Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1875 — A Dead-Letter Office. [ARTICLE]

A Dead-Letter Office.

The Washington correspondent of tha Louisville Courier-Journal writes: Among the sights of our goodly city wK ch strangers usually overlook in the hurry ““ bustle ot sight-seeing i 9 the-. cabinet of curiosities at the dead-letter office. TO is to be found in the General Postofflce bu.' ,din & directly above the money-order ox^? e - This is especially curious as a stud/ °* Lriman nature, evj,dencing the gross cw^i® B ? ll ® Bß about matters of importance Ut which it is subject, and also the sublime it has in postal arrangements. A«wU further, the various whims and fancies U? which human nature is subject, its appetites and its passions, here receive a striking illustration, for every conceivable article, from esculents to reptiles, is to be seen iiere, having been found in mail-hags at various times. Yes, even reptiles have been mailed, for in the cabinet, preserved in bottles of spirits, are six snakes, some of

a large size. These were mailed alive, in perforated tin cans, and addressed to a naturalist in Germany. They were discovered in the postoffice in New York city, the attention of the Ptetmaster being called to the fwl odor emitted from the cans. They w»ere promptly forwarded to the dead-letter office. There is a dried »kia of a rattle-sxake one and a half yards long, and thirty-seven rattles ©f the same species of venomous reptile. A large centipede has a place, and specimens of the devastating grasshoppers from Kansas, and potato-bugs, carefully prepared to preserve them, are ts be seen, as well as a good imitation of a frog. A good-sized geological specimen was properly stamped, but miscarried from some other cause. There is a vial of mercuiy, which i» said to be an- emblem of the postal service- All descriptions of jewelry are to be seen, some very valuable and some evidently from “ dollar-stores” and the like, having been carelessly addressed or mailed without stamps, or, in some instances, without so much as a wrapper. I saw a case containing a cross and four star-shaped studs, which wa,s mailed without being inclosed. A gold Maltese cross, marked “D. Foss, Co. I, 30 Ne. V 01.,” found its way hither, as did two valuable diamond rings, a r sapphire and pearl ring, a handsome watch, a communion-service cup, an ivory cross and chain, a carnelian and gold cross in an olive-wood case, curious coins—one an ancient Roman coin of the time of the Emperor Maximinus. Miniature portraits of a husband and wife, painted on porcelain, in a gold frame, have been here twenty-five years. A tiny bell, made from the large bell of the burned Court-House in Chicago, lias a place, and so have a jair of wooden shoes, apparently No. 12. Then are ears of corn, a lump' of opium containing llj^'ounces oi the noxious drug; hair switches, locks of hair and valentines in abundance, minerals, bits of gold, a tremendous ox-horn, augers, and several bottles of water from the “ Miraculous Fountain of our Lady ot Lourdes.” But it would take too long to enumerate one-half ot tlie curiosities. The water ; ust mentioned was of course consigned at once to the dead-letter office, as there is a law prohibiting the transmission oi liquids by mail.