Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1912-01-19

thing less) of the so-called blind readers" of the
United States postofice department. These
women are made the wardens of the waits of the
mails-the letters that no postmaster or letter
carrier deliver because, try as they may,
they cannot make out the name or address Of the
persons for whom they are intended Sometimes
the difficulty is simple, being merely caused by
misspellng, but more often the puzzling letter
originates with some person whose education is
deficient or has been sent by resident of a for
efgn country who could not get through his head
our American system of towns and counties and
states and who mixes things up so that no ordi-
nary individual could make head or tall out of
the hodge-podge The blind readers" take these
puzzles and by a magic which comes from expe-
rience and which they cannot themselves ex-
plain they decipher the writing and set the letter
on its way to the proper destination
Uncle Sam has a number of very clever women
artists on his roster and though you may never
have heard the names Of any of them you have,
most of you, and admired the work they do.
For thing they paint those splendidly reals
tic pictures of fruit and birds and insects, ETC..
which are reproduced in color in the publications
Of the department of agriculture Some of these
women experts in the coorng of magic Ian
tern slides and you know Uncle Sam has come
to use lantern slides and moving pictures very
extensively in order to educate the people re-
garding the work he is doing their behalf.
Finally these women have shown their skill in
coloring the huge transparencies Of American
scenery Wnlcn Uncle Sam mas exhibited at every
one of the big expostions held in this country in
some years past
Entitled to recognition along with these artists
is Uncle Sans woman sculptor Mrs Otto Heide-
mann is portrait sculptor of no mean ability. as
is amply attested by her recentiy-completed bust
of Clara Barton the founder of the Red Cross
society. However, her wo.k for Uncle Sam is
confined to the odd occupation Of making models
Of bugs. These reproductions of insects are many
times as large as the insects Themselves COM
house fly being represented as much larger
than mans head and there is consequently OPP
portunity for the utmost accuracy of detail and
coloring. The counterfeit bugs Of giant size are
made from wire. thread, wax cellulod. papier-
mache, rubber and a special kind Of gauze, and
despite the frail appearance of the figures it has
been found that they really very stanch and
will well Withstand the shocks incident to ship
ment from place to place.
Among other odd Jobs in the government serv
ice held by women are those Of two waste bas-
ket examiners at the treasury department
These women are paid $3.50 year each Just to
pull over the scraps Of paper, red tape and other
discarded articles that find their way into the
waste baskets in the biggest Of financial institu-
lions As Uncle Sam receives 81 500 year for
the waste paper that they sort over he can well
afford to pay them for their odd sorting Of refuse
but there is another and better reason and one
that makes IL an economy instead OF an extrava-
gaAce. Tie real object Of this supervision Of the