Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-02-10


now l have won. Oh, I'm so glad. Char
lie is so smart
He can send q feather bed if he makes
it small enough. and it doesn't weigh over
four pounds, MISS / resumed, or any other
article which is mailable provided he does
not register it, as size cuts no ice so long
as 1t is to be delivered in the United States,
but If II is to go to foreign shores then
both size and weight very important.
If he brings the bed down, miss, we will
send it for him If properly packed and the
postage is prepaid. You have lost your bet.
well, he won't she answered, mad
clear through, and l won't pay it, either,
and the looks hose two women gave me
were as inky as jet as they swished out Of
the building. 1t would have been a good
joke on her If her beau had had little
feather bed made up and mailed to her.
The Ladies Are Apt to Doubt.
1.-The questions which are fired into us
would make the face of an eight-day clock
look troubled to find ready and satisfactory
answers. Men as a rule accept our state
ments, but women are inclined to doubt
and form conclusions of their own. The
men at the inquiry windows in the big rail-
road stations have the same experience. but
that is what we and they are paid for.
1.-TWO ladies came in one day, and one
asked if she could send her pet canary up
to Philadelphia In Its cage. 1 said she
could If she first killed the canary, took
the body to a taXidermists, had 1t thor
oughly dried and prepared, replaced 1t in
the cage, and even included a small box
of bird seed to assuage its hunger en- route,
provided the whole paraphernalia did not
weigh over four pounds, but that anything
alive had to be shipped by express.
She was mad, too though, of course, l
told her all this in polite official language.
Why she said. very Indignantly, my
landlady told me at breakfast that could
send the canary. The idea"
She meant after the cat had killed 1t
and it was stuffed-just like you were
stuffed said her companion with a smile.
But the other one didn't crack break in
the bloom on her fair cheek
Il have had well-dressed, and evidently
well-educated, people ask me the rate of
postage to some foreign country, say, Rus
STA, and when told that the United States
5-cent postage stamp will carry a half
ounce letter to practically all countries in
the world, big or little near or far, from
England to the Niger coast protectorate,
Afghanistan, Abyssinia, the Pitcairn Is
lands and other places as remote, they say:
know that Is the rate to London and
Paris, but l thought etc, and they had
another think coming
Nearly all of the different countries of
the world, and all of the principal ones are
members of what is known as the Univer-
sal Postal Union, and most Of those that
are not, the little fellows, have agreed upon
the same letter postage, 8 cents, though
some outside of the union vary as to weight
anu BIC VI the IUdlleO-
Don't Stick Your Foreign Relatives.
You can make your foreign relatives and
correspondents pay the postage On your let
tiers, If they will accept Them but don't do
1t. Postage upon domestic frst-class mail
matter must be prepaid at least one letter
rate of cents else it will be held at the
post Office where it is mailed. The ad-
dressee is notified by card, and If he sends
t1,A ,1~A1 H..
warded to him, otherwise it goes to the
dead-letter office.
But you may drop a letter destined for
foreign parts without prepayment of post
the recipient will be required to pay double
rates for the privilege Of reading it il he
values 1t that high. On packages however
intended for abroad you must pay at least
part postage to have 1t go forward, and the
deficiency will be collected and doubled
when delivery Is made. If you fail to pre-
pay at least a part of the postage upon
packages, they go to the dead-letter office
and the public do not seem to be able to
catch on to this curve of distinction in the
two classes of matter. Always prepay post
age in all instances, despite the privilege
on all classes of matter intended for home
or foreign delivery.
Alimony in Postage Stamps.
"The Brooklyn woman who objected to
her divorced husband paying her alimony in
postage stamps and had recourse to the
courts, saying that she did NOT mind receiv-
ing 1t In two-cent stamps. but objected to
those Of large denominations as she couldn't
sell them. and that is the way he got even
with her probably, reminds me of a man
who came In one day and asked for a
stamp Of the $40 denomination.
None are issued. The only denomina-
lions now issued are the one, two three
four, Ave, six, eight, ten and the ten-cent
special delivery; fifteen, thirty and fifty
cent, and the 81, 50 and S. stamps. There
is slight call from all over the country for
stamps over the fifteen-cent issue
"A lady rushed wildly in here one day.
saying that she wanted my letter back
which she had posted a few moments prev
tous. OF course, she thought my letter
could be picked right out of a million or SO
other letters.
well she got my letter. because she
was able to comply with the postal laws
and regulations governing the withdraw
Ing OF mail after mailing and before it's dis
patch. The utmost care is taken to ascer-
tain that the person desiring to withdraw
the letter Is the person entitled to do So
Before she was handed my letter she was
required to exhibit written address in the
same handwriting as appeared on the en-
yelope, which was her own, and describe it
infinitely, convincing those in charge that
she was the actual sender of it before she
got my letter, back.
Postmasters Are Responsible.
Il was " a hiaH. AFTER she hau written
1t she probably regretted refusing his offer
Of marriage, or something like that, and
was successful in catching 1t up POST
masters act at their peril in permitting the
withdrawal Of mail matter, and would be
liable no matter how honest their inteu-
lions were they to deliver 1t to an imposter
or one not entitled to II. Letters NAV be
withdrawn by telegraph even after their
dispatch upon satisfactory evidence being
given to the postmaster that the applicant
Is as he represents, and bears the cost of
the proceeding. Postmasters are very re-
luctant to permit Withdrawals except where
they are personally acquainted with the
parties, and In any event they must not de-
lay the dispatch Of the mails or impede
work in the ONCE.
You see, the department construes the
letter to belong to the sender until II is
delivered to thu addressee, but it cannot 70