ou all. About two years ago--as near as I
can remember, it was two years--I used two postage stamps
that had been used before on letters, perhaps more than two
stamps, but I can only remember of doing it twice. I did not
realize what I had done until lately. My mind is constantly
turned on that subject, and I think of it night and day.
Now, dear President, will you please forgive me, and I
promise you I will never do it again? Enclosed find cost of
three stamps. Please forgive me, for I was then but thirteen
years old, for I am heartily sorry for what I have done.

FROM ONE OF YOUR SUBJECTS.

That was from a child. Here is a letter from a woman of evident
cultivation. It was dated at Roanoke, October 12, 1905, and was sent to
the President of the United States. It reads:

THE HON. THEODORE ROOSEVELT,

PRESIDENT,

Enclosed you will find two dollars, which please place in
the National Treasury, as it should be there by rights. Some
time ago I made a purchase of an article and evaded paying
duty when the custom-house official came around. My
conscience has hurt me sorely, and I desire to pay the
government, and know of no better way than by sending it to
you. I am very sorry indeed to trouble you, but please help
me out of my trouble by giving the money to Uncle Sam, and
you will have the thanks and gratitude of one who is
penitent.

Prosperity Stirs the Conscience.

The sincerity displayed in all the letters is unmistakable. A few years
ago many of the communications revealed a strong religious feeling. During
the present period of prosperity contributions have been increasing, and
it is now the opinion of some officials that many of these penitents have
long been anxious to restore "to Caesar the things that are Caesar's," but
that they waited until they were better able to do so.

A few weeks ago a man wrote from Kansas, stating that thirty-six years
before he bought a horse from army deserters, who had stolen it from Fort
Leavenworth. He paid them forty dollars for the animal, and not long
afterward sold it for the same sum. He therefore made nothing out of the
transaction, but the fact that he had dealt in a contraband horse had
preyed steadily, he said, upon his conscience, and after the lapse of a
generation he sent forty dollars to the Conscience Fund.

Just how much smuggling is carried on is a matter of interesti