The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-27
PARCELS GO FAR ASTRAY

Wonderful beyond belief is the collection
 of articles which the postoffice depart
 ment can make within year from the
 mail that can't be delivered because of
 bad addresses, says a Washington special to the Philadelphia Record. Through the benevolent agency of the parcel post the
 department has this year exceeded all
 records. and upon the shelves of the his toric dead letter office are series of
 packages containing everything from Bibles to bassoons
 All of these articles were sent to the wrong address. Their original packages were stamped and restcmped until the paper was worn out They have such an- nouncements, Not at that address, try so and so.f Try the next county In fact, there are more suggestions as
 to different things 10 try than you would find in the office of a patent medicine vendor. For the sake of convenience. the officials of the dead letter office have Jumped certain articles together in large packages Thus one passes a package of
 handkerchicfs and runs into a bright young assortment of brass castings. Or. turning from a particularly melancholy collection of books he runs smack into a collection of toys that might have come
 right out of the bae of Santa Claus. Think of the joy of King solomon or boou olu bliEnanl 1ouflk II lucy ndu lNed in these days and times and had given
 to them the contents of the dead letter
 office. There Is single package that contains 24i womens aprons, with 5i as- sorted garments. which the gay young fappers of these parlous times consider
 obsolete
 Then there are. 17s pairs of hose bun
 dled together.
 Even the most pessimistic sufferer from hay fever cheers mp when he goes by the handkerchief department af the dead let ter office. There is a single bundle Of l149 initialed and uninitialed handlSer- chiefs reposing near him. which is about the number that a hay fever patient uses during a A-hour day
 If the postofifce department decided to give away it's toys 1t could present one-and probably more--to every boy and girl in the city of Washington They are in abundance. They aic every- where-dolls and elephants, and little carts and dishes. and all tho other things that are reminiscent of Christ mas time.
 Sixty-two aviators in the United States are wondering where those avia- ton caps are that they were told about in letter, but which they never re- ceived. The caps are in the dead letter office with some automobile hoods 1t is astonishing how many motor-
 
 road and written for help during the last year In the dead letter office thero repose four speedometers, + tires, 20 pairs of goggles and 1s6 parts of ma ohinery-the kind of furniture which one always finds around the greasy and perspirng man wh ohas stopped his machine 20 miles from anywhere on a hot Sunday afternoon.
 And the dead letter office must ring at night with the disappointed cries of many fishermen. It has received 1942 fish hooks and 595 pieces of fishing tackle The only thing the dead letter office hasn't got is the ishermans alibi.
 Yet the office has done some good It corralled during the past year bl3 miscellaneous musical instruments and 6Sd6 talking machine needles. That meant that there are about GOO disap- pointed musicians In the United States, but think of the several hundred thou sand persons who would have had to