Rural Free Mail
Sixteen ntatui and four territories com
prlso tho field of rural frco delivery In tho
western division. Theso Include practically
all tho country west of tho Missouri river.
Tho division was organized on May 1 of tho
present year with five agents under charge
of Special Agent W. H. Annln, with hcad
(tiarters at Denver. Denver was chosen nn
being tho most central location for n ter
ritory which Included tho two Dakotns and
Tcxa, California and Nebraska, and which
SPECIAL AGENT LLEWELLYN EXAMINING UUUAL FREE DELIVERY ROUTE-
MAII, Noll.
comprises within Its limits nearly one-half assistant correspondent of tho Philadelphia
of tho United States. Ledger. Ho waa president, In 18, of tho
Thn western division as at present con- famous Gridiron club, restricted to forty
Btitutod Is divided Into llvo districts: Washington correspondents, nnd left Jour-
1. North and South Dakota and Montana, mil Ism n year ago to ongago In tho cxtcn-
2. Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming. Bin of rurnl fl00 delivery. Ho Is n racm-
3. Utah, Idaho, Washington nnd Oregon uor ot tno University club, Now York,
4. Nevada, California, Arizona and Now itcy of the- Army and Navy club of Wash
Mexico. Ington nnd haa a phonomonally largo ac-
5. Oklahoma, Indian Territory. Arkansas ,limmtunco with public men throughout tho
and Texas. Unlu,t, S(ntt,gi
Agouts nro detailed to each ot theso dis
tricts ns demands are mado upon tho divi
sion, but no spuclal agent Is permanently
located In any designated district. At pres
ent Spcclnl Agent George Olson Is cstab-
Ushlng routes In South Dakota, Special story of Mr. A. E. Stevenson, candidate for
Agent C. E. Llewellyn In Nebraska, Special vlco president with Hrynn and former vice
Agent II. J. Ormsby In Oregon, Special prttddcut with Cleveland:
Agent L. A. Thompson In Colorado and Spc- Stovunsou Is a charming companion, a
clal Agents John 1). Joffcry nnd M. Du good story-teller nnd enjoys a joke on hlm
Montanya In California. Any ono of the self as well ns oil anybody. Toward the
agonttf Is subject to call In any district close ot tho Clovelnnd administration we
whero his services nro needed through the wore all nt a cabinet dinner at tho house
accumulation of cases. ot 1'cstmnstcr General Wilson and the con-
Nobraska leads tho list In tho numbor ot versatlon fell upon tho Incredible number
cases pending nnd disposed of sluco May 1. of Intelligent citizens who cared so little
Thirty-six cusco liavo been sent In to the about politics that they did not know who
division and lltteen hnvo been completed held thla or that olllco or what their duties
and forwarded to the l'ostnlllce department might bo. Stevenson looked over to Pres
for approval. Ident Cleveland nnd said: "I was out epeak-
California comes next with twenty-five Ing In tho recent campaign who for Is not
cases and twelve completed. Colorado fol- necessary to state In this presence and in
lows with nineteen and ten complotcd. Six Wint Virginia I mado a tour with Governor
cases have been closed In Oregon, three in McCorklo. Arriving at n place whero we
Utah, ton In South Dakota nnd flvo In Texas, wero to speak wo were shown upon a plat-
Tho western division has been short- form,' tho band ceased to play and the
handod, but 1m promised additional help wltb chairman of tho mooting, who wus repro
tho beginning of tho fiscal yoar. Bunted to be a straightforward, honest, well-
It urn I Free Delivery Popular, to-do, Intelligent democrat, got up, drew
As Is tho case elowhore, tho western dlvl- " ulivull," ,fr' uls ,ockot' nJJU3lt'd 1,18
Ion Ilnds rural freo delivery tho most c " ald:
popular branch or tho service among the "'Lollow citizens, I have tho honor to
bread-winners. It brings tho postolllco to "lrul,,lc(0 to J"5" vice president of the
tho farmer's door, enhances tho value of d States (and ho studied same wrltlm:
fnrms, stimulates tho campaign for good
roads, makes tho farm homo more attrac
tive, promotes tho circulation of good read
ing and tuvuB many fruitless trips to town
for tho mall.
It bids fair to become self-sustaining
through tho Increaso In matter mailed nnd
tho oxpenso savod In useless star routes anil
small postolllces discontinued, a donn
crntle congress In 1890 appropriated, with
much misgivings and ngiiltmt tho protest of
Postmaster General Wilson, $10,000 for the
sorvlco. Tho present congress has mado
available for tho prosont llscal year 11,760,
000 to extend Its blessings to the rurnl com
munities ot tho United States.
First AsHlBtant Postmaster Genet nl Perry
S. Hoth, for many years Washington cor
respondent of Tho Poo, may bi called thn
father of rural freo delivery, for. If ho did
not orlglnnto tho Idea, ho found It shivering
on tho door step of tho Postolnce depart
ment nnd adopted it as his own.
Ye tern ii Ncwi"P'r Slim.
Mr. "W. E. Annln, special agent In charge
of rural freo delivory for tho western dlvl
Blon. who appears on tho extreme left of tho
plcturo of tho special agents presented to
our readers, has been for twenty-one years
a Journalist In Nebraska, Utah and Wash
lngtou. Mr. Annln graduated from Prince
ton college i In 1877, whoro his peoplo had
Delivery in the West
graduatod for 100 years provlously, and of
which Institution his groat-grcat-grand-fathor,
Itev. Jonathan Edwards, D. D., waa
president. Mr. Annln went to Denver
In 1877, on a fossll-huntlng trip from his
college, and camo to Omaha In 1878 ns n
reporter on Tho Heo. Ho held suc
cessively poBltlons on this paper until 1887,
when ho went to Washington ns Washing
ton correspondent of tho Salt Lnko Trlbuno
and Tho Heo. Subsequently ho became
I9H
Short Stories Well Told
Ex-Secretary J. Sterling Morton tells this
SPECIAL AGENTS OF THE POSTOFFICE
THE ILLUSTRATED BEE.
on tho envolopo), the Hon
will now address you.' "
Mr. Stevens, who
Stevenson said that McCcrklo waa so
amused that ho nearly fell out of his chair,
hut when hie turn camo ho was Introduced
as "our own Governor McCormlck."
Colonel Thomas F. Lowrey of Minnesota,
railway promoter and operator of national
reputation, and now prominent In tho man
agement of tho great Sco lines, Is conspic
uous and commanding In his personal pres
ence In whatever group of men ho may chance
to find place. His character, training and
rvputntlon am such that his opinions com
mand tho respect nllko of business men.
lawyers, politicians and clergymen. He Is
at homo with all sorts and conditions of
men gocd company for pirates or long
m
HOME OF H. C. LYDICK, NEAH TEKA-
shoromen; ho was never known to lose bis
temper; ho hus the confidence of capitalists
everywhere. Put Jove nods, good Homer
sometimes dozes nnd oven a paragon like
Tom Lowrey has played In hard luck. He
hns "gone broke" m. re than once, but bus
nlwnys "bobbed up serenely" again like a
rubber ball. J. Plerpont Morgan telU of
him that ono day when a loan of some mil
lions, for which Lowrey was responsible,
was to fall duo at noon the Minnesota!) sent
In his card about 11 o clock. "Show him
In," was tho order of tho great financier.
Lowrey was as screno and bland and as
much nt cuso with all tho world as It a
certified check for numerous millions were
reposing In his vest pocket.
"I liavo called promptly this morning,
Mr. Morgnn," ho said, 'In order to pay my
respects. I can't pay anything else."
Put his paper was renewed In short order.
It was an open car. A man of yearn and
sedateness sat next to a young man who
was consulting a pockot dictionary, relates
tho Washington Star. Uy and by, and with
out any premonitory symptoms, the sedate
man said:
"It's In there. I was looking over one ot
them books yes'tcrday and I picked out the
very words."
"What do you refer to?" asked the young
man,
"To what a woman up my way called mo
when I asked her to marry me."
"And what wna It?"
"A concavo cataleptic semi-annual old
Idiot. At first I didn't exactly know whether
she meant to say yes or turn me down, but
nfter looking In tho dictionary I made up
my mind that she was not for me. Mighty
handy, theso dictionaries are, when you get
stuck on a hard word, eh?"
DEPARTMENT IN WESTERN DIVISION
T" ,. . 4. 1
The
As to tho breaking of the liberty boll,
there liavo been many disputes arising from
tho fact that It was twlco fractured, relates
tho Philadelphia Times. It was ordered, In
1751, by Andrew Hamilton from the London
ngent of tho provlnco ot Pennsylvania. It
waa required to weigh about 2,000 pounds,
to bo lottercd In tho following form:
"Uy Order of tho Assembly of tho Provlnco
ot Pennsylvania for tho State Houso In tho
City of Philadelphia, 1752.
"Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the
Land Unto All tho Inhabitants Thereof."
Tho boll arrivod in Philadelphia in tho lat
ter part of August, 1762, and early In the
following mouth It was cracked by a stroke
of Its clapper. It was then recast by Pasj
& Stow of Philadelphia nnd Its llrm name
appears on It jiLtho present time. It was
again hunged In 1753, which dote now ap
pears upon It, In the Roman numerical
gulso of MDCCCLIIL, but Its reverberations
wore not clear and Pass & Stow recast It
again, and again It was placed In tho statu
house. When the llrltlsh army was known to
bo approaching Philadelphia, In September,
1777, It was hurriedly taken to Trenton nnd
thence through licthlchcm to Allentown,
guarded by 200 North Carolina and Virginia
soldiers and the truck Unit cnrrled It form
ing part of a continuous train of 700
wagons Hint transported tho heavy baggagu
of tho continental army. After the ovacuu
tlou of Philadelphia by the llrltlsh Invaders
It was restored to Its proper placo in Inde
pendence hall, where It remained, with vari
ous vicissitudes of fortune nnd changes ot
position, until 1885, when It wns taken to
New Orleans and made part of the exhibi
tion In that city. Sinco then It has been
taken, under guard of honor, to Chicago, in
1803, and to Atlanta, in 1805.
Tho first ringing of tho bell In Its ro
coated and perfected form was on August
27, 1753, when It called tho assembly to
gether for a session, during which It was
resolved to coutluuo tho making of provin
cial money, notwithstanding tho Interdict
tug ordor of tho lord Justices of tho crown.
At Intervals between that date and the
Declaration of Indepeudouco tho bell con
vened tho assembly In sessions that by tholr
nets marked step by step tho steady prog
ress of the colonists toward freedom from
tho mother country. On a number of occa
sions It was mullled and tolled to signalize
public depreciation of acts Inimical to the
lights of tho people; for Instance, when the
ship Hoynl Charlotte, bearing tho stamps
of Pennsylvania, Now Jersey and Maryland,
camo up tho Delaware river under the con
voy of the royal man-of-war, tho Sard.no,
lis mournful knelling upon that occa
sion, summoned to tho Stato Houso square
several thousand citizens upon whose reso
lutions tho stamps were transferred to tho
Sardine and forbiddlug a landing; again
mullled, It drearily tolled on tho closing of
the port of Boston, and the sumo tlmo the
houses In tho city closed their shutters, and
the ships In tho Delaware hung their Hags
at half-mast. Hut Its volco was must
vlbraut nnd Its clatter was not then mullled,
when, In obcdlenco to tho scriptural admoni
tion engraved upon its surface, It proclaimed
"Liberty throughout all tho land unto all
tho Inhabitants thereof." This event, how
ever, did not occur on July 4, 177C, as
many folks bellevo.
The Declaration of Independence was
adopted late in the evening of that day, and
on July 5 ccples of It wero sent by the con
tinental congress "to all the counties of tho
province, nnd to tho several assemblies, con
ventions nnd councils ot sufety; to the com
manding officers of tho continental troops
and to the head of tho nrniy." The com
mittee of safety further ordered "that tho
Bherltl' of Philadelphia read, or cause to bo
read, nnd proclaimed, at the state house, In
the Cl.y of Philadelphia, on .Monday, thu 8tu
day ot July, lust., at 12 o'clock, at noon
of tho same day, the Declaration of tho Rep
resentatives of the United Colonies of
America, and that he cuuso all the ufllcers
and constables of the said city to attend thu
reading thereof." In obedience to these In
structions, nnd nenr the hour mentioned, tho
bell wns tolled for the proclamation of the
OF FREE RURAL MAIL DELIVERY.
July 22, 1000.
X!
Liberty
Bell
Decimation of Independence. It stilled Its
clarion tongue for a whllo when n procession,
consisting of the city dignitaries, moved from
thu Philosophical hull, on Second street, to
the stato houso square, and gathered on
nnd about a platform which had been erected
In a treeless open space nenr the rear of thu
centrnl entrance to tho stntc house building.
Tho famous document wns read by John
Nixon, afterward famous ns both soldier
and financier. At Its conclusion the bell
now nnd forcvermoro tho Liberty Hell again
began tolling and found u resonant chorus
from every belfry In the city.
Thenceforth the famous piece of vocal
bronze npprlscd tho citizens of Philadelphia
of great events besides recording the pasting
hours of tho day. Hut this latter task w a i
Intrusted to a companion in 1781, when
the old steeple wns taken down nnd the bell
and Its frame were lowered Into the sub
structure tower. From that tlmo until 1835
It proclaimed historic anniversaries and
public events of note; welcoming Illustrious
men to the portal of tho republic; tolling
tho knell of departing greatness when the
Inexorable summons called to another life
tho men who had made tho nation.
On July C, 1835, John Marshall died In
Philadelphia. Howas one of the few actors
who had survived the drama of the revolu
tion. The bell had mournfully told the tid
ings of the death of Jefferson and Washing
ton mid Leo and Adams and Franklin and
Robert Morris nnd Patrick Henry and of
the French patriot, Lafayette. Of the Im
mortal signers of the Declaration, Marshall
alone remained. On July 8 tho remains of
tho great chief Justice of the nation wero
started on their Journey to his native
Virginia soil, nnd during the solemn
obsequies that distinguished the ocaslon the
bell slowly nnd mournfully breathed Its woe.
and, breathing, burst, ns If Its heart wore
rended with tho passing nwny of the last
of tho men whoso historic deeds It 'had
proclaimed to the peoplo. Thenceforth It
was silent forever, and thenceforth It has
remained dumb, mid yet speaking with n
thousand tongues to succeeding generations,
of the men and tho deeds that created the
greatest republic known in the history of
tho world.
Discomfiture of Delegate
Buffalo Express: "Sir," said the decayed
looking Individual, "aro you tho proprietor
of this factory?"
"I am," answered tho business man,
shortly.
"It Is well. I always like to deal directly
with tho head of tho firm. I have to Inform
ou that a strike has been ordered In your
establishment."
"A strike!" cried the manufacture'-,
springing to his feet. "When? Who?
What for?"
"Now and by me, because I consider your
profits sufllclcnt to warrant your sp:ndlug
more on theso not so well off as yourself."
"Hut who aro you, sir?" fiercely demanded
tho manufacturer.
"I," said tho other, throwing out his
chest, "am tho chief organizer, president
and walking dclcgato of tho Journeyman
Borrowers' union. At a meeting of thu
union this morning it was unanimously
voted that I should call on you nnd strike
you for tho small loan of 25 cents. The
money will go for Intoxicants. Wo mako
no hyp "
But tho Journeyman Borrowers' union had
lnndcd on tho sidewalk beforo he had time
to finish his oration.
The Latest in Slang
Washington Post: Tho very latest bit of
slang reached mo yesterday, and as It must
bo wholly unintelligible to any but the In
itiated I can't possibly sco how it will over
bocomo populnr. It was In a lunch room,
and a young womnn who had come in from
tho streot, looking pale and weak, suddenly
fell forward on the table beside which she
sat In a faint. Two rather common-lo:klng
men snt at a tablo near. Ono of them made
as If to rise and go to her assistance.
"What's tho matter?" asked the man who
hadn't seen tho faint.
"Thu bunch light's gone out on that girl's
paint frame," explained tho other.
If you know tho theater, you know that
high above tho stage Is a brldgo on which
painters stand to paint scenery, on the
"paint frnnio." Sometimes they work with
n group of lights, backed by a reflector,
throwing a bright' light on the canva3.
That's a "bunch light." It's all away up
In tho files up In what one may call the
scenery brain of tho stage. The bunch
light had gone out on tho girl's paint frame
was that stago hand's way of saying that her
consciousness had loft her. I venture to-
i say not ono person In ten could even so
much as guess at his meaning.
Deep Disgrace
Indlnnnpolls Press: "I believe," said the
' police Judgo, who wns In a garrulous mood
that morning, owing to the presence of an
extra number of reporters; "I bollovo you
1 nro entirely lost to tho senso of shamo."
I "Pleaso, your honor," said tho frowsy
! specimen beforo him, "you got another
, t'lnk comln'. DIs' Is do first tlmo since de
. year of do WorJd's fair I've got so loaded
f dat ono copper could tnko me In all by his-
( self. I never was so 'shamed In all mo
1 days."