Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-24
The Method Employed in Forwarding
Letters.
INTERESTING 10 OU1-0F TOWN PEOPLE
Many Things to Be Observed; Not
a Few to Avoid.
DIRECTING ADDRESSES

II
and not be disciple Of Mahatma- How
ever. Mr.. and Mrs. Summer Resorter, when
you take your annual vacation to Mos
quitovtlle, or Hawkhurst. do not think that
the post office people will recognize the
TACT without being notified. and will have
your letters forwarded there. The proper
way Is to give the carrier the old address,
not only OF yourself. but Of every person
whose letters are to be forwarded, and the
address to which the letters are to be for
warded. Don't say: "Au mail formerly
sent to 1168 street should be sent to Pho
mic Gardens. N. j." 1t may happen that
there are others in the household vino are
not going there. and 1t may be embarrass-
ing TO nave their mail go there So either
give list of every person whose mail il
10 be forwarded to the postman who brings
your mail. or send to the postmaster In
this manner complications win he avoided
sured WILL NC III
men people return to the city after
Superintendent Lambert F.. Bergman To
Inc Star reporter. they cannot imagine
why their mail is not sent them in the
CITY. They forget that we have their for
warding address, and have not been told
to discontinue 1t. They come to the Office
ana complain of this fact, when, of course
1t is impossible for us to know of their
return. Very often the houses are left In
charge of servants, so that the carrier
does not know whether the owner has or
has not returned"
When letter has been sent to the post
master 1t is opened by the assistant post
master, who sends the orders for forward
ing the mail to the superintendent of de-
livery. From him they go to two directory
clerks. The names of Washington people
SO far as known. are kept in thirteen vol
umes-scrap books, in fact, where city
directory slips have been pasted, with ad-
d1tionS by the post office. If the fact is
observed 1t will be seen that in the city
directory generally only the name Of the
head of a family is given. The names of
widows are given. but not those of women
unmarried. About every five years the city
post office sends out a circular, as follows
Please fill out this blank and write,
with ink. the names of all persons, includ-
Ing servants. using Mrs. or Miss as pre-
fix in case Of females. with their own given
names In full, who receive or are likely to
receive any mail at this number. The given
names of married women must be stated
and not those of their husbands. For ex-
ample. Mrs. Mary Brown must not be de-
scribed as Mrs. William Brown. Write in
full one name on a line, and add number Of
house and street after each name. The in
formation will enable your post office to
promptly dispose of mail which would
otherwise go to the dead letter Office. No
tify office of all changes Of address. Hand
this name blank to your letter carrier, or
out preparing postage"
Big City Directory.
Four years ago. when this was done,
$4,000 names were added to the list of the
city directory. These are written on the
margins of the thirteen volumes, which are
alphabetically arranged and carefully In
dexed, 50 that names can be found IN short
order. 1t Is an interesting fact that while
two or three letters, X, and z, for In
stance, are needed to fill a volume, the
letter requires two volumes. showing
that majority Of names begin with it.
When the order for change of address is
sent from the superintendent of delivery
the orders are turned over to the directory
clerks. who look up the name in their di-
rectory books.
If the order Is simply to have the mail
''forw" Is inscribed opposite the name
and the letter or order goes to the forward
ing clerks. who take down the names in
their books. If the directory clerks have
reason to believe that the change is per
manent. from one part of the city to an
other. the old address is scratched out
and the new one inserted If the letters
are to be forwarded the orders for the ad-
dresses go only to the forwarding clerks,
and they are the only ones supposed to
know the new addresses. When a carrier
is given an order to take to the post office
for mail to he forwarded he is supposed to
number opposite and the symbol "forw,'
to show that all letters for that person go
to the forwarding clerk to be sent to the
new address. The clerks refer to the d.
rectory for letters which have been mis-
directed
A card letter. is the kind which glad
Gems the eyes of post Office people By this
is meant one which has the name and ad-
dress on one corner of the envelope, Civ
ing notice for 1t to be held certain num-
Der of days and returned to sender II not
delivered. 1t Is held the specified time,
marked ''uncl' (unclaimed) and returned to
sender. An ordinary letter stays in the Of
flee two weeks. If not delivered or called
for, is then advertised and held for two
weeks. and finally in the course Of month
from the time Of its first receipt Is taken to
letter Is ordered not to be returned without
being advertised as a person Is liable to see
1t in the papers. If this does not happen
then it is returned to the sender.
In Case of the Dead.
If a person has died. and the fact Is
known at the office, unless relatives Of the
dead man. or his administrator, have left
word what Is to be done with his mail 1t Is
kept until further notice, after being mark
ed dead" by the carrier There Is mail at
the office now for a Washington man who
killed himself several weeks ago, waiting
for some one to take 1t. In some cases,
II caro- letters are included in such mail,
after a period they are marked unclaimed.
and returned to the sender. If the mail
Is composed of ordinary letters they are
not advertised, but sent to the dead letter
office on special list under the heading
Addresses not found, not advertised"
Probably two hundred letters, on an ay-
erage. are taken to the superintendent of
delivery or his assistant each day for cor
rected addresses. 1t often happens that a
person will give the street and number of
he Of
sistant Superintendent Bergman showed
The Star man a letter addressed to a per-
son. southeast corner Saratoga and Calvert
streets. Washington, D. C.
of course. we knew that there were no
such streets here. but the letter was in
tended for Baltimore, and we sent 1t
there" said Mr.. Bergman. Here is an
other letter, addressed to certain firm in
Washington. d. c. We happen to know
that the firm does business in Washington,
North Carolina instead of here; so we sent
the letter there. A number Of letters come
to this office addressed to persons on Del
aware avenue who cannot be found There
Is Delaware avenue In Wilmington, DEL,
and Washington Is like Wilmington in
sound somewhat. so the letters are redi-
rected there. and generally land all right"
The people of stamps and seals go far
Their than this in their steps toward mind
reading. When a letter is received ad-
dressed to q person who has peculiar