Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-13

tongue as the rhetorician and cultured
know II. and had the perfect grounding
in Latin that simplifies all more modern
languages. When il became necessary
for her to enter the government se~v-ce
she began charging her cosmoI olitan
vocabulary. Her summers were spent
abroad where she was enabled to gain
practice in the pronunciation of German.
Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and num-
Der of the Slavonic diaiects-these being
essential because of the large emisrant
correspondence carried on in them
At the same time this woman. to whom
the streets of Rome. of St Petersburg,
of San Francisco, Topeka or Lisbon are
all thoroughly and equally familia-, was
bit by bit imprinting on her brain the
geography of the worlds towns ana
thoroughfares and rural districts, until
she knew at q glance whether Il street
address was correct and the town wrong,
or vice versa. and how 10 translate when
half an address was in English ana the
remainder in that of the country TO-
which the mail matter was bound.
One, for instance. a letter came to her
hands meant for some, point in Soumi."
1t had puzzled every official who handled
it, but Mrs. Collins knew that was the
Finnish word for Finland. Frequently
she has sent on their way letters ad
essed partly in English. partly in Po-
lish partly in Hungarian. She knows the
location and correct spelling of almost
every university, college and boarding
school in the world. likewise with char
liable Institutions. the names and initials
OF the worlds representative men and
where they are most likely to be located.
She has been called the greatest ch!ro-
graphical expert and in her collection
are letters of thanks from the great, the
near-great and the merely humble. who
owe to her talent their receipt of let
tiers which very often affected entire
careers.
At one time Mrs. Collins superintendent
the arrangement of directory of the
streets of all cities. which has been in
valuable. Very recently, however. the
Post Office Department has done away
with this method of determining the
proper destination Of incorrectly address
ed articles. and resorts to the beautifully
simple expedient. when the writing Is
not plain to clerks unSkilied in more than
one language, of sitting open the en-
velone. If the interior throws sufficient
light on its destination it is sealed ana
forwarded il not. it is DESTROYED. But
il will probably be very long time
before daily thTongs of visitors to the
Dead Letter Museum cease asking for
1.-The blind reader whom they imagine
to be sightless.
AS different from this gift as mathe
mates is from poetry is the ability that
enables Miss Annie Laurie Kenny, for
merlv of Ohio. but for the past half
dozen wears full fiedged Washing
tonian to occupy the important position
she has with the lands contracts bureau
of the Indian Office. For more than
year she had been in charge OF 1t. having
gained that prominence through her
extraordinary mastery of the details
appertaining to the leasing of lands
owned by the wards of Uncle sam on
which there are oil and gas wells OF
"a. 3 :..x, lcyl a
redskin may be free, and twenty-one.
and a millionaire. he is none the less
a ward OF the government. which exer-
cises such fatherly interest In HIM
t,,at he is not allowed to make con-
tract of any kind without it's consent.
All applications for such Leases come
to this division and Miss Kenny passes
rpon them. The lessor and lessee both
send in the proper papers and she looks
up and decides what must be paid, ac-
cording to the value of the land and
the purpose for which 1t is wanted. On
her Judgment and knowledge of the to-
biography of the ground depends the In
dians' prosperity. Coal and asphalt are
also being found in considerable guam
titles on property owned by various
tribes. and Miss Kenny must be suiii-
GENTLY in touch with the most recent of
such discoveries to pass on the papers
without holding up lease for any great
length OF time.
IL oil has just been struck on an adj
joining piece of property there is always
chance that it will be located on the
one under consideration. and she must
have all this Information on her brain
shelves And she has. as any one who
has heard queries coming to her from
all sections of her division anent the mil
lion and one details connected with In
dian management can testify.
To demonstrate how fully Miss Kenny
knows her field a clerk related that some
time ago a chief of the division" ~~"uired