Year: 1878

here. They mix all the States anc


cities up in one grand mess, and thel


put a considerable amount of the mix


ture on each letter. For instance, ont
/; address reads as follows: "Ole Ander


son, Rockawy citi Pa North America


New York" Who will undertake tc


forward that letter? And yet the
dwellers across the sea probably make


no more mistakes of this kind than


Americans, for how many of US fully


understand all the geographical locali-
ties of the minor cities and provinces
of Germany or Sweden, OF, in fact, any
country on the continent?


In the gallery there. are seated forty
or fifty ladies, whose business it is to
return the letters in official envelopes
to writers when their addresses can be
found. Every day the huge sacks
which 60 forth from that place cram
med with letters show the amount of
work which the ladies do. One hand
some young lady is kept busy all the
day in stamping the envelopes, and
she does it with lightning rapidity. 1t
! is said that these ladies are the hest
readers Of bad writing in the country,
and it is not TO be wondered at when
one sees some of the specimens of their
work. The average lady reader prob
ably will say that it must be "too fun
ny for anything to be continually
reading other peoples love letters; but
even gold furnishes with much hand
ling, so it is with reading other folks
letters when it has to be done at the
rate of from twenty to fifty an hour,
day after day and month after month.


A few months ago an application
was received for a letter which had
famous history. Forty-two years ago
it missed its destination and landed in
the dead letter office. No call was
made for it, and there it remained in
the archieves till the descendants of
the writer, wishing to prove their right
to his property, obtained from old
journals the information that the deed
had been mailed at such a time to
such a person, but had never reached
its destination. They then made ap-
plication to the department for the
letter. The odds were so greatly a
gainst them that their surprise must
have been boundless when the old yell
low document was returned to them
Just as it had been mailed over forty
years ago.


Many will remember the great SEN
sation caused by the account of the
marriage ofDon Cabral, the Diamond |
King" (afctitious character created by |
Mr. William H. McElory, of the AL
bany EUening Journol). Papers all
over the country published the ac-
count, and as a consequence hundreds
of letters addressed to him came to the
dead letter Office, and were afterward
returned to Mr.. McElroy as the only
living representative of the aforesaid
fictitious Don. In his application for
them he says: II do not wish these
letters for publication, but would value
them for file in my scrapbooks as il
lustrating in marked and unique
manner the success of "The Brazilian
Wedding" an extravaganza directed
at one of the follies of modern life"
The writers of these letters represented
every degree of life, and all with A
merican directness asked donations or
loans from him for that or this pur-
pose. Some even inclosed a postage
stamp or a photograph only to have
the clerks who returned these letters
wonder at their credulity.


Every day there comes with the list
from Philadelphia letter inclosed in
plain, white envelope and addressed
in the delicate chirography of woman
to Edward P. Ewing" simply this
and nothing more. The lady never
signs anything but her initials, hence
the letters cannot be returned to her.
Here is the subject for romantic
novel. One can imagine broken
hearted woman every day sending
letter out into the world to her lost
lover, in vain hope that some day it
may reach his hands. She does not
know his whereabouts, so she sends
her letter out, directed anywhere, no
where, hoping yet despairing Of its
ever reaching him.


As the reporter left this interesting
place he couldn't help thinking how
much trouble and sadness would be
averted if people would only direct
their letters in loud hand, as Pat did
when writing to his deaf grandmother,
making the superscription plain and
full; or, if this does not suit the ladies, '
let them always add their address to !
their letters, and they will never be {
lost Washington Republican.


A lazy boy has conquered the kind
ling wood question. He just backs S
his fathers best mule against the