davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

with q certain air of you've got to-
-it-to-me- for:my -candor- II
know all about that. But I've timed
all that thing. I'm through with it.
I'm off the stuff forever"
when did you get off the stuff for
ever?" you ask him. certain little re-
cent recollections popping into your
mind. q.
"Oh. a dickens Of a long time ago
way back on the first of the month
last pay day." he replies with his air
of conscious rectitudinosity. But it
doesn't make any difference when 1 got
of it, 1t doesn't affect the main issue
that this rum gag is death and burial.
and you know it. or ought to know it,
by this time"
You tell him that the rum gag really
is an exceptionally minute part of your
rosy young life: that you don't overdo
the rum gag, of late years anyhow,
sos anybody could or can notice 1t,
and that the little pannikin Of malt
your frame really doesn't look death
and-buriaI-ish to you. and. anyhow.
you feel that we've all got to cash in
some old time, SO what's the use Of
''Oh, that's the way you all deceive
yourselves, you rummies," he cuts In at
this point 81 used to do 1t myself. L
always had a sophistry to unload upon
myself when I wanted to excuse my
rummiferousness."
That "sophistry" word kind o. holds
you and curls up whatever little reply
YOU might have intended making, and
gives him his chance to dig right
ahead:
you'll never know just how nne and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

that he's snagged some other unfortu-
nate and is easing the same line or
reformatory conversation into him..
Or he comes upon you when you are in
the act Of partially running your promis-
ing young life by inserting, say. some
thing benevolently maltous into your { "a
phragm. I'VE are only supposing this:
we do not come right out and accuse any
body of doing that same)
Well, he shakes his head dismaliy over
the spectacle you afford him as he nibbles
on his sa-sp-rilla, and he begins to .un-
coil.
Il thought you had more sense than
that, old man." says he in a gloomy,
sepulchral tone. II honest did
More sense than what?' you ask him.
perhaps with a touch of acerbity due to
your surprise
Than to hurl that poison into your
carcass" says The Man Who Has Mend
ed His Ways. glancing shudderingly at
the scoop of suds which lies before you.
You remind him, perhaps with a
touch Of Righteousness. that he has
hurled quite a number Of hundreds of
scuttles Of similar poison into his mid
riff in your society.
"Oh, l know that" he 'fessed up
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

away with a breakfast like that. and
live.
So I watched him. 1 felt mournfully
confident that after taking few
steps he would fall down and expire
right there and then in the breakfast
room There was no other way. 1t
had to be. His breakfast tndiscretion
had been SO gigantic. so Gargantuan.
that he had brought it all upon him.
self. / was sorry.
The old boy from Wisconsin swung
swiftly to the hotel exchange. pur-
chased himself two large, fat, black
cigars for two bits. bit off the end OF
one of EN-, lit it, and began blowing
smoke ringe at rosy world.
Then he tucked under his arm a pretty
great-granddaughter who was waiting
for him in the hotel exchange, and walked
like a royal grenadier to the place where
he was to fall into line for the parade
I saw him at the finishing point of the
parade: 1t was uncanny. He not only
had conquered that breakfast, but, at
the end of that too-long parade. and
marching behind a band that played
marching tunes entirely too fast for vet
Grams. there he was at the finish of the
parade, still as straight as lance, not
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

protection. The boast is made that
there are no holes. and study of the
interesting and complicated methoos
adopted to insure the safe transit or
stamps from the manufacturing plants
in Washington to the stamp windows of
the various post offices in the United
States is almost enough to convince one
that the boast is not idle.
A small consignment of 5,00O,O0O
postal savings stamps has just been
completed by the bureau of engraving
and printing. ready for the opening or
the new postal savings banks of the
country Director Joseph r. Ralph dis
misses this with a wave of his hand.
1t is mere trhe to print 100000
postal savings stamps In the daily
routine of his huge plant. But the
opening of the postal banks. and their
sale of 10-cent savings stamps. will
mean the printing of millions more of
these stamps, and they will join the
postage and revenue stamps as a part
of the valuable merchandise around
which the strong system of protection
must he maintained.
''Perfecticn is no trif1e. but trifies make
perfection" is the motto instilled into
the employees of the bureau Of engraving
ard printing where the stamps are made.
and it is the principle followed through
ont the entire organization that has to
do with handling of the stamp packages
until they are inside the doors OF the
individual post Offices Of the country.
The vault Of the bureau of engraving
and printing contains today an almost IN
conceivable number of stamps, over l.
900 900. 600 Billions are figures OF speech
to many people, but in the stamprooms
they are exact facts. Every one or THESE
stamps considered in sheets of 100. has
been counted and recounted by nimble-
fingered girls. Over 40,O00.oO0 stamps
are delivered daily to the registry ONCE
in Washington, in busy seasons. for ship
ment throughout the country: ana the
total number of stamps shipped out this
wear will probably exceed 1900. Oo00m
Two weeks ago the post office at Bait
more was the scene of an attempted
stamp robbery which we'll illustrates the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

behind il: then another door is unlocked
ana it passes into the registry room. This
room with the two locked doors, both of
which are never unlocked at the same
time. is the scheme Supt. Hunt has de-
vised to effectually prevent any get
away" from the registry Office.
In a large receiving cage the truck is
unlocked, the sides thrown back and the
stamp packages lifted out. This is done
directly under the eye of the man from
the bureau Of engraving. who checks of
the packages as they come out, and veri-
fies the contents of each box. When the
count is completed and all the trucks un-
loaded. the makers of the stamps have
shifted to the registry division of the
post Office the responsibility for their safe
carriage to destination
The same men who unload the stamps
from the trucks put them into the sealed
pouches for the registered mail. The
chances for error or loss are again eiimi-
mated. here, for Supt. Hunt can
tell at any time exactly what men were
in the registry cage at the time certain
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02
e~lnn

guards thrown about the transporta-
tion of postage stamps to the local
post offices of the country seem almost
out of proportion To the value and i'm
portanCe of the stamps themselves. But
the loss of a single stamp to indi-
vidual is trif1ng matter compared to
what ii would be to the two branches
of the government which make and de-
liver the stamps used daily throughout
the United States.
The loss of a single one of the 40
100000 stamps shipped out of Wash
ington each day would mean that there
is Il hole somewhere in the system of
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

stamp shipment was handled. II short
age of packages should be reported
month later in any stamp shipment han
died through the office, every man who
might have handled it could be imme-
diateIy located. This is accomplished by
a system Of checking every man into and
out of every cage he enters in the reg
istry office.
1t is not considered enough to determine
what men have been admitted to the reg
istry division. At the door of every cage
in that division the record is kept of the
men who go into the cage, lifetime they
enter and the time they leave. II a man
steps into the cage for a minute. to pick
UP a garment or a personal belonging. the
fact of his entrance is recorded, toseeher
with the precise time he was there.
Ordinarily the stamp packages are han
died directly from the locked trucks into
the registered mail pouches. though a
rush may necessitate their being piled up
in huge stacks until the sacking can be
done. AS they go into the pouches they
are checked once more, and the list is
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

made Of the exact packages that havs
gone into each pouch.
This list. compressed into small space.
is then put inside the paddock Of the
pouch, q lock which Is q distinguisheny
feature OF the registered mali service. Ie
has been in use for over q dosen years
and has not vet been successfully tam
pered with. The paddock contains an eu-
tomato numbering device. the numeer
advancing once every time the lock 10
opened the smallest fraction Of the way.
The number shown by the paddock II
noted on the slip before II Is put into the
lock, and any tampering with the lock
will be evident the moment the receiving
postmaster opens the pouch and examines
the list. As a matter Of fact. the locks
are never tempered with.
The shipments OF stamps are handles
through the registry office with great
speed 1t is the aim Of the service 70
make the handling Of this valuable regis
tered mail as rapid as that OF any nrst-
class mail, notwithstanding the constant
safeguards that must be maintained. a
shipment Of 40.O00O00 stamps can he ham
died from the bureau of engraving to the
post office I'm four wagon loads: and IL u
a matter of record that a wagon load can
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02
Motor Cycles for Police.

= ASOLLNE its own pursuer-this is the
significance attached to the delivery
this week Of two motor cycles to the Dis
trict authorities. The machines will be
used by the police In the vicinity Of
GEORGETOWN, to whom will be deputed
the task Of hating and incarcerating
speedy automobile drivers. If the use
Of these motor cycles achieves the end
desired their more extensive adoption is
predicted.
Bicycle policemen in the downtown
sections are able at least to get the num-
bers Of the offending automobile drivers,
remarked q motor cycle dealer. but In
the suburbs they can't pedal fast enough
to overcome the dust clouds raised by
those who don't seem to think OF the
law as they near the outskirts"
The optimistic motor cycle man declares
the use of the machines by the District
to be only in line with the mechanical
development of the device. its adoption
for police use in many other cities and
its further Introduction for sport and
business in Washington.
The estimated number of motor cycles
ridden in Washington IL 40. Sales are
said to have doubled every year The
peevish pedestrian afffrms that the riders
the monopoly Of the streets. Hardly a
block may be passed without the thutting
of 'Sbenzine bicycle"
The use Of the motor cycle by business
men perhaps is most marked. Real estate
agents are declared to use more than
others. owing to the celebrity afforded in
the collection of rents and In other at
tentions to distant property. Electric line
men also are common users OF the ma
chine because of it's time-saving posi-
bilities Motor cycle delivery carts for
small wares are much in use in WASH
ington, and the demand is said to be ex-
panding.
There was a time, not many months
ago. when Washington boosted a motor
cycle club, but the venture failed. There
were about fifty charter members. Nu-
merous country runs we're planned and
executed, but chickering's over speed arose
and the inharmony that resulted broke up
the organization.
Some members wished to travel at hot
speed whenever run was arranged,
explained one Of the organizers. land
there were others who wished a more
placid gait. The result. naturally. was a
split. Motor cycling obviously 10 selfish
sport. Tandem devices are coming into
use. but the machine essentially is a
one-man device. And a solitary rider
naturally is minded to choose his own
pace The streets and suburban roads
of Washington are admirably adapted to
motor riding. but the spirit Of sport here
abouts, saving for base ball, is not united,
and the motor cycle man seems likely to
continue as he besan-for himself"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

Is M ln % nannM

made a successful escape had not alert
employees been close on his heels.
There are no open trucks for the valu-
able little postage stamp in those stages
of its journey that reach from the print
ing press through the registry office and
out to the city and country post offices.
At no stage Of that journey are the
stamps, whether they be in 100 or 1000. 600
.lots. out from under the strongest kind
of supervision and the most absolute
of safeguards.
1t Is a system that takes everything
into account and provides for every emer-
gency. For instance. 1t was found a
number Of years ago that, although strips
might be put around a package of the
1OO-stamp sheets SO that 1t was effectu-
ally sealed, it could still be tampered
with and a sheet sometimes distracted.
This might be done in the post Office
where the package was received. and the
claim then made to the bureau of en-
craving that the package had been short
in count when 1t was received.
So the plan was adopted OF putting q
staple through the margins of every sheet
of stamps sent out by the bureau of en-
craving, the staple going through the
outside seals of the package. Now it is
impossible to remove a sheet from one
of the sealed packages without leaving
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

make US mend our ways, WnetHer VIC
want to or not.
It is easily a 9O-to-1 shot that you are
acquainted with him. He gave up smok-
ing, say, last Tuesday week. He meets
up with you as you stroll along, enjoying
a good cigar for yourself And promptly
he opens up.
"Muh boy" says he. don't you know
that you're numbering yourself by
inches?"
You don't know anything whatever like
that. and you say so.
Numbering yourself by inches ne
repeats with the raw emphasis and the
fanatic eye of the zealot "Of course
YOU don't know it, i didn't know 1t
either until-er-until I quit it"
Quit what?" you ask him. examining
him closely for symptomata OF the
.Why. smoking. Of course" says he.
Making a bedinged chimney of your
SELF"
You tell him that you don't do any
thing Of the sort; that you smoke what
it go at that: that smoking Is one OF
the few things that links you to a
somewhat B-fat life; that smoking
never has hurt you nor stunted your
though you've been stringing along
with smoking ever since your tenth
year pretty continuously, and that
really he ought to run away and roll
his hoop. SO he had.
"Oh, / talked like that myself until
saw the light and canned the suicidal
smoking gag" he says in reply to that
line of badinage. But know different
now. Why. 1 feel like a human being
now, whereas, when smoked. l was a
kind of q punkerino cross between a
mudcat and a soft-boiled egg
You nod approvingly. indicating your
willingness to believe that he was all Of
that, and he continues:
Smoking yses; Is merely me- SHY matter ah,ng
of sticking q cigar or pipe or a cigar
cite Into your face. It's easy to prove
that by trying to smoke In the dark.
When you smoke in the dark you don't
get particle of enjoyment out of 1t,
you know"
You ask him who in the name Of Bwa-
no Tumbo wants to smoke in the dark as
long as he has the price to pay his gas
clines to lend ear to any such persifage.
and speeds on:
"And smoking's death to the stomach.
1t turns the stomach upside down, in
what It was to have a decent stomach
when I smoked. Now I can digest ten
penny malta
He doesn't hear you at all when you
ask him what's the use Of trying to
digest tenpenny or any other kind of
penny nails when there's country sau-
sage and buckwheat cakes and pork
chops and scrapple and gatherings
and sich-like human being provender to
be had, and he skids right along:
Smoking causes the accumulation of
bile, and bile is the bane Of the human
race. There never was q smoker yet
that wasn't SO bilious that he'd get
dizzy If he stopped over to stroke the
cat. Smoking is'-and SO on and so
On. till you quicken your step and tell
him hurriedly that you are twenty-five
minutes late with an appointment al
ready: and when you look back fur
lively, after losing him, you perceive
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

into the corner Of an envelope and q sta
pie driven through close to 1t. A seal
is put over the staple. and the stamp is
safe against efforts at theft
X *
To protect itself against fraudulent
claims from recipients Of sealed packages
of stamps is one Of the most important
tasks of the bureau of engraving. The
staple device has practically solved the
problem. for now there are almost no
claims Of this kind. The sheets, each
containing 100 stamps, are put up in
packs of fifty, with strips of paper run
ming around the pack at each side and
sealed where they join. staple is then
driven through the margin, running
through the paper strip and the margins
of the sheets of stamps. A paper seal
Is put on over this staple, and the girl
who does the work puts her initials on
this top seal. The packs are then as
sembled in bundles containing $4,000
stamps. and the entire package wrapped
and sealed for the registered mail.
These safety devices are all that the
bureau of engraving can provide. Up to
the minute the package leaves the cage
of the shipping division Director Joseph
E. Ralph will make oath that it contains
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02
The Thing to Do.

- FORGE SARGENT. the .golf cham
" pion. said. at the EngieWood links,
of a poor player:
Even his caddies make fun OF him.
The other day he had worse luck than
usual. He continually got bunkered. 1t
took him hours to work his way from
one easy hole to another.
"Ip every bunker he asked his cAddie
for advice: Shall try this stick or that
stick cadflie?' And after he had stuck
in one very sandy bunker for half an
hour, trying nearly every stick IN vain.
he said, as he fumbied helplessly In his
bag: Aa
"'What shall take now. caddie
well. II / were you. SIR the boy an
swered. I'd take the 6:15 train home.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

cents worth tired, and ready for any
other old marching stunt that they might
desire to pull upon him.
Il sure am hungry I heard him say
to one Of his comrades as he stepped out
Of line. and then l could only shake my
head wonderingly and say to myself:
''Son. there's something these old bows
have got, wherever or however they got
it, that you nor none Of your generation
have got. big and burly and husky as
you think you are!'
What power Of bubbling life must
have been implanted in these men way
back yonder In the fast-dimming ante
bellum time to have spun them along to the
year 1910 in the possession of SO much
vigor., SO much activity. SO much re-
newed youth! That was the idea that
was rolling around in the back OF INV
mind all the time I watched them. or
course, there were a few feeble ones,
many battered ones: but. in the main,
speaking. Certainly not one OF them
looked bored. They were born and
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

hotel porch fell upon my ear. CHANGING
toward the porch l saw pair of little
Sicilian girls manipulating the fiddles,
while their srinful padrone-father pink
plunked guitar by way of accompani-
ment.
The music they gave was that of an
old-fashioned breakdown. Where on
earth two little olive-skinned maidens
from Palermo, belize. could have got a
hold OF the music of that antique Ameri-
can breakdown. a breakdown distinctive
~ OF the ante-bellum period, goodness
only knows. But they were playing it,
and playing it mucho allegro and not
dropping AIRY note.
That, however. was not the occasion of
my bewildering reflection. The porch of
the hotel where the fiddles were being
scraped was damned with fine, ruddy
old Grand Army men. They had cleared
a space in the middle of the porch for d
silver-haired, peachey-skinned old boy in
Grand Army regalia. who was dancing
the breakdown to the accompaniment of
the fiddies and guitar. Maybe he couldn't
dance that breakdown. 1t was dazzling,
II was stunning, it was Supplying, to
see that old lad swing and rattle his
feet; the nimbleness OF him, the grace
of him, the agile elan of him, He could
dance a breakdown like Barney Pagan,
which is saying much.
He did il without drawing a long breath
or beading perspirily around the forehead.
There was an expression of rapt content
on his scanned. ruddy old face as he
danced. The other old boys, delight de-
picted on their faces, ciapped for him in
a delirium OF enjoyment He danced for
fifteen minutes, without, as you would
say. ever batting an eye. There wasn't a
shuttle. wing. curve that he missed. He
knew the game; always had known it, IT
seemed. When he had finished the Won
derful dance ] asked one of his comrades
the age of the dancer
He's only seventy-four." was the reply.
Just a youngster like the rest of us
He had looked to me to be about sixty
And here popped the bewtldering reflection.
The present writer, born In 1870. and
therefore perilously near forty years OF
age, arrived in the world. as the figures
clearly show. just Ave years after the
close of the civil war. Yet here was an
old boy who had fought all through the
civil war. who had been badly wounded
twice. who had endured the hardships OF
confinement both at Andersonville and at
I.ibby-here he was, seventy-four years
OF age. dancing as blithely any chirky
gossoon on an Atlantic City porch to the
accompaniment of cherry fiddles; and l
that looked on, born five years after he'd
become a SCARED veteran. knew in the
depths OF me tHdI III Outfeu ds n TeWdfu
all of the wealth of Ophir and Ind I'd
never possess the energy, leaving aside
the skill. to endure the physical exae-
tions OF even two minutes of that break
down dance,
That same thought was in my mind
sduring the entire week Of the Grand Army
encampment. How tireless the old boys
were, II seemed that they never were
off the Boardwalk-and half an hour OH
the Boardwalk is enough to tire us
Nd N
parade they swung, talking eagerly with
one another. from morning until night
late at night; full Of the JOY of living;
keen for the excitement Of the moment;
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02
One on Mr.. Smith.

n REPRESENTATIVES, LONGWORTH, at
n a dinner in Cincinnati, said OF po-
litical squabhle:
"A misunderstanding, yes; but perhaps
this misunderstanding was intentional.
Like Mr. Smiths case. you know.
Mrs. Smith lives on q farm near Col
lege Corner. A man knocked at her door
one day and said:
pardon me. madam, but I'm collect
ing for q drunkards' home
"'Oh,' said Mrs. Smith. I'm so glad you
called! II you'll come back about half
past II tonight you can take my hus-
band"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-02

be received, checked out: sacked and
loaded into the wagons for the trains
within the space Of half hour.
After being put up in the registered
sacks the stamps are still subjected TO
close guard. This time II is Q representa-
tive Of the Post Once Department who
supervises their transit to the mail
wagons checks OF the sacks az they go
into the wagons and locks the wagon
door upon them. He goes with the wagon
to the depot and turns the load over TO
the railway mail service. After tnat
the stamps are handled much as other
registered mail.
The new postal savings stamps. be-
cause of their cash value and their easy
convertibility, will be handled with Oil
the precaution that surrounds postage
stamps Revenue stamps are less RICHLY
guarded. They come to tho post office in
locked wagon. but minus the pic
turesque feature OF the guards; ana they
are handled across the platform without
all of the safeguards shown in the case
OF postage stamps.