"Where'd I leave That?"
To-day I paid a visit to the room in which are stored the articles left by passengers on one of the great railways entering New York. People leave many articles in the cars, and forget to call for all of them. Indeed, not more than one-third of the things found in the cars are ever claimed by owners. On the other hand, very few things that are claimed and accurately described fail to be recovered. Every railway keeps a store-room for lost articles, and employs are under strict orders to send all articles to it.
Perhaps you can guess what a lot of odd things I saw in this store-room! Of course there were such common things as books, umbrellas, and, rubbers. A few of each? Oh no, not a few only, but barrel upon barrel of rubbers, a library of books, and enough umbrellas to fill a twenty-bushel bin. But the queer things included—what do you think? Well, half a dozen sets of false teeth, more than one hundred night-robes, a score or more of eye-glasses, and two razors. Any live-stock? Not in this room, for the attendant told me such things had to be cared for, and could not be stored here; but during the past few weeks, he said, there had been turned in two canaries, three kittens, a lap-dog, and a parrot!
There are not a few pocket-books found, but these are invariably called for. Some months ago a man left a book containing $54,000 in one of the sleeping-cars, and books containing $100 to $1000 are quite often found. Rather odd, too, is the fact that the people who leave most of these things in the cars are old travellers. Excursionists and others unfamiliar with the ways of travel look after their possessions. It is the confident man or woman who leaves the car and leaves his or her valise or lap-dog behind.
If your friends are coming to New York soon, tell them that the value of articles forgotten by passengers entering this city every year foots up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that they will do well not to contribute anything to this wasteful fund.
John B. Henderson, R.T.K.
New York.