The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-10-18
ODD THINGS GO
 THROUGH THE MAIL
Queer Packages That Whimsi-
 cal Persons Post
WEARING APPAREL SENT
Pair of Cuffs With Regards to Singers Abroad-Shrts and Collars With Different Sentiments.
 Teething Ring.

From the Washington Post.
 The members of a Brooklyn singing so- ciety that had some members travelling abroad were feeling in particularly good humor one evening, and when toasting the absent members in Muenchener Pil- siner and Wurzburger. They were feel ing very kindly disposed indeed to their brethren abroad, and finally one man said:
 Let's send them a letter..
 There wasn't any letter paper handy, and one postcard wouldn't have been large enough to contain all the greetings that the members intended to send So they fwere puzzled for time, until one man, who was so hopelessly old fash toned as to wear detachable cuffs, was seized with an idea.
 Here" he cried. drawing off his cuffs, why won't one of these do?'
 The novelty seized upon all the mem bers They crowded about the man. He pressed one cuff out flat and then pre- pared to write on it.
 One artistic member drew several pie lures of those at home on the cuff, and then the poet of the group wrote some German verse that fitted the occasion. Every one about had a chance to write on the cuff and finally it was all coY- cred over.
 Mailed Both Cuffs.
 There were still some folks there who wanted a chance to get their names down and nothing would do but that the sug- gester should put his other cuff at their service The artist drew on this soem caricatures of the absent, and eventually the cuffs were carefully addressed and stamped and a member ran out while the idea was hot to put them n the let ter box.
 That kind of thing isn't at all rare, the postal folks say. They are accustomed to getting all sorts of stuff through the mails, some of it being of the sort that is troublesome and still cannot be re- fused
 For instance, one merry jester elected to send through the mails a womans cor set just bound with a string and stamped and addressed. This the postoffice peo- pie assumed wasn't a woman, and they had their own opinion of the sort of man who would do a thing of that kind Their opinion was all the sharper because the corset was directed to be forwarded to Q woman, and further more it was not the sort of package that department store would be at all likely to make up.
 Sent Much-Wilted Collar.
 One man who had been in the city vis- iting for a brief time sent through the mails recently a muchwilted collar that showed signs of having been worn on a very hot day. The supposition as to his part of it was borne out by a legend written on it. This was:
 "Wore this two hours. Pretty hot here"
 Apparently this was going to some friend up the state who was not swelter- ing at the same time, This was @ very harmless sort of jest-not the annoying kind.
 There are some folks who think it is a rarely humorous thing to dispatch through the mails whole shirts and other articles of clothing merely addressed and stamped to show where they are going. The postal folks take decided exception to this sort of thing, especially as some of the wearers are not at all careful that the shirts shall be immediately clean
 One of these things forwarded through one postoffice the other day was the bosom of a dress shirt that bore on it a couple of stains that looked to be of some drink. On it was scrawled, in an unsteady, shaking hand
 Having a great itme Very wet night"
 This rather told it's own story
 He's Cutting His First.
 It is to be assumed that it was a proud parent who sent to relative up the state rubber teething ring with label attached saying, He's cutting his first.
 However, some of the things that folks attempt to dispatch are not quite so quaint or delicate in their conception, and the postoffice authorities are very apt to shut down on them.
 There are many hotel keys that, go through the mails, apparently keys that some persons have taken away from ho- tels inadvertently. The keys are dropped into the box with a stamp on the pressed paper tab that indicates. the hotel from which they came, and they get back to the clerk safe and sound. Although many keys do go back this way the ho- tel people say that they lose a great many each year.
 The matter of the picture postal cards is one that has caused the postoftice au- thorities some worry. Some of the cards more than overstep the bounds They run, some of them, in series, and the connection depends entirely upon the whole series Taken separately they are not indecent or suggestive, but all to- gether they are offensive. That sort Of thing necessarily gets by postal author ites.
 Curiously enough. it has been noticed that some of the worst postal card pie lures come from the tropical countries and get by without any difficulty.
 That, however does not apply to the very free and easy postcards that come from France. They don't seem to enjoy the same rights as the nature drawings l1a 11ac