The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-06-27
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= ONE WOMAN'S VIEWS. =
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Postolce people find very queer
things in the mails beside letters.
These things get loose in the pouches
and having no mark of owners hip
have to be sent to the general d!strib-
uting offices. The articles which enjoy
a monopoly now-a- a-days are the rOr-
tions of bicycles. In a recently pub
lIshcd list of strayed property, about
every alternate thing was bicycle
bar clamp. BAH bearing, bicycle seat
post, saddle, or some other appurten-
ance of a wheel. Another and careless
patron of the mails is the person who
sends medicine. Pills seem to be the
favorite and of these all sorts and
conditions get out of their wrappers
and bother the clerks. Here are some
of the things recently described for
ownership. Miniature of lady. bronze
powder, catarrh cure, stick pin, box
tablets, bicycle crank chain, more ca
tarrh cure, gold nugget obesity salts.
brass rod, artificial flowers, pcpsin
pills, knife. fork and spoon, liver med
iCnc. 10 souvenir spoons, piece of bat
tlcship Maine, hotel key. headache
pills, shoe laces, eye glasses, CalOmel
pills, tape measure, dumb watch, more
pills. string Of beads. two rings. 'oX
of rheumatism cure, bread knife. one
tree toad alive. one dead alligator, one
yellow butterfly about to emerge from
the cocoon, one small snake preserved
in alcohol, one box containing two live
crickcts. one hind foot of a rabbit
These are only a few from the Collec-
tion which seems likely to remain
unclaimed.
At the Scranton postoffice may he
seen a tiny pair of Indian moccasins,
gay in bead work, and awaiting a
claimant. Money in coin is frequently
found loose in the mails. Instead of
placing it in the envelope securely
fastened to paper the senders have
| habit of enclosing it in a little box
whose sharp corners speedily nibble
their way out and as the box is usual
ly unmarked, the money is difficult to
identify. A five dollar gold piece was
| recently returned to a sender by the
officials at this postof1ice, but it was
only after long and laborious effort
that the Identification was made sat
| isfactory.
Said a railroad postal clerk
the other DAY. Il always regard the
southern mail with suspicion during the
winter. You never know what some
! blooming idiot will box up and send
to his friends in the north. We actu-
ally found a little tarantua one time,
small to be sure. but lively. and the
number Of creeping crawling things
! they seem possessed to put in the mail
! is enough to make any postal clerk
| devote himself to water as a. beverage
during the remainder of his lifc-these
silly green chameeons, and queer
brown beetles, you know. Harmless,
oh, yes, but ii gives a fellow start
to find an amateur crocodile trying to
crawl up his arm under his cuff when
he's all alone in the car at midnight
on an express train that makes few
stops. The first time | had an expert
enCe was when | beheld a queer, batty
looking thing emerging from a box
that, from its appearance, might have
contained roses for a girl graduate.
1t had hateful wings and an evil sneer
| on it's horrid face and to me it looked
| like a pocket edition of the devil. We
We're fifty miles from the next stop
and l rang the bell furiOusly, climbed
up on a big safe i'm the corner and
waited for the conductor to rescue
me. The crew came in expecting that
| II was case Of road agents and after
some time it was discovered that the
bat thing was some kind of a South
American vampire and that it was dead
| enough having been carefully attend
| ed to by the taXidermist before start
| ing on it's travels, I've always thought
| I'd like to meet the man who mailed
| that annex to the Kelley cure"
If YOU want to do a good deed that
| will make you feel as if you have a
right to rock on your veranda this
| summer and read the latest book, or
! sit by the library table next winter
| and lose yourself i'm the delight Of
| enjoying your favorite author, just
| look over your books and see if there
| are not some you do not want or could
| readily spare from your over-crowded
| shelves. Perhaps, too, you will re-
| member that in the attic are bound
volumes of good magazines or that
| you have stray numbers of recent date
! that only cumber your section of the
| earth. Box them all and send them
| up to the Soldiers Orphan school at
! Hartford, If you could realize the
| blessing thus conferred you would pat
yourself on the head thereafter for a
| week.
oh, if you could see that old room
where the boys congregate with it's
white, worn floor it's wood work, bat
tered by the contact with countless
restless feet, and ancient chairs; with
the little book case in the corner and
| the pitifully few bOoks--but so shabby
| with eager handling-you would gladly
give of your abundance to feed the
active young brains
How they love these books which
never seem to have been new, and how
! tender is the care which they receive
! from the boys, little and big. few
| good periodicals are provided, and
around these and the newspapers they
throng with a zest that the younger