The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-02-15
POSTOFF|CE BUSY
PLACE YESTERDAY
Many Thousand Valentines
Sent and Received
SOME TYPICAL SCENES
Line Constantly Passed Before Letter
Slot Yesterday Remembering
Sweetheart, Wife and Mother
ON st. Valentines Day
ny RALPH n. SILVER

The darts of one Dan Cupid never flew
faster nor thicker than they did all day
yesterday at the Birmingham postoffice
Several thousand valentines were re-
oeived by the postoffice clerks and much
extra labor was caused by reason of the
fact that they had to be hand cancelled
as the larger part of them were of such
size and shape that they would not go
through the stamp caneelling machine
The force proved equal to the OCCASION
however. according to the statement OF
Postmaster It. II. Adrch and handled the
extra work with little If any delay. About
the same number of valentines were re-
ceived and delivered.
There was a constant stream of peo-
pie, old and young, large and small,
beautiful girls and otherwise amorous
looking youths and dignified business
men, filing past the letter shutes all day
depositing that odd sized mssive or pack
age which easily marked it to the OBJ
server as the probable bearer of one of
St. Valentines messages.
The School Girl
Eeary in the morning as the school
children were coming down town pretty
little high school girl, all alone, trpped
into the lobby blowing her cold fingers.
Reaching inside her coat she extracted
a small pink envelope. hastily looked
| about to see il any one was watching
her and then looked moment to see II
the address was exactly right. A merry
twinkle came into her eyes as she did so
and seeming satisfied she coyly shot
the missive into the SLOT pushed one
I ral.lI IIte..s.
hat from whence It had apparently es-
capped and then almost danced out the
doorway and off to school To imagine
the description of the valentine she had
mailed and who received Il later might
easily prove entertaining.
Later in the day there appeared in the
line constantly passing before the win
doy, a well dressed young man. lie
was big and well built. His broad shou-
ders and deep chest and certain swing
to his walk suggested that he had been
reared in the country. From his out
side overcoat pocket he took plain
square package, glanced at the address
he had placed upon 1t and dropped IL
into the slot. The glance he took at the
name written on the missive brought 4
faraway look into his brown eyes and
| theless it contained the mere shadow OF
a smile Of happiness as he turned to so
out and came face TO face with a friend.
"Ah, ha! Fred! Caught you sending a
valentine to your sweetheart didn't ~
asked the friend.
The same faint smile turned up the
corners of the young mans mouth and
the faraway look did not altogether dis
appear as he answered:
Remembered His Mother
Yes, It was a valentine. But / sent
il to my --- mother" and he disappeared
through the swinging doors.
Long toward evening there appeared
in the line a feeble, elderly gentleman.
His hair was white and his nose was
hooked. lie was not well dressed. There
was a blue muffler about his neck, a pair
Of black mittens, evidently homemade.
upon his hands and upon his head was
"a well worn black felt hat 1t took him
several minutes 20 extract the mittcn
from his right hand and insert his fingers,
trembling from cold and age, into his
inside coat pocket When he pulled 1t
out postcard quivered in his hand. 1t
was evident he was not accustomed 60
mailing matter at the postoffice amid the
rush and swirl Of the hundreds who visit
there every hour. He asked for informa-
tion and then approached the letter slot
with the card. He placed il in the slot,
but il did not fall through and as the
old man turned away II quietly slid and
fell to the floor of the lobby outside An
other valentine sender noticed the carl
fall and picked it up. one side was red
with a picture of flowers and on the
other was an address bearing the name OF
Miss -- stenographer. ----- Manu-
featuring company, Chicago. ILL.," 1t was
penny post card and In the upper left
hand corner was written in feeble
shaky hand: From Daddy"
I Ard so tHe line filed mast al day