THE WEST SHORE.
229
any directory. All of this emphasizes the fact that the greatest of care should
be exercised in addressing letters. A very good rule for a business house is
for some one to take the bunch of letters just before they are sent to the post
office and read the addresses. Anyone adopting it will soon become convinced
of its utility.
Another stylj of address which may or may not lead to a
nixie is that ot No. a. This particular one is simple enough j
but if the county had been omitted it would have been a little
harder. No. 4 looks very difficult to the inexperienced eye, but
the practiced clerk, familiar with the names of all local postoffices,
finds no difficulty in deciphering it. On the contrary, No. 4 is a
puzzler, and will doubtless bring up in the dead letter office.
There seems to be absolutely nothing for the clerk to use as a
foundation to work upon. Still, it is not at all impossible that
the nixie clerk may make something out of it, for he is constantly
translating addresses apparently as blind and incomplete as this
one.
The greatest of care is always exercised in handling this
class of mail. A letter dropped into the Portland office having
a defective address is turned over to the head of that department
who supplies the deficiency, if possible, and stamps it " Defi
ciency in address supplied by John Doe, Portland, Oregon."
If the name of the postoffice can not be read, or is omitted, the
letter is forwarded to the chief office in the state named in the
address, with the hope that the deficiency can be supplied there.
Foreign letters are forwarded to the foreign department of the
New York office. When nothing else can be done, they go the
Washington dead letter office. Nixie clerks are stationed at all
the leading eastern offices, but the only one on the coast is in 4;
San Francisco, to whom all the railway mail clerks forward their
bunch of nixies after each run. Sometimes a clerk will bring
into the Portland office joo of these on one run, and forward
them to the San Francisco office. It is contemplated to make Portland a
nixie office, and then all the railway clerks in the northwest will turn their
nixies into that office.
Now, you who have read this and have been annoyed in the past by the
miscarriage of letters, will be in a better position to judge whether the hard
worked servants of Uncle Sam, who handle the millions of letters every year
going from anywhere to nowhere and from anybody to nobody, are as certain
to have been to blame for the failure of your missives to reach their destina-
lakes of clear water, fed by springs or the pure waters of mountain streams.
Most of them abound in fish, generally a species ol trout, weighing from half
a pound to three times that size, beautiful to look upon and exceedingly tooth
some, especially so to the hungry and ozone-stimulated sportsman. Splendid
camping places can be found upon their banks, and in the surrounding forests,
"1
V
J
J
NO. 4.-NOT DKCII'HKRKI).
tion as you have always supposed. Unless you put your name and address
on the envelope, and unless you look at the address a second time to see
whether it fa correct and complete and the envelope has been properly and
sufficiently stamped, you are not in a position to exhibit much righteous indig
nation if that letter should meet with delay in delivery, or even disappear
entirely from the face of the earth. No body of men gathered under one
management in the world exhibit such a high degree of trained intelligence
and perform such exacting labor under the most trying and perplexing circuity
stances as those who handle the correspondence of the United States, and, it
may well be added, none are so poorly paid in proportion to the skill and
experience required and the importance of the work they perform.
THORNTON LAKE, OREGON.
All through the Willamette valley and far up among the Jbot hilU and
mountains of both the Cascade and Coast ranges are to be found beautiful
THORNTON LAKE, NEAR ALBANY, OREGON.
especially in the foot hills and mountains, the grouse are plentiful. Thornton
lake, near Albany, as shown in the accompanying engraving, which is an exact
reproduction of a photograph taken on a clear, still summer day, it certainly
one whose quiet beauty renders it a charming spot for one who loves to com
mune with nature in 11 her visible forms," umlisturtied by the disconlant clatter
of civilization.
" Hong Yek, the laundryman, and Kitty O'lloolihan, the seamstress,
were married yesterday. They anticipate a happy life, and say they can aid
each other materially."
" Yes, I suppose Hong will keep Kitty busy sewing on the buttons that
he irons off from his customers' shirts,"
THE WORLD.
The heart of the world it weary,
Sad heart of the worn, old world;
Her days are dark and dreary,
Her banners of joy are furled.
Oh, worldl ll Is no marvel
Thai you grow liml of days.
With iln and wrruw lurking
In all your crowik-d wan;
Hie solitary itar, the only,
Where death and evil come In;
In your place to dark and limey,
Hearing your Wright of tin;
Hearing your burden of torrow,
Your hope thai li bul a Min,
Thai each recurring tomorrow
Renewi bul lo niock again.
Oh, world, that all one half In gloom,
And half In tun It twinging!
Would we had tern ihy radiant liloom,
When morning Mart were tinging;
When freth and dewy from (nxl'i hand,
'Hie angrlt learned lo love you;
And heaven iltrlf, with all iu peace,
Wat not to far alve you.
Alatl the tkiet are higher grown,
Hie angelt come nol near you,
Oh, world, to weary with your tint,
No wonder thai they fear yiait
1.UX.I.INO.