Ten Years Among the Mail Bags: Or, Notes from the Diary of a Special Agent of the Post-Office DepartmentHolbrook, James
History
Ten Years Among the Mail Bags: Or, Notes from the Diary of a Special Agent of the Post-Office Department
Holbrook, James
Postal service -- United States
A Farm in Pennsylvania 6,000
A Farm in Massachusetts 10,000
25,000 Vols. Poems 11,000
Statue of "Cigar Girl," by Reeves 1,000
Also over 100,000 Paintings, Statues, Medals, Charts, Albums,
Valuable Books, and Portfolios of Engravings, making in all
150,000 gifts, which will be distributed by a committee appointed
by the Shareholders, and forwarded free of charge by the Public's
obedient servants,
DASHALL & CO.,
486 Broadway, New York.
Whoever concocted the above list certainly deserves credit for the
expansiveness of his views, the soaring flights of his imagination,
and the nicety with which he adapted his various enticements to the
different phases of human nature and life.
Was the reader of the hand-bill a "fast" youth? To him a dollar opened
the prospect of "a horse, harness, and buggy,--splendid affair;" or "a
splendid, fast-sailing yacht;" or "100 boxes best cigars;" or, as a
companion to the above cigars, "Statue of Cigar Girl, by Reeves." Did
the list of prizes attract the attention of a person agriculturally
inclined? To him a choice of farms was offered in the varied regions
of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Kentucky; or "a splendid farm
on the Hudson River" awaited some fortunate individual, who had
sufficient faith in good luck and "Dashall & Co.," to purchase the one
hundred and fifty thousandth part of a chance to secure that valuable
property. The man of business was tempted by sundry loans "for 25
years without interest," and by "thirty shares of Central Rail Road
stock." Through what "centre" this rail road ran, unless it was
Dashall & Co's. office, the deponent sayeth not. Upon the man of
literary tastes, one dollar might confer "an elegant selected
library," while the lover of music was attracted by the offer of
elegant "rosewood and mahogany pianos."
Nor was the fairer portion of creation forgotten, in the shower of
gifts which was to fall on the 10th of March, 1855. The ambitious
lady, who had long sighed for more splendid adornments to her table,
could not read without emotion the promise of "a magnificent _gold_
tea service, the property of the late G. Van Denton." As the lamented
Van Denton was doubtless known, in the circle of his acquaintance, as
a man of taste, the promised tea service must have been
unexceptionable in that respect.
"Melodeons, Harps, Paintings, Albums, Portfolios of Engravings, &c.,"
formed a galaxy of attractions which drew many a dollar from fair
hands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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