Sneering at Red Tape—The Division of Labor—Scrutinizing Petitions—A Heavy Paper Jacket—Invalids, Widows, and Minors—The Examiner of Pensions—How Claims are Entertained and Tested—What is Recorded in the Thirty Enormous Volumes—How Many Genuine Cases are Refused—One of the Inconveniences of Ignorance—The Claim Agent Gobbles up the Lion’s Share—An Extensive Correspondence—How Claims are Mystified, and Money is Wasted—Seventy-five Thousand Claims Pending—The Reward of Fourteen Days’ Service—The Sum Total of What the Government has Paid in Pensions—The Largest and the Smallest Pension Office—The Miscellaneous Branch—Investigating Frauds—A Poor “Dependent” Woman with Forty Thousand Dollars—How “Honest and Respectable” People Defraud the Government—The Medical Division—Examining Invalids—The Restoration-Desk—The Appeal-Desk—The Final-Desk—The Work that Has Been Done—One Hundred and Fifty Thousand People Grumbling—The Wrath of a Pugnacious Captain, 418 CHAPTER XL. TREASURES AND CURIOSITIES OF THE PATENT OFFICE—THE MODEL ROOM—ITS RELICS AND INVENTIONS. The Patent Office Building—The Model Room—“The Exhibition of the Nation”—A Room Two Hundred and Seventy Feet in Length—The Models—Wonders and Treasures of the Room—Benjamin Franklin’s Press—Model Fire-Escapes—Wonderful Fire-Extinguishers—The Efforts of Genius—Sheep-Stalls, Rat-Traps, and Gutta Percha—An Ancient Mariner’s Compass—Captain Cook’s Razor—The Atlantic Cable—The Signatures of Emperors—An Extraordinary Turkish Treaty—Treasures of the Orient—Rare Medals—The Reward of Major Andre’s Captors—The Washington Relics—His Old Tent—His Blankets and Bed-Curtains—His Chairs and Looking-Glass—His Primitive Mess-Chest and old Tin Plates—Model of an Extraordinary Boat—Abraham Lincoln as an Inventor—The Hat Worn on the Fatal Night—The Gift of the Tycoon—The Efforts of Genius—A Machine to Force Hens to Lay Eggs—A Hook for Fishing Worms out of the Human Stomach, 436 CHAPTER XLI. THE BUREAU OF PATENTS—CRAZY INVENTORS AND WONDERFUL INVENTIONS