The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-24
GONE, BUT ONLY TEMPORARILY, WAS BENJAMIN F. ROOT Dean of the Local Post Of flee Arises Phoenix Like from Wreckage of Re
 pair Work Alterations in Local Post Office Carried on With
 out Inconvenience
 to Public

In the extensive alterations ap preaching completion at the local 1 post office the various departments
 coming most closely in touch with the l public such as the money order, reg l istry, parcel post, postal savings and l stamp departments, have been shunt- l ed around from one part of the post office to another as the workmen have
 reached them and the work of the en1- l ployees has been carried on under | great difficulties.
 l However the various functions of l the postal service have not been in 1 terrupted for a single instant and the 1 public would hardly know of the inn l portant changes being made in the in- l terior construction of the post office 1 building if the hanmering and pound ing of the men employed by Schwarz Bros, who have the contract for the alterations; were not heard now and | then above the hum and hustle of the hurrying throngs who daily patronize 1 this great public service institution. When the alterations are completed the postal savings, money order and 1 registry department will be found side 1 by side at the south end of the post 1 office and the stamp window and parcel post department will be ad- 1 joining one other facing the Broad 1 street entrance. A1Icth fireproof di- vision walls which formerly separated 1 the postal savings, money order and l registry departments have been torn down and are to be replaced by steel screens. In this way much, more light and air are secured and also a little additional space. As these de
 partments have much intercourse with
 one another in the transaction of the various branches of the postal busi- ! ness, access is all the more readily ob- tainable under the new arrangement. al wi wrought havoc with the various em- p1oyes of the stamp department dur 1 ing the past few days, Benjamin F. Root, the dean and oracle of the local post office remained tranquil and se- rene1y indifferent to the path of de- struction as it approached his sancto-.
 rum, or steel cage, in which each stamp clerk has his separate safe, stamp cabinet and stock of stamps and envelopes. There are three of l these steel cages, each accessible only 1 to the clerk responsible for that par ticular stock of stamped paper repre- sentfng a value of several hundred dollars. Dean Roots sanctorum hap pens to be at the southern end of the | three and as the alterations progress 1 ed all the stamp clerks speculated | as to how soon they would have to vacate and make ready for moving
 day. Not so with venerable Benja- l min. Not until the wrecking gang put violent hands upon the steel | screens surrounding his sanctorum, so called, was 1t realized that his end | had come. All the other clerks were
 on >tenderhooks expecting to be routed from their positions every minute but 1t happens that the path of progress | stops after taking away the steel cage on the southern end so long occupied by the ever faithful Benjamin.
 All the little souvenirs, business cards, pictures, historical leaflets, ba- zaar coupons, fair tickets and other tokens pressed upon him during the moments after eight p. m. until mid night of every working day when the | entire public business of the main of flee is transa cted through him, were
 ruthlessly disturbed from their respec- 1 tive eubby holes, gathered up in n
 soap box and unfee1ingly deposited in
 an obscure corner. After the dust
 had cleared all that was left of MT. Roots office was a narrow fringe of l the steel screen overhanging the door, | and now held in place by being at l tached to the top of the other cages. Some wag of the local post office | force has attached a. sign to this read | ing Remains of Benjamon Root and 1 some of the boys after reading the
 sign, instinctively look down but of | course find no newly made grave.
 MT. Root is very much alive and is 1 arranging his mementos of midnight l visits from prominent men in prepa- ration for a resurrection, phoenix 1 like, into new and commodious quar- 1 ters in the near future. Genial, ef- l fcient, ever-faithful. always ready to | open his purse for any worthy cause, 1 sympathetic and presenting a vener- | able, benevolent appearance, he rep l resents a fine type of citizen of the 1 old school afld is a fine example of the l courteous, obliging public official that
 is credit to the local post office.
 l rrIU. prAr. rno