Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-04
Interesting Objects in the Post
Office Museum.
RELICS OF TEE Late SPANISH War
Growth of the Nail Service
Illustrated.
"OWNEY," THE TRAMP DOG

| AhClS are lew pldCeS III washington Oh
| more general interest than the post office
| museum. Beginning modestly several years
| ago with the peculiar things found in the
| mails unclaimed, the museum has grown
with rapidity, and now embraces a collec-
| ton at once interesting and instructive.
| 1t occupies a large room on the first floor
! of the Post Office Department building,
and is steadily expanding. Already Cura-
| tor s. 1. Slack is making preparations to
| move to the new building on Pennsylvania
avenue, where large well-lighted room
| on the second floor has been set aside for
its USE
Postmaster General Smith takes a keen
| interest in the museum and during his re-
| cent trip to Cuba made arrangements for
| the acquisition of several old Spanish post
| office relics. These have arrived and oc-
| cupy conspicuous places In the collection.
| They attract the greatest amount of at
| tention. The principal relic is an old Span
| 1sh letter box that was located for many
years at the Gran Hotel Inglaterra, in
| Havana. All of these letter boxes have
been replaced by the regulation United
| States box. The old Spanish letter box
was made in Switzerland. and constructed
| in such manner that the collector could
not see hor handle the contents of the box,
| the arrangement being the automatic clos
| ing of the sack by a peculiarly constructed
frame top, upon which the sack was Sc
| cured. When the cOllectOr arrived ne Oe-
tached the bag, and in doing so locked the
mail pouch, at the same time closing the
| letter box. The arrangement was both
heavy and cumbersome, although safe
guard against pilfering.
Relics of the Late War.
Just to the left of the entrance to the
museum as one enters is the Spanish flag
that waved over the old post office at Ma
Mia. When Dewey planted the stars and
t,J rE,,.-
was removed and sent to Washington,
| where it finally found u place in the post
office museum. The real curio of this col
lection, however, is the post office bulletin
| board used in the Manila post office. This
board took the place of the General deliv-
cry as we understand it in this country.
1t is about foot long by about six inches
wide and SO constructed that upon the
small sliding panels the names of the per-
sons to whom letters are addressed are
pasted. When a citizen saw his name
upon the board he called for the letter at
the office and, after paying fee, it was
delivered. Over the top of the board are
written in Spanish the words "A list of df-
rected letters The names of some of the
delinquent correspondents are still on the
board.
Nearby is the coat of arms of Spain
which was torn from over the door of the
old post office at Santiago. 1t is evidently
an antique. A great grinning Spanish gar
goyle, or mask. of heavy metal occupies
position near the door and through its ca
paciouS mouth. Curator Slack explained,
the residents of Santiago We're wont to
drop their letters. The mouth is well worn,
illustrating the service it has seen.
The consistency of man is illustrated by
a piece of flooring taken from the old post
office at Baltimore. 1t shows in distinct
outlines the footprints of the distributor,
who occupied the precise spot day after
day for years, his shifting feet, as he
moved in the peculiar swaying motion com
mon to all distributors wearing hollow,
the exact counterpart of his feet, IN the
heavy floor.
Occupying a commanding position over
the doorway is an excellent painting of
Benjamin Franklin, the first Postmaster
General while directly opposite is a cray9n
of Postmaster General Charles Emory
Smith.
The display OF the curios is well planned,
and Curator Slack has a story for nearly
every exhibit. AS the visitor enters the
door he is struck at once with the great
neatness and taste displayed in the ar
rangement of the exhibit The articles are
for the most part placed in large cases with
glass fronts as clear as crystal.
The Frontier Carrier.
western mail carrier bars the way for
short space, and you turn to examine and
marvel at the fidelity of the reproduction.
There, aStride of big chestnut horse, sits
a star route carrier, dressed in typical from
tier style, with pistols peeking out OF
leather holsters at his side, and his precious
burden of the mails securely fastened on
behind The horse was once alive, and the
taxidermist has made faithful reproduce
ton In marked contrast with this mode of
carrying the mails is the pneumatic tube
exhibit, showing how Uncle Sam, by the
employment of modern methods, shoots the
mails with lightning rapidity in large
cities. The first pneumatic carrier ever
used is on exhibition, as is the latest i'm
provement Within short time the cura-
tor hopes to have miniature tube service
in operation, that the features of the
system can be practically Illustrated to
visitors.
Great interest centers in the exhibit of
the railway mail service, showing the in
terror of the mail cars and the clerks at
work, calmly asserting the mails, while the
train is running at sixty miles an hour. In
this exhibit also is shown the method of
catching the mail bag while the train is in
motion, as well as the way they have of
dropping off {, mail sack at small stations
1t is astonishing how few understand the
system which has done SO much to revolu
tionize the railway mail service. The cura
tor hopes to have train in operation
shortly which will demonstrate the method
of catching the mail bag.
The Uniforms of the World.
1t is interesting to note the different kinds
of uniforms worn by mail carriers in for
eign countries. There are life-lika repre-
sensations of carriers, from the almost
naked mail runner of India to the bejeweled
and heavily clad carrier in Russia. There
is sturdy little Japanese carrier, with
sandals and well-ventiated hat, holding
out letter with a japanese address. Off
to side is the mail carrier of John Bull,
Respondent in suit of dark blue lavishly
trimmed with gold braid. Then, there is
the mail man from the Scandinavian pc
min sula with his burden of accouterments.
He wears heavy belt, which carries a
sword, cartridge box, bugle, passport bag,
revolver and metallic letter box secured
by lock and key. He carries waighty bur-
den. The rugged Swiss, with dark blue
uniform and yellow leggins, is the most
picturesque of them all. The eye is attract
ed at once to the gaudy blue and white
uniform of the Queensland and Cape Col
ony carriers.
On one side of the room is a life-like rep
resentation of a mail carrier in northern
Michigan, who stands, whip in hand, driv-
ing a small sleigh loaded with mail bags
and drawn by a team of three doughty
little dogs. The driver is half-breed and
his copper complexion stands out in relief
against the excellent representation of
snow.
A complete set of mail bags used by
Uncle Sam forms an interesting portion of
the exhibit. Two new ones have just been