Gold plated pencil, unaddressed envelope, containing pair of lisle thread gloves, black and white stamped ribbon, uninclosed letter containing $1 marked from “Joe to Gus,” two-cent piece, gold and jet pencil holder, butter knife, tidy, white apron, pair baby socks, blank check book, dominoes, black cord and tassel, red worsted shawl, tidy. Wooden box, lot of candy, assortment of rubber sheep. Letter from R. MacFeeley, Washington, D. C., to Capt. A. M. Corliss, without envelope, one cent, German picture cards, meerschaum cigar holder, woman’s head design. Three plain rings, four watch charms, compass, horseshoe cigar cutter, two lanterns, pearl handled table knife, billiard ball, silver quarter sewed in some knit work, whisk broom, a false tooth, two black ties, three New Year cards, hair switch, curry comb, vanity case, stuffed Aunt Dinah, game “Old Maid,” box Mason’s blacking with brush, fiddle strings.
Feeding the Cats
It is perhaps not generally known that cats are kept and fed at the public expense in some of the larger post offices of the country. Some years ago (and it may still be the custom) an appropriation of from $80 to $100 was annually made for this purpose for the benefit of the New York post office, and $30 to $40, spent for like service at the Philadelphia office. In an article in the Philadelphia Record it was stated that a man in that city had a contract for keeping these feline employes of the office in provisions, and it was also mentioned that there are about 1,000 of these useful domestic animals in the employ of the Post Office Department and they are paid for their services by food and shelter. It is estimated that about $1,000 per annum is expended in this way at the principal post offices and large public buildings of the country.
Ferrets are also often employed for this purpose in the great public buildings in Washington when the rodents get too numerous and damage to papers and files likely to occur. The common practice of eating lunches in these government buildings tends to the spread of this annoying condition and the cats in the public service are held to be a useful and necessary convenience in hunting down and interfering with the nibbling propensities of this pest to domestic as well as public economy.
A Couple of Distinguished Canines
Mention is made in another article of the employment of cats in post offices as “mousers,” and they doubtless contribute their share towards public benefit. The dog, man’s most faithful friend, so eulogized in song and story, has also, it seems, his part in public interest and concern. For many years the postal clerks of the country paid great attention to “Owney” an adventurous terrier dog who attached himself to the Railway Service and whose exploits as a traveler and companion on many postal trips and runs made him a familiar and welcome acquaintance wherever he established his temporary domicile. His faithfulness, friendship and fellowship, in his way of showing it, was the topic of discourse when he made his occasional visits and his praises were told in many a newspaper story and he wore the numerous decorations and medals with which he was bedecked, the gift of admiring friends, with all the dignity and grace becoming a dog so honored and esteemed.
“Owney” had an humble imitator and counterpart in canine sagacity and wisdom in a dog at Mount Carmel, Pa., whose watchful guardianship of the office mail and general fidelity won him such deserved recognition at home as a remarkable example of what a dog can be taught to do, that his fame spread abroad, was brought to public attention at Washington and the post office people awarded him special recognition in the shape of a handsome collar, raised by subscription. He got his name in the newspapers, but whether all this honor and glory turned his head and his attention elsewhere, or some evil-minded person, jealous of the costly collar he wore, appropriated it and the dog also, is not known, but after being thus honored and decorated and set apart from the rest of the canine fraternity, this famous dog suddenly disappeared and was never heard of again.
Soldier’s Sister a Mail Carrier
President Wilson has issued an executive order allowing the Postmaster General to appoint as temporary rural mail carrier, during the absence of the regular carrier on military duty, the person on whom the support of the dependents of the regular carrier devolves, without regard to civil service requirements, if the substitute is found competent. The first appointment under the order is that of Miss Edith Strand, of Princeton, Ill., whose brother was called into the military service, leaving her to care for the family.
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