d so that the postmaster could not
examine its contents without breaking it, he was obliged to charge
letter rates of postage, which the doctor refused to pay; consequently
it found a proper resting-place in the house appropriated specially to
dead things.

Occupying the same shelf are several glass jars containing serpents of
various sizes preserved in alcohol. These snakes were received at the
D. L. O. in two large tin cans, the ends of which were perforated to
admit air. They were addressed to a professor in Germany. It could not
be ascertained at what office they had been mailed. There were seventeen
in all, but some of the smaller ones were dead.

System, punctuality, industry, belong to the Dead-letter Office. It
seems to embrace every other branch of business, and, as I have shown
you, even to know how to treat such unwelcome guests as a nest of live
serpents.

HOW MOTHER ROBIN CALLED A NEW MATE.

BY E. JAY EDWARDS.

A friend of mine has a robin's nest that he guards with very great care,
and about which he tells a story to all the young and old people who
call upon him.

"There is a romance," he says, as he shows you the nest, "about this,
and if you want to hear it, I will tell it to you."

"It was a good many years ago," my friend begins, "that this nest was
made. There came one morning early in April two robins to the big
fir-tree in front of my window. One of them had, as sure as you live, a
club-foot, and he hobbled about upon it in a very lively manner, and I
know that it was this one--Mr. Robin, I call him--that fixed upon the
precise place for the nest. For he whetted his bill upon a bough a great
many times, and then he danced upon it with one foot and the other, as
though trying its strength, and at last he flew up to Mrs. Robin, who
was standing on the limb above looking at him. My window was open, and I
heard him peeping the gentlest little song to her that you can imagine.
Then she jumped down upon the limb, rubbed her bill upon it, and danced,
while he looked at her, and after she had done these things she sang the
same little melody. After that they flew away with great speed, and the
next that I saw of them they were working with might and main, bringing
twigs, moss, twine, and all sorts of things, until at last they had the
nest made."

Now my friend, when he gets so far in his story, always stops a moment
and laughs, though you can not see anything to laugh at. But he looks
c