The Washington herald., 1908-05-17

ceded the government stamps in the mid
Ole Of the last century. Search among
papers Of the civil war period has IN
earthed and Is still unearthing philatelic
prizes for many of the crude and quaint
stamps of the Confederscy are rated at
pretty prices.
Unquestionably the search for stamps
quickens the interest Of the laymen to
the point that he presently finds himself
at least informally enrolled in the grand
army Of philatelists. but the inspiration
of this great host is, not by any means
drawn entirely from this source. Some
individuals are drawn IN through acct
dent and, as the lawyers say, without
malice aforethought" Take, for example,.
the case Of the esteemed United States
consul to Brazil some years since. who,
to please & pretty woman relative IN Chi
cago, began to gather up all the old Bra
lillian stamps he could lay his hands on.
BY the time THE pesky things" had filed
trunk he had become amazed at the
great number Of varieties and the beauu-
ful designs. So he sat him down and with
the aid Of his secretary sorted them &C
cording to colors and denominations. And
then he went farther and picked out the
various issues by dates, the perforations.
paper qualities. &c. And when he got
through he had the finest collection OF
Brazilian stamps and was one OF the most
enthusiastic phllatelists that ever crossed
/ the equator
! No mortal man knows how often 8
single stamp has opened the way to In
/ dividuals to an intelligent and instruc-
tive study Of stamps and collecting, A
lady missionary In China wrote to one oi
| her old schOOlmates, and the envelope
| containing the letter bore several stamps
/ one Of which was Of q Chinese treaty
port. and represented in bright colors q
| handsome bird. The recipient Of the mis-
/ siYe had never seen a bird on a stamp
and believed she had found something
most extraordinary. A friend suggested
however, thai there might be other birS
stamps, and 10 determine this they
started to pry into the mysteries
of phIlately-those delightful mysterie:
which, unraYeling at every turn. afford
{, limitless field for profitable instruc
ton, entertainment, and recreation.
The searclers found not one more bird
but dozens There was an emu, parrots
pheasants, swans, the kiwi, kaka. crane
! goose. duck. apteryx. jural. ptarmigan
quetzal. ,orea. and a score more. It was
but a step from the investigation of bird
stamps to a study Of those showing four
footed beasts. And what an array wa:
found theni Elephants. camels, lions
tigers, leopards. hippopotamii, dogs
horses, COWS, sheep. bears, deer, mon
keys, and enough others to have glad
dened the heart Of a Noah.
A prominent gentleman who was ver1
religious sought to discourage his boy
from stamp collecting, contending tha
the used stamps were mere rubbish.
The boy produced half dozen stamps
each Of which portrayed some characte
or scene from Biblical history. The olt
gentleman was Immediately won over
and started a collection for himself.
In a banking house a clerk noticed
letter bearing a United States sfaml
across the face Of which was printed tn,
word Guam" Like the young lady wht
got the bird stamp, he thought he haS
found a great rarity, and determined t
j learn IL there vera any other surcharget
stamps. He had not been at his tasl