TH E CO I'RIEK
11
t'
The Courier
Published Every Saturday
Entered In tlio Postofilce at Lincoln as second
class matter.
OFFICE, ....... fO-9ti) I STKBET
Tpi PPiinvp Business Office, 2U
1M'E,""VE Editorial Hooms, i
SUBSCRIPTION' HATES:
Per annum, In advance, $1.00
Single Copy .05
NIXIES
Is a postotllce clerk a Chinaman?
How many people who use the malls
think of the men whose duty it is to
decipher their penmanship?
It is the conviction of a good many
clerks that thousands of people direct
a letter with no other idea than that
some divine agency will see that it goes
to its desired destination no matter
what is written.
There is plenty of substantiation in
the evidence.
Kvery Saturday a consignment of
'nixies" is sent to the dead letter otlice
in Washington. A "nixy" is a letter
that is no good; it doesn't get there.
The reason may be from one of a Rood
many causes. The main trouble is in
faulty address. The ablest readers in
the olllce may be unable to gain any
light from this. Very frequently a
pietty running hand is encountered,
which, though handsome to look at. is
a fright fresh from a nightmare, in
such a case beauty weighs but little
in the opinion of the mailing clerk.
Again he will 11ml a hideous dream in
a scrawl that even a Chinaman could
not read.
In fact when a mail clerk wakes in
the middle of the night bathed in a
cold clammy sweat, his mouth parched
and all-his iiiKtincts- -prompting him
to shriek and pull the covers up over
his head It may safely be ventured that
he has been dreaming of the hand
wiiting of some of the alleged educated
people of the world and the commun
ity. There an- several grades of nixies.
One kind Is a letter which gives the
name and street address plainly
enough, but fails to present the name
of the town or the name of the state.
Kvery day half a dozen letters or more
come to Lincoln which should go to
the Lincoln of some other of the score
of states in the union which possess
cities of this name. These misdirected
letters are returned to the sender pro
vided he makes his whereabouts known
in the return corner of the envelope.
Sometimes he does this atid sometimes
lie does not. When he has failed, away
go the letters to the dead letter otlice.
There they are oened and if anything
of value Is found. It is returned to the
sender if his addiess is indicated on the
inside. Otherwise he pays the penalty
of his negligence by never knowing
what became of his letter for it is con
signed to the lire after a record is
made of Its journey to the otlice.
O. the carelessness of people!
.Mingled with the motley trash of drum
mers' hotel letters and nnndesoipt en
velopes gone astray, are found ever
and anon the handsomely sealed epis
tles of lovers true. That is what they
are called by the clerks anyway, anil
they are quite familiar with the style
of envelope used by those who adore
each other. And surely it must be lov
ers only, so wrapt in their passion that
they drop their messages in the mail
botes, both unstamped and unad
dressed and even with no sign in the
return corner. Who knows how many
lovers' quarrels may not result from
this neglect which may entail heart
aches and distrusts and accusations!
Thele is enough of sympathy in the
hearts of the mail clerks to induce a
groan when they come to this kind of
neglei ted letter. When one distributor
hears another moan in this mnnu r
and mutter, "Too bad." it is a sure
guess that he has discovered the dis
astrous thoughtlessness of somebody's
sweetheart-
Xo letters are ever opened in the
postotllco to aid In discovering the
sender. If the addresses are unintel
ligible they are placed in the section
devoted to nixies and saved until the
nearest Saturday when they are for
warded to Washington. The distribut
ing clerks, of which there aretiveiu the
Lincoln postotllce, do their best to read
everything that comes in the mail. If
the penmanship Is uncommonly
wretched they all put their heads to
gether. If they still fall the directory
clerk takes hold anal delves still more,
taking all the time necessary in rea
son. Poorly as letters are addressed,
however, it is only one in thousands
that batlle these readers. So familiar
are they with alt kinds and charac
ters of penmanship that it really is an
extraoidinary poor piece of writing
that more than taxes their resources.
The fact is that It takes a pretty
smart man to be either a mail distrib
utor or mailing clerk in a large poM
oilice, like that of Lincoln, for instance.
The live distributors and six mailing
clerks in the Lincoln postotllce are fa
miliar, in a degree, with the where
abouts of everybody in town and cities
all over the union. It is the distribu
tors who sort the mail that comes lino
the otlice and dole it out to the car
riers. In order to do this they must
be able to tell at a glance to what part
of the city a letter goes and the mail
man who is the person to carry it. The
person who is started in at the post
otllce is generally given the position
of stamper, at the wages of J.VX) a year.
If he rises to the position of distribu
ting clerk he gets a raise from $t',0t to
$no. The highest salary paid in the
otlice is $t.-'00. received by the chief
clei k of the money order department
and by the chief distributing clerk.
As the department requires the clos
est, most faithful as well as the keen
est intelligence, the clerks are right
eously of the opinion that there should
be the better inducement of more
handsome salaries. For this reason if
for nothing else they feel they ought
to come in for better recognition on the
part of the government. They devote
their energies and brains to a style of
labor that- tits them for nothing else
in the world, and in fact unfits them
Tor everything else They are tied to
one spot with no chance of progress
outside of the otlice. It Is til knowing
the town and the people that they hold
their positions and the best man In
the Lincoln otlice would be worth
nothing in Omaha or any other town
of Lincoln's class or higher. It is hard
anil coullnlug but it would be ninth
less like Servitude If people would ex
erclse more Mi re in addressing their
missives, and if the government would
considerably tack on a few more
tlgures to the salary roll.
WEBER
PIANOS
WKISKi: PIANOS liac Imcii l-forc
the public tor ..-lfaceiitiiry. and now
hold a supreme o-itjon in tlie piano
world. Tlii- fart alone n dt-i-i-tive
proof of the genuine worth of these
Piano-, for had t In-v not over and
oer again ju-titil their claims Miii
public coiitiilelicc. tliev could never
have achieved sin-h a splendid tri
umph over interested pMritioii and
i-ritici-iu during -o hum a period.
Their -met--.- i- din- to the fact that
they rvcoiiilneliil themselves.
Matthews
Piano Co.
licncral Western Agent-.
Wareroorm 1120 O Street, Lincoln
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THE PROGRESSIVE STORE
OTJK, .ITITTJ.A.Xj
January Pre-Inventory Sale
COIMIIMIEirsrCIES
MONDAY MORNING, JANUARY 20
The annual event when all short lots, odds and ends, broken lines, etc.,
must be entirely closed out. Our invariable rule never to invoice such lots
causes a general stampede of prices the cost of the article never beini
considered in these instances it must be sold.
SEE SUNDAY'S JOURNAL
FOR FULL PARTICULARS
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