Montgomery County Sentinel

NOBLES' REVENGE.

HE GOT EVEN WITH THE AUTHOR
OF THE SPECIAL DELIVERY STAMP.

Actor's Letter of Congratulations to
Postmaster General
Vilas Withdrawn
For Sufficient Reasons, Which Appear
In This Story.

Milton Nobles, the actor and author
and Senator Vilas were schoolmates in
Madison 85 years ago, and they went
from the schoolhouse to the war to-
together. Nobles thinks a good deal of
his old schoolmate and is proud of the
distinction he has won among the great
men of his party.

When the special delivery stamp
made its appearance, Senator Vilas,
who was then postmaster general, re-
ceived many complimentary letters,
among them one from Nobles. The rest
of the story is best told by the author
himself:

"When I wrote this letter of congrat-
ulation to the general, I hadn't had oc-
asion to use or receive any of the
stamps, but the idea seemed to me to
be a good one. I was spending a week
at home in Brooklyn at the time. One
bitter morning about 8 o'clock I was
awakened by what seemed to me to be
the ringing of all the fire bells in
Brooklyn. Shoving my head out of the
second story window, I could see
muffled figure on the steps below jerk-
ing the bell with savage fury. 'What is
it?' I asked. At that moment the bell
wire broke, and the figure fell back-
ward down the steps. The snow was
knee deep, and the wind was blowing
50 miles an hour. As the figure rolled
down the steps I could hear some choice
specimens of explosive English in a
familiar accent, mingled with some-
thing about 'letter, special delivery.'
After removing chains and bolts I
opened the outer door, and the messenger
blew into the vestibule in a sheet of
snow.

'What is it? What have you got?'

"Letter.

"'What the hell are you
bringing a letter here for at this time of
night?'

'Special delivery, sir. please.'

"'I backed into the hall and slid my
hand all over the wall, trying to find
the matchsafe. The vestibule was full
of snow, and I had commenced sneez-
ing.

'Come in and shut the door!' I yoll-
ed.

Bang went the door and out went
my match just as I had got the gas
turned on. The messenger bumped up
against me in the dark, stepped on my
toes and shook a shovelful of snow off
his shoulders about my feet, filling my
slippers and dropping down my back.
I finally succeeded in lighting the gas,
signing the book, pushing the messen-
ger out and bolting the door. Then
went up stairs with my prize. I exam-
ined the long blue stamp carefully. It
was the first one that I had received.
Then I devoted about five minutes to
wondering what the dickens it was all
about. After a time it occurred to me
to open it and see. The handwriting
was unknown, but the refrain was fa-
miliar. Here it is:

"SHEBOYGAN, Wis., Jan. 19.

"Milton Nobles, Esq.:

"DEAR SIR--You will doubtless be surprised
at receiving this letter from an entire stran
ger. But I feel that I was born to be an actor.

"I am but 22, 5 feet 9, light curly hair, blue
eyes and have played several parts with the
Sheboygan Amateur society. I enclose notices.
My family object to my going on the stage, but
I feel that it is my duty, and as I would only
join a first class company my friends urged
me to write to you. Should like to play lovers
parts. I saw you play in Milwaukee last fall.
Can come any time. I have also written a
play. Could you lend me $20? Yours to com-
mand,
L. ARTHUR JONES

"(Stage name--E. Forrest Melnotte.)

"P. S.--The new special delivery stamp has
just got here, and I put one on to see how it
works.
J. A. J.

"By the time I had finished reading
this letter I had a chill. Three hours
later I had such a cold that I could not
open my eyes. I remained in my room
for treatment for three days. On the
fourth day I became convalescent, and
the first labor I performed was the writ-
ing of the following letter:

"BROOKLYN, Jan. 26.

"Hon. W. F. Vilas, Postmaster General, Wash
ington:

"DEAR SIR--Quite recently, in a moment of
unguarded enthusiasm, I wrote you a letter
congratulating you upon the brilliant stroke
of genius made manifest in the promulgation
of the special delivery stamp.

"Recent events have given me a wider
knowledge of the subject and opened my eyes
to the pernicious consequences likely to follow
your gigantic blunder.

"I desire to withdraw my letter and enter a
protest against your making any use of the
same as an apparent indorsement of your new
departure or with a view to your securing a
situation in the future. This need not neces-
sarily interfere with our friendship, but be-
tween friendship and business the line must
be drawn somewhere, and I choose, for reasons
conclusive to myself, to draw it at the 8 a. m.
special delivery.

Very truly yours,

"MILTON NOBLES.

"I cut the special delivery stamp from
the Sheboygan letter and pasted it on
the envelope, and, inclosing both in an-
other letter, I sent them to a friend in
Washington with a few lines of expla-
nation and instruction. The next stormy
night my friend, following instructions,
hired a special messenger, and at 8 p.
in. he began ringing Postmaster Gener-
al Vilas' doorbell. First a servant
came, then the general's secretary, but
the messenger was firm; he must see
the general. Thinking probably that
war had been declared in Haiti and a
midnight session of the cabinet called,
the general slipped an ulster on over
his nightshirt and went down to the
door. The messenger shoved the letter
into his hand and bolted on a double
quick.

"The obnoxious stamp has not been
called in, but I had my revenge on the
postmaster general."--Milwaukee Sen-
tinel.