Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-25
ALL DAY In A SAFE.
Postmaster Found It to Be Cramped,
but Reasonably Comfortable.

"HoY would you like to spend Christ
mas shut up in a safe?" inquired Mr.. A. r.
Server; chief examiner of the civil service
commission. at does not hold out very
pleasant prospect for the proper enjoy
ment of the festival occasion, does It? Yet
that was the manner in which friend OF
mine spent Christmas year OF SO ago in
the Philippine Islands. He did not have to
stay In the safe, either. When I asked
him about it he said there was no regula-
ton or anything o. that kind that babe
him stay there. The door was open at all
times. but he preferred the safe to any
other place in that particular locality. 1t
was comfortable. though little cramped.
ut happened in this way. My young
friend had been appointed a postmaster
Of one of the smaller. towns IN Tayabos
province. He had been employed in the
postal service In Cuba and had become
thoroughly acquainted with the manner in
which post offices were to be established by
the government In the newly acquired ter
ritory. He had had teharge of the work Of
attracted some little attention by his ap-
titude in this line and his thorough meth
DDS. firing of Cuba latter going the
length and breadth of the island. he
sought and secured an appointment to the
Philippines, and on arriving at Manila was
commissioned to act as postmaster OF
Tayabos. He was sent to this particular
place because no post Office had been es-
tablished there ands it was expected that
he would establish the office and get it in
working order and would then be assigned
to another part of the islands.
This friend of mine was one of the bright
young newspaper men who became en-
meshed in the government service just
after the war with Spain and had all the
love Of newspaper man for a good time.
When he reached Manila he was particular
ly struck with the town and decided to
tarry there awhile before going to his post
Of duty. He felt secure in doing this, as
the post Office had not yet been estab-
lished at Tayabos, and it would not be I'M
til he arrived There were only ten or
twelve American soldiers in the place, and
all these men received their mail through
the Manila post office. He spent about
month In the big town, therefore, before
setting out for his post Of duty.
THE town to which he was assigned was
long distance away from Manila. He
arrived at his destination the day before
tons and tons of mail matter awaited dis
position. The place selected for the post
Office was the only stone building in the
town. There was nothing in the office
but mall and the stereotyped Office safe.
The latter was one Of the kind used by
Spain when 1t discovered the islands, and
had never seen active service SINCE It
was made of steel however and was very
thick. 1t stood five or six feet from the
floor and the inside was about three-and-a-
half or four feet square, giving plenty of
room to sit down, but rather small for
moving about.
Was Small Garrison.
''The soldiers stationed in the town num-
bered six or eight enlisted men and one
officer, and were quartered in the upper
part Of this stone building, where our
young friend also took up his quarters.
He had been an officer in the volunteer