Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1891 — DELIVERY OF MAIL. [ARTICLE]

DELIVERY OF MAIL.

1 POSTAL MUSEUM 1\ THE POST. OFFICE DEPARTMENT. flow Letters Are Delivered In Other Countries Primitive Methods— Messengers in Scriptural Times— The Famous Pony Express. Mr. Wanamaker's uew postal museum will bj organized as quickly as space ran bo cleared lor it in the building of the Postolfice Department. Iu response to his requests, tout out some months ago, many foreign Governments have already forwarded to Washington exhibits illustrating the methods they adopt for carrying the mails. Included in these consignments aro costumes of letter carriers, which in Europe are very gorgeous and military; specimen letter boxes, miniature mail vehicles, superb photographs of foreign postofficcs, statuettes representing peoplo engaged in transporting mail after various fashions and ever so many other interesting things. There is a set of exquisitely executed figures in papier macho from India which now adorns the mantelpiece of the Postmaster-General. One of them shows a postal runner in British India carrying a bag of letters, with a long spear in his hand, from which little bolls dangle. The weapon is for his defense against the wild animals that infest the jungles through which ho is obliged to pasß, though one would tliiuk it n poor tool for coping with a striped tiger of Bengal, while tho bells aro intended to frighten cobras, kraits and other venomous serpents. Another statuette presents the snmo runner iu the act of paddling a stream in his customary manner, on a raft made simply of four big corked jars of earthenware fastened together. Other mail earners are seen riding on camels, which easily travel eighty milos a day, or in light carts drawn by Indian buffaloes over rough roads where horses could not go. Austria has sent a particularly gorgeous exhibit, it comprises everything imaginable that lias to do with the business of carrying mails, even to postmark stamps, ink pads and the written music of the bugle calls by wl ich tho postmen iu thut country uunounco their arrival. England lias promised costumes, but a full set of uniforms has already arrived from Cauuda. Letter carriers iu the British possessions are all howling official swells, with winter caps and collars of real astrakhan fur, leather leggings, scarlet chamois skin underwaiscoats for cold wcathc: anil gold buttons. With each suit comes a bristle brush for keeping the buttons bright. Italy, Spain, Germany, France and Switzerland have sent contributions for the museum. So have Russia, Turkey and Persia, and others ure expected I rum elsewhere. The South American republics arc disposed to secure representation in this permanent show of Mr. Wauanmker's. The Post-master-General wishes to respond In kind liy supplying these nations with samples illustrating Uncle Sara's way of currying the mails, but no upproprintiou for the purpose is at present available. It ought to he very useful for civilized countries to compare their postal methods. There is a very fine postoffice museum of tins sort now in Berlin, on which u great deal of money has been spent.

In Mr. Wanamuker’s museum will also be illustrated various primitive methods of carrying the mails as practiced in different parts oi the world now and in ancient times. For example, there will be shown a model of the negro postal runner of South Africa, who bears the letter intrusted to his care in a split stick, whieh he plants upright in the ground when ho pause* to rest. He cousumus little food, but much tobacco,and his endurance is wonderful. He wears no clothes, but covers his linked body with oil, rolling in the dust thereupon,so thut the flics will find him too unpleasant to bite. Ho carries the letter in the manner described so that it will not get greasy, and, while swimming with one hand across a stream, lie holds the missive out of the water with the other.

Another type of postman shown will be the messenger of scriptural times, frequently referred to in the Bible, who conveyed royal messages by word ot mouth. It is incredible how swiftly information or orders could be transmitted in this way across the country, every man being obliged by law to immediately forsake his occupation and run to tell the next person along the 'line of communication. The Bedouins practice this method of conveying intelligence at the present day. Jf there is news for an individual, each one who hears it communicates it to all his neighbors, and they spread it in every direction, until dually the man is found for whom it is meant. Japan has new as good a postal system as that of the United Stales, but fifty years ago a letter addressed to anybody iu that country usually bore only the name, with no address whatever. The missive reached the intended recipient from hand to hand, either directly or by a method similar to that just described. The new museum will represent the wonderful postal couriers who carry royal messages to China. They nre the most rapid riders in the world and have been known to make the entire distance of 3000 miles from L’hasa, the capital of Thibet, to Pekin in twenty-five days. They have a right to seize by imperial requisition any horses on their routes, no matter to whom the animals belong. One hundred miles a day is about their average rate of travel. They eat and sleep but little, dismounting once in a while to smoke a little opium. Before leaving his point of departure each such courier has bis dispatches placed iu the lining of his robe, which is sealed upon his pers3a so that he cannot open the garment during his journey. The work of the Chinese couriers reminds one somewhat of the famous pony express that used to make the distance of 2000 miles in ten days from St. Joseph to San Francisco over the roughest sort of country. Daring riders, each traversing his allotted distance between two stations, simply transferred the mail bags from saddle to saddle, so that the entire journey was one continuous gallop. There was always great danger from bandits and wild Indians. To illustrate this a story is told of the famous Wild Bill, who was employed for a time as one of these pony mail carriers. As he was dashing up to a lonely station on the plains he saw several men standing about the entrance of -the “storq,” which was ilmost the only building there. His practical eye perceived in the fraction of i second that he was going to be at:ocked. Leaping from hi* horse he in into the side entrance of the store

which led to the dwelling quarters overhead. The men followed him with drawn weapons, and while he retreated up the s*airs he killed all seven of them one after another. Other interesting methods for carrying the mails will be illustrated in th« museum by miniature reindeer sledges such as the Russians use on routes in Siberia; by dog teams, sleds, snow shoes and skates, all of which are employed for the same purpose in the frozen Arctic: also by canoes, in which the people ol the South Sea Islands, who have nc kind of writing, carry the news. The Eskimo have no postal system at all, ami for lack of mutual communication whole villages sometimes perish. On one occasion, about ten years ago, s trader left two barrels of New England rum on St. Lawience Island just south ol Bering Strait, in payment for some furs. The native residents proceeded to get drunk and stay so. Consequently, they did not do tiny hunting, and when winter cume they died of starvation. The explorer Wilson landed upon the island about a year later and found 700 or 800 dead, the entire population having been wiped out. Looking iu through the the chimney holes iu tlie roofs of their dwellings he saw in every house only corpses lying about —all perished of hunger. [ Washington Star.