The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-31
S0me .0f We Trials .of
 Waiz Distributing Clerks
Average 160OO Letters Day Are Handled In Birmingham Office, Which Gives Some Idea of Vast Amount
 of Work to Be Done
By WALTER HARPER.

6J w FN - It was middle afternoon of holiday. The delivery window at the postoffice was closed The distributing clerk was working like a slave at long table piled up with letters and packages that had just arrived over the 0. & z.
 He had an engagement with his best girl for trolly ride to East Lake and down the shoot-the-chuts at 7:30. Every thing depended upon his getting 5000 or 5000 letters distributed to their proper places.
 A female voice called his attention to the little porthole in the partition. He was just thinking of his best girl, and he looked around. Then she had him cinched.
 Wont you please hand me my letter? I am expecting mamma tomorrow and l just must have the letter today, and the general delivery window is closed, you know"
 The voice was sweet and pleading. Madam, it is against the rules, and then I haven't time. l wish I could accom- modate you, but all the other boys are out and I am trying to get through my self"
 But only want just one little letter. 1 am sure 1t is there. It was due on the .. & E., and the train is just in l know, because I was at the depot to see."
 ''The distributing clerk wanted to &C., commodate the woman, but 1t was as difficult for him to find and hand out one little letter as full deck of them. but he relented and ished out the one little letter. "
 In this act of unauthorized accommoda- tion, which, a matter of fact, was against the strict regulation of the post office department, he lost at least 20 min utes of valuable time-and that on a holi- day
 But the woman did not realize this. He was there for that business, and he had only done his duty, in her opinion, though he had been rather saucy about it.
 Just as she turned from the window there was a man, travelling man, ready to ask for an accommodation. He would leave the city that night and would have no opportunity to get the check from the house that he could not wait for. What did the poor clerk do? Well, he might have accommodated the man and he might not. When he got chance at moment when there might not have been a nose to break he slammed down the window and cut off the little air he had in his Work-room.
 The man on the outside looking in-for "one little letter. that he thinks he must have-has no idea of the trials of the distributing clerk in the postoffice. If he could stand by and see him distribute the mail from one of the trains coming into Birmingham he would learn to have more sympathy for him and more consid- eration for the responsibility of his posi- ton.
 Let us illustrate: No. on the Q. Ss Z dumped 5000 letters and packages on the long table in front of the distributing clerk. Every piece of this mail Is of in estimable value. It matters not how un- important the piece may be, it must be 9elivered to the Droper address and with the least possible delay. A moments de- lay without good cause is inexcusable
 The first letter he picks up is addressed to Mrs. Amanda Jones. 23 Skidoo street That looks easy, you say. but wait May be Mrs. Amanda Jones has a husband and maybe that husband has rented a hev during the last two days and has given strict orders that all mail for him. self and family must go in that box. Ii will be an insult, a criminal oversight if this order is disregarded and the letter delivered at the house. The clerk must remember. This would be easy if 1t was the only order that he must remember.
 Maybe they have no box and the letter must be delivered to the house. This is dead easy, you say; but wait The clerk must think again. Carrier No. 13 de- flyers one side of Skidoo street for a block and a half and Carrier No. il de- livers the other side for four blocks. Carrier No. AS delivers the south side of the street to the alley between Green and Rawson avenues. The section is in Dagatown in a new strip that has just been taken into the delivery service. The clerk must know which carrier this particular letter goes to. See?
 We'll that first letter is disposed of. There are 49, ,999 more to be disposed of in the same manner The next letter is ad- dressed to John Smith, Birmingham. That's simple Any fool ought to know what to do with that letter. But 1t is a cold -blooded business proposition to the distributing clerk. There may be 40 John Smiths in the city but the identical John Smith to whom this particular let ter is addressed must get 1t and get 1t at once or there will be a full grown complaint against the postoffice author ities.
 In this case the clerk must bring into play his fine deductive senses. Perhaps he has had trouble with this same ad- dress before He recognizes the hand writing and remembers the postmark. It goes to a negro drayman out on Water melon avenue and belongs to Carrier "A. That leaves 499S letters to be finished up and he can go after his girl and shoot the chutes. Perhaps he had rather shoot some of the writers who address mall matter carelessly.
 The next letter is addressed to Joe Jones, Fox building, Birmingham. Now. one carrier deliveres the mail on the ground floor and another delivers on the