Ten Years Among the Mail Bags Part 43

"It seems you are not only fools and knaves, but blackguards also.

Ask my neighbors if they think I would "swindle" them either at my own expense or that of any one else."

To which this answer came back by next mail:--

"We _have_ inquired of your neighbors long ago, and that's the reason we applied to you in the first instance."

Here follows the post master's final reply:--

"I acknowledge the corn. Send us your street and number, so that I can call on you when I come to the city, and I may conclude to aid your "Enterprise."

But that was the last thing that the "Gift" gentleman could think of doing. In fact, secrecy as to his locality, was quite essential in keeping out of the clutches of the Police.

THE IRISH HEART.

Many of the reading public will remember the sad accident which occurred in Hartford, Conn., in the year 1853, when by the bursting of a boiler connected with a car factory, several of the workmen were killed. Among the killed were two Irishmen, brothers, each of whom left a widow, with an infant child. These men had been industrious and faithful toward their employers, and kind in their own households, so that when they were taken away in such a sudden and shocking manner, their sorrowing widows felt a double stroke, in the loss of affectionate hearts, and in the deprivation of many of the comforts which the hand of affection had hitherto supplied. Their little ones, too, required much of their attention, and often seriously interfered with their efforts to provide for the daily wants of their desolate households.

About six months after the accident, the Hartford post master received from the Department at Washington a "dead letter," which had been written by these brothers to a female relative in Ireland, enclosing a draft for ten pounds sterling, to defray the expenses of her pa.s.sage to America.

This anxiety on the part of these children of Erin who had come to this land of promise, to furnish their relatives and friends whom they had left behind, with the means of following them, is a striking manifestation of that ardent attachment to home and its circle of loved ones, which leads them to undergo every sacrifice in order to effect a reunion with those for whose presence they long with irrepressible desires, as they go about, "strangers in a strange land." They have often been known to submit to the severest privations for the sake of bringing over a sister, a brother, or some other relative, without whom the family circle would be incomplete.

All this is but one aspect of the "Irish heart," whose warmth of affection and generous impulses should put to shame many, who without their ardent unselfishness, coolly laugh at the blunders and _mal apropos_ speeches of its possessors, and attribute that to shallowness, which is in truth but a sudden and sometimes conflicting flow of ideas. As the mad poet McDonald Clark once wrote in an epigram on an editor who had accused him of possessing "zigzag brains,"

"I can tell Johnny Lang, by way of a laugh, Since he's dragged in my name to his pen-and-ink brawl, That some people think it is better by half To have brains that are 'zigzag,' than no brains at all!"

"By their works ye shall know them." It is comparatively easy to utter the language of affection, and to express a vast deal of fine sentiment; and much of this spurious coin is current in the world. But when one is seen denying himself almost the necessaries of life, in order to acc.u.mulate a little fund for the benefit of some one near to his heart, though far away, we feel that there can be no deception here. Like the widow's mite, it has the ring of pure gold.

The letter referred to, (which was sent back from Ireland in consequence of some misdirection,) was full of kind feeling, and manifested on the part of the writers a firm and simple trust in the goodness of Providence. The post master sent word to the widows that this letter was in his possession, and accordingly was visited by the bereaved women, whose tears flowed fast as they gazed upon the record which recalled so vividly the kindnesses of their departed husbands.

The little sum enclosed, as they stated, was the result of the united efforts of the two families, who cheerfully joined in this labor of love. How many a recollection of unmurmuring self-denial, with the hope that made it easy; how many a remembrance of bright antic.i.p.ations of the happiness to be enjoyed, when the beloved one, for whose sake these efforts were made, should be received within their family circle; how many such things must have been brought to mind by the sight of the missive, so freighted with affection and memories of the past!

The post master informed the widows that by returning the draft to the office from which it was purchased, they might obtain the money on it; but they replied that since it had once been dedicated to an object sacred both to the departed and their survivors, it must go back to Ireland, and fulfil its mission.

So these poor stricken women, to whom ten pounds was a large sum, (even larger than when the letter was first sent,) and who much needed the comforts it would purchase, sent back the draft, and have since had the happiness of meeting their relative in America, and seeing the wishes of their husbands faithfully carried out.

This is but one of many constantly recurring instances of generosity and devotion which come to the knowledge of post masters; and while we have put on record some of the blunders of an impulsive people, our sense of justice as well as inclination, has prompted us to make public the foregoing incidents, so forcibly ill.u.s.trating the warm attachments that grace the IRISH HEART.

MY WIFE'S SISTER.

The most ridiculous errors and omissions sometimes occur on the part of persons applying to post masters for missing letters. The following amusing correspondence will ill.u.s.trate this phase of post-office experience:--

New York, 29th Jan. 1855.

Post Master New York.

Dear Sir,

A week ago last Monday, I mailed two letters, both having enclosures, but of no intrinsic value, directed to my wife's sister in New Haven, Conn., neither of which have ever reached their destination.

Very respectfully yours,

W. B. H----.

The above letter was forwarded to the post master of New Haven, after having been read by the New York post master. It was soon returned with the following pertinent inquiries:--

Post Office, New Haven, Conn., Feb. 1, 1855.

Solus!?

Well, that is a fix! What is that name? Is it Jonathan or Wm, B.

Haskell, or Hershel? Who'd he marry? How many sisters did his wife have? What were their names? Who are their friends and relations in New Haven? Is the lady here on a visit? Or, like a careful matron, has she come here to educate her children? Egad, I don't know! My library is wofully deficient in genealogy, and I shall be obliged to "give it up." Who can tell me the name of "my wife's sister?"

Yours truly,

L. A. T----.

The New Haven post master's letter was then sent to Mr. H., with the annexed note:--

Post Office, New York, Feb. 2, 1855.

Mr. Wm. B. H----.

Dear Sir,

By direction of the post master, I forwarded your letter of inquiry to the post master at New Haven.

He returns the letter to this office with a request that the name of your "wife's sister" may be given to him, as he has been unable to discover it, although possessed of a large library embracing many works of a genealogical character. The P. M. at New Haven is inclined to the belief that it will be difficult to find the letter sent to his office, unless the name of the party addressed is given to him. In this belief the P. M. at New York joins, and the two P. M.'s hold concurrent opinions on this subject.

With all due apologies for the seemingly gross ignorance of the post masters in this matter,

I am very respectfully

Your Obedient Servant,

WM. C----,

Secretary.

CHAPTER XXIII

RESPONSIBILITY OF POST MASTERS.