Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-10
By Thornwen Haynes

i
| Comicalities happening in the
| United States Consulates, all the way from
| that of the old lady inquiring for the address
of her son, Adolphus Smith. who when last
| heard of was in South America to the man
| who raises row and wants to fight all the
Office force because he is not furnished a
| ticket to New York. So far none of these
have touched a Consul's correspondence,
| which runs the gamut from tragedy to the
laughable, and for its proper attendance IS
| necessary the patience of Job, the letter writing
aptitude of Paul and the wisdom of Solomon.
During eight years service l have received
letters from Americans asking for a thousand
different things. from simple information to a
barrel of potatoes. If letter requesting a
complete series of stamps of the country to
which he is accredited is opened by the Consul
in an suspicious moment, moment when the
world seems covered with fresh fairness of
foliage. the asker is likely to get the series
otherwise not for Consuls life is generally a
busy and his duties do not ob1igate a
compliance with such requests. A refusal
| sometimes brings an uneasy feeling that such
procedure, or non-procedure. is unkind: but
as the letter, more often the postal
slips into the waste paper basket conscience is
quoted with the hope that the writer will soon
forget and if such hope is insufficient to
bring an easy feeling it is sustained by a
mental VOW never so to treat future requests.
Illustrated postals often received by
the Consul, reading something like. Please
send me some postcards with pictures them
of the most important places of the country
or city where you are. Send them so they
will have postmark on them. This picture
shows our new bank in town. l can send you
some more pictures of schoolhouSe and
railway station if you want them" These.
varying from Washingtons monument on the
east to San FranciscoS harbor on the west are
incessant.
l can understand that foreign postals are
interesting to the collector: but lust what the
mic IF SchO
house and railway station" is beyond me,
and it is to be doubted if even the collector S
imagination is sufficiently vivid to conjure a
suggestion. Collecting pictures of all the
banks, schoolhouSes, and railway stations in
America would be rather a peculiar hobby.
However. an occasional postal is readdressed
in care of colleague some thousands of miles
farther on with the request that it be forwarded
to the collector thus enhancing its value by a
trip around the world
What Consuls Are for
WHEN Consul at Marking remember hav-
w ing received from a small Western town a
postal bearing the following words: " KIND SIR
pictures on them No name was signed,
and the card tossed aside and forgotten
until four months later, when the person again
wrote. KIND SIR-Please let me know if you
are not going to send me the postals and l
will see if l cannot do something about it. -
Whether cit" referred to my noncompliance.
or to the procuring of the postals elsewhere.
waited for time to solve; which it did with a
letter reading
DEAR SIR, l have been told by reliable
sources that our Consus are sent to foreign
fields to work for US. That is what we pay
taxes for and if you cant attend to sending me
the postals which l have already wrote twice
for will say right here that will report you to
the government and show you up in your true
light. So send the postals at once so as to
| avoid complications. Yours truly"
Running Down Poor Girl" Artist
WEARS ago when stationed in France re-
= ceived letter from a wealthy American
| woman touring in Switzerland, inclosing one
hundred francs, with the explanation that a
small painting she was sending by the same
mail had been sent to her presumably by an
American girl living in the city where was
located, who, having come to France to study
art, had found her lines to fall in unpleasant
places and was appealing to her compatriots to
buy few of her Studies" at one hundred
francs per. This woman tourist had her doubts
about the truth of the story and had sent the
painting the girls letter. and the hundred-franc
bill to the Consulate with the request that the
matter be looked into and if the case was
worthy to give the girl the money. otherwise to
turn it over to deserving sailors.
Il IL