was one Of a few given
to a reporter for The Times day or two
ago by First Assistant Postmaster General
Jones. 1t is only one of thousand or more
which hayealready been written or scraWled
or sketched in penciled pictures To the
Saint Of the Season in every part OF the
United States. Mr.. Jones said that the few
he gave were "aii.r' He probably does not
interest himself much with dead letters Of
this kind, or lie would have known that
they have been coming in by scores ever
since early in December.
The one, for instance, sent to Santaiand
via the dead letter office is dated December
3. One OF the railway postal clerks said
on Monday that he had brought in thirty
or thirty-two of these notes; another sail
that he had seen at least two hundred
within the past five days and every one
spoken to had a similar story.
ONE TO MRS SANTA CLAUS.
ter Office would not permit anything in the
office TO be examined without the consent
OF Mr.. Jones, and the clerks imagined,
perhaps correctly, that exhibiting dead
letters would be inviting death warrants.
Under these painful circumstances Mr..
Jones was not half bad to send for some
of the queer writings which are Infinitely
more interesting than nine-tenths OF the
ancient manuscripts or the more or less
authentic mortal remains Of Folklore.
Another subject by the First Assistant
Postmaster General is one that will
interest all the white kids and pickaninnies
in town One of his batch of notes is
addressed 10 Mrs. Santa Claus" Who
is she, or is she at all? Is Nick a
widower, is he a bachelor, or was he
Just born so? Nobody ever thought about
that before except a little girl OF Detroit,
Mich
Her letter is postmarked Detroit,
p. m, at station A. There isn't even
d sign OF a stamp on IL. She Is probably
wiser in her generation than the Washing
ton tot and almost as fauciful. Her prayer
was sent TO Santa Claus Palace; Clouds
Where else could lie live when you come to
think about it as this maiden did as early
as December 8? The clouds are A long
way off and hence the early dispatch OF
the note.
what did the washington girl want? You
Iish, it is rot print, it is OF inteIligble cx-
cept for the writer's pictorial idea Of
doll, with hair Tx ke Medusa, but it tells
that the writer has curly hair, probably
blue eyes, and wanted something Just like
herself. OF course the superscription was
written by a sister not much older or
more sens.bIe than herself. For obvious
reasons there is signature
PICTORIAL REQUEST.
The Michigan girls mind is running on
monkeys She, too, is pictorial letter
writer. It is not a cat. because the ami
NAL is dressed in a gorgeous red monkey
blanket and n tail that curls and cuTls
| until it curIed itself off the edge of the
paper. She must be the daughter of Fred
f. Burt, Detroit. agent of the Sun Fire Of
| flee, OF London. Certainly it is On one
of his letter-head sheets, and Judging from
the time of evening 1T was marked at the
postoffice she must have stolen out between
| the lights and dropped it herself into the
| box and then run back frightened at her
| own audacity at being out so awful late
| 1t would have been nice, too. TO have seen
| the Washington curls flying in the wind
under the same circum stances
| Then there is another that must have
| been written by very young member of
/ the Demarest family Of New York, at
| Fifth avenue and Thirty-third street.
This little lady is an cpicure. Her
| digestive organs suggested the pictures
There is q distince aboriginal attempt at
| drawing a fruit cake, judging from the
| big dots for raisins and the little ones, fol
currants. There is no doubt about the
| oranges and the bananas She had a very
| umbrageous idea, however, OF getting hel
| prospective menu to SANITY Claus You
! see she is familiar with the old man
In the upper right hand corner, in lieu
| OF n stamp, is green discount check, Of
the denomination OF five.
| One Of the railway postal clerks re
nembered something for which it is TO be
| hoped lie will not be dismissed by Mr.
| Jones. 1t was postal card, every wore
| OF which began with d capital letter. 1t
| was from boy who asked for Cod Liver
Oyle for his Sick Sister. He didn't~want
| anything himself. 'Exsep YOU Send It
One couldn't help thinking, God bless the
| Liver of the one and the heart of tn,
| other, Just at this time.
| CLERKS GOOD GUESS.
or. another postal card was written
request for ''Sochersote en- Huicken
elder" "Cananybody guess what that means:
The postal clerk said that he carried
'sSochersote en- Huickenelder'' with hin
all about in his brain for three days, an
at last he made it out to mean soldier
suit and a hook and ladder.
1t was a clever guess and is Just what
| the cflllG wants Inc pOStsl CsAEU was
from st. Paul, Mimi, but who is Harry
just plain Harry? Nobody will ever know
because they have marked him "FIcti
tious'' and buried him where Mr.. Good
and Mr.. Jones don't dare go and yet they
are both men with classic faces. They
are so funereal about that Dead Letter OF
flee probably from its gruesome name
but all the same there is more true ltf
buried there than in all the other catacombs
1 oF hn Pn<tnffina
Another letter is from Indianapolis. Th
| writer has used that kind of manuscript
that you see, or oughtn't to see, on tn
lower edge OF pretty petticoat. Thi
few lines are only succession of angle
| built on the lines like gothic gable end.
There are breaks 20 indicate words, or TN
| end of great laboriouS thoughts and vision:
of the Lord knows what, bat / looks lik
catalogue OF all the good things in tn
| universe.
There must be some cnrios in the thou
| sand letters to Santa Claus now in tn
Dead Letter Office which the profan
eye must not see. And there will be othe
thousands received before Christmas TO
they are all evidently hard at it in out c
the way places soon in the morning an
probably rs late as sun1own. 1t is a pit.
| that there is not even fOuTth-claSS posi-
office in SantaIand, but somehow it is cas-
| to believe that these letters will ~.
there with or without StamnS and III
rules and regulations of the Dead Lette
| Division.
THOUSANDS OF LETTERS
1t would also be interesting to knov
! from the officials Of the posioffice how
many letters they have received from locs
scbel,.ers who put more faith in lcat
| pencil than they do in the burgeonin
stockings of their lady relatives. IL youn
| members of the family are missed fror
now until Christmas, as the twilight !
coming on, it can be taken for granted tia
they have gone to the postoffice wit