The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-04

( owner came after it; one-legged man
: with an air of embarrassment.
I've been used 20 hopping around on on,
crgtch," he said: Il only take both wheI
I'm going somewhere special. got read
ing my paper in the train and near go
past my station. as I made jump for the
door and clean forgot that | had two stick
with me"
For absent mindedness. however. thS
clerks award the prize to a very attractive
looking young woman who walked into the
Office one day. apparently under the stress
Of some excitement which she strove to
suppress. but which trembled in her voice
as she asked:
rs this whore lost things are brought
Yes. ma am. ~ said the clerk. Have
YOU lost something
Yes. I've lost a baby / left it in the
train"
"A baby" said the clerk in some amaze
ment Whose baby was it,"
Why, my baby" replied the woman
adding. in extenuation Of her having for
gotten her own child: You see l haven't
rad II for so very long"
Somewhat in doubt as to whether it was
a joke. or a bona fde case. or whether the
woman was in her right mind. the clerk
after finding that the child had been lost
only a few moments. took the visitor down
% Church Street police station and there
the youngster was asleep in @ chair with
a circle of policemen surrounding it.
Some time ago the lost" room used to
have a retty regular visitor in an old man
who forgot his hat He was a clerk in n
downtow Office the hours Of which were
short and ne Travelled during the slack
transit hours when there were vacant seats.
In hot weather it was the habit to take of
his hat, always a silk hat. neatly ironed
but never quite up to date. and put it in
the seat next to him. About twice a week
he would forget it and leave il there when
he went out. After time it got so that
the lost" department kept a special peg
for that hat from which it was handed over
to the old gentleman who always received
it with many apologies for the trouble he
was causing
or late he hasn't called. and the clerks
don't know whether he is dead or has
bought d hat string One OF the most in
applicable finds that ever came TO the Office
is a patent leather shoe. 1t is a left shoe
almost new. made to order by high p. iced
bootmaker and was found late at night
on the floor between two of the cross seats.
II has never been claimed. The only sOlu-
ticn to the problem yet advanced is that
the owner had corns on that foot. slipped
on his shoe for comfort and upon reaching
his station, whether from sleepiness or in
tOXicatiOn Went out without remembering
to put the shoe on again. His home going
must have been painful for a b:izzaT1 was
in progress at the time.
Few pieces of jewelry, purses. or articles
Of great value are found in the elevated
trains. The few found are usually claimed
A great number of articles Of small value
are never claimed. II occasionally hap
pens that false claim is made and the
clerks encounter. too. a belief principally
feminine, that if the lost article hasU
turned up there. something of equal value
ought to be supplied as AIN equivalent. The
men who come to enquire after lost p oper-
ty are so apologize and shamefaced as a
rule, that the clerks would believe il they
didn't know better in many eases that the
losses were the result Of intoxication. in
stead of absent mindedness, as is usually
the case.