The evening times., 1898-07-12
HER ENDLESS CHAIN.
A Yossg wcneh Enbsrrassea BY
the sueeess 81 Her Seheme.

A YoODg WcDsh EAbarrassea ~
the sseeess 81 Her scheme.
New York, July M-Niss Natalie
schenck. a young woman Of Babylon. ad-
verxised for ten-cent contributions to
buy Ice for the Red Cross. She acted at
the suggestion Of the secretary OF the
society. Instantly letters begun to pour
In, nearly every one containing any
where from ten cents to ten dollars. A
week ago all needed funds were raised
but the letters continue to come. Her
grandfather, Mr.. Matthew Morgan, IS
trying to devise some means to stop the
flood. He said: II do not know where It
is going to end. We have already turned
over 200 to the Red Cross Society. and
we have $, 100 in bank. to say nothing OF
$500 worth Of postage stamps and few
thousand letters not yet opened. Ny
granddaughter was told that 1t was de-
sired to raise 900 for the ice fund. She
didn't expect to raise tenth part OF II.
We have more than 5000 In sight now.
and no human being can guess how much
more will come along. --,sEz,3@s fss
There is only one grain Of comfort in
the whole business. There are about
n, 600. 900 persons in the United States.
The census statistics show-that about
q. 900 900 of them cannot read. so that we
cannot get letters from more than 5000
900 unless the chain gets out Of the United
States.
1--WE have given over our lives for the
time being to these letters. There are
six members Of the family and they pass
the day opening letters and counting
with the aSSisfQUca Of the neigh
bors. casual visitors and guests Of the
household. The library where we used
to smoke and where rejoiced in a quiet
game of solitaire has been turned into a
workshop where there Is nothing but bas-
kets and baskets of letters and sheets
full Of envelopes and circulars.
Then man keeps a fire going back OF
the ice-house all day long to burn up the
letters. He feeds the fire until 1t gets .
good start and then sprinkies the lawn.
After half an hour of sprinkling he goes
back to the fre."
Thus far between fifteen and twenty
thousand letters have been received. and
unless the chain is broken this number
will be more than doubled before the
week is out. Some of the letters received
yesterday came from California, while
others came from adjoining towns. Thus
far every State In the Union has been
heard from. The greater number of let
ters Is from New England.
Some OF the letters are numbered 100.
while others are numbered only 2. These
show the rounds that have been reached.
II there was no break In the chain tins
twenty-first round would mean more
than Looo.0o0.0O0 letters, and at 10 cents
each these would yield $4,000. 900. Some
person with a love for figures has calcu-
lated that this would buy a glacier nine
ty-five miles long, nineteen miles wide
and two miles deep. at current prices.
Postmaster F., A. Dowden. takes his
burden with philosophy. He has to en-
| ploy extra help TO handle the big mail
Babylon is third-class postofiice, and
the postmaster gets $500 a year, out OF
which he must pay his deputy and clerks.
Mr.. Morgan yesterday sent a message
to the Lahan Bureau. asking that ii
inform the wide. wide world that Miss
Scheneck wanted the chain broken as
quickly as possible. Aot1-