New-York tribune., 1896-12-27

and most crowded sort will heartily agree with
this last statement The carriers attached to Stl-
ton A. at Prince ST. and West Broadway, near
which live large colonies OF Italians and the low
est class Of colored people. know what such work
is So do the men who deliver for Station |" up
town. in Little Italy" But II is generally ad-
mttod that the employees of Station B. n Grand
ana Norfolk s's. have decidedly the worst time Ct
any in the city. The tencment-house population In
that neghborhood consists almost entirely Of Polish
and Russlau Jews Only small percentagefcf
them can talk English. and it is rather the excep-
ton taan the rule to find vino sign his
name leGibly In English. a performance which be-
comes necessary In the case OF a registered letter
Another great difficulty presents itself in the fact
that certain family names are disrsssinely common
thereby causing much trouble in the matter of
Identification
An everyday scene, repeated dozens OF times on
the of each carrier is something like this:
COHENs IN LARGE NUMBERS.
Stepping hriskly in at the front door which is
always open. winter and summer the postman goes
to the foot OF the stairs whistles. and calls out
Cohen" Perhaps dozen heads are thrust out Of
mary doors. and the carrier Is greeted with
"lIere'" IT'S mine!' or words TO that effect in
Hebrew. YiGdish. German and least often. English
This is FOR J. Cohen" he announces. grinnins
himself II he has not yet grown too tired of the
whole rcrforira 'ce. at what lie knows Will follow
that definite statement For there ter chances
to that at least three four of the multitude
Of Cohens answer to the name Of Jacob Then
comes a long and spirited controversy who
is the rlghtful of the letter and the end it
f. by no means certain that IT has reached the in
dvidua for whom ii was intended II 1t Is after
ward discovered that mistake has been made
the proper Jacob Cohen represents himself a
much injured man. and almost invariably tries to
have his namesake punished for having opened the
doubtful letter Cant send him TO prison for
that?' is question which has been asked of the
carrier in such cases over and over
There Is one class O. letters of which the foreign
in the tenements receive great many that
the occasion Of continual trouble the postohice
employees. They written by the relatives left
behind in Europe, and, perhaps because these peo-
pie absolutely unable to pay the postage. or
perhaps because they think that their friends in
America should have become prosperous enough
stand the expense. the letters are usually mailed
without any stamp at all. The United States Gov
ernn.ent Is then obliged to collect double the
original amount and TO every letter which would
have been five cents on the other side postage
due stamp Of ~ cents is affixed TO extract this
amount from the recipient Of the missve then be-
comes the painful ard uncertain duty OF the car
rer There is. however. rodeeming feature
about the work. II reduces II by magic the num-
ber OF claimants for each letter In ike the
described above the postman has only TO men,
ton that there is 10 due before most of The
doors shut with slam OF unmista BILE slgni-
canoe. one person is perhaps LEFT. who has reason
expect such a letter. Frequently It IS a woman
and she usually exhibits strong conflict OF feel
ing as to whether Its contents are likely TO be
worth the price. In many instances she suppresses
her natural curiosity and either deliberately asserts
that 1t is not for her says thar she does not
want II. and the postman can take It away again
When this Is done. II IL safe TO assume that the
European relatives in the habit Of writing beg,
ging letters. and that the woman knows pretty uc-
curately without opening it what the drift OF the
communication Is. An even more peculiar scene
occurs however. when she feels that the letter
must be obtained and read
TRYING TO GET REDUCED RATES.
II vii gt you ffe cents for IT," she announces
with an air OF extreme liberality
"Oh. no. guess not" replies the postman: "ten
cents nothing"
Mister, VII ef you six; not more" she
adds hastily. the postman turns to go Seeing
that lie pays no attention. she comes up to seven
and frequently sticks obstinateiy at eight with the
assurance that she is poor woman. and the letter
carrier might let her have it. In their ignorance
of every law and custom OF the country these pco-
lle have no conception Of "A rate fixed by the Gov
ernment They argue that. as the letter Is clearly
~ no use to the carrier TO the postofice those
authorities may well get what they can for
It and be satisfied 1t IS a common thing for q
person who has made an unsuccessful attempt 10
beat down" the carrier to the Office artor
ward and complain tnat he would not take tbs
seven eight cents offered
man. selected for his ability to speak several
OF the languages and dialects OF the neighborhood
Is constantly employed In delivering only the regis
tered letters. These. which usually contain money
or some paper which the sender considers OF esne
cia Importance require more careful atten,ior
iran the others. and. owing to the ignorance and
a.arioe OF the people, take long time TO deliver
The usual inability Of the recipient to sign n,s
name has to be met by finding some more resp,n.
siDie and Intelligent person In the ncighborhood
VINO VIII both Identify and sign for him The re-
IRE loyfuly TO open the coveted envelope In stri.t