544 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -V 



of letters on a multitude of things which would certainly 

 prove interesting and instructive, and which she might 

 easily study in all parts of Germany. She took my advice, 

 wrote many such letters, and the selection which she pub 

 lished proved to be delightful. 



But at times zeal for improvements at home goes peril 

 ously far toward turning the activity of an ambassador 

 or minister from its proper channels. Scores of people 

 write regarding schools for their children, instructors in 

 music, cheap boarding-houses, and I have had an excel 

 lent fellow-citizen ask me to send him a peck of turnips/ 

 But if the applications are really from worthy persons, 

 they can generally be dealt with in ways which require no 

 especial labor many of them through our consuls, to 

 whom they more properly belong. 



Those who really ask too much, insisting that the em 

 bassy shall look after their private business, may be re 

 minded that the rules of the diplomatic service forbid 

 such investigations, in behalf of individuals, without pre 

 vious instructions from the State Department. 



Of the lesser troublesome people may be named, first, 

 those who are looking up their genealogies. A typical 

 letter made up from various epistles, as a l composite 

 portrait is made out of different photographs, would run 

 much as follows: 



SIR : I have reason to suppose that I am descended from an 

 old noble family in Germany. My grandfather s name was Max 

 Schulze. He came, I think, from some part of Austria or Bavaria 

 or Schleswig-Holstein. Please trace back my ancestry and let me 

 know the result at your earliest convenience. 



Yours truly, 



MARY SMITH. 



Another more troublesome class is that of people seek 

 ing inheritances. A typical letter, compounded as above, 

 would run somewhat as follows: 



SIR : I am assured that a fortune of several millions of marks 

 left by one John Miiller, who died in some part of Germany two 



