The story
The young matron lived in the Bronx, did her own housework, had a baby to look after, but still found a way to enjoy a day in uninterrupted shopping. She sent her baby by parcel post to her mother in Jersey City, meaning to drift over there in the evening, have dinner and reclaim the child. It was a very ingenious plan, and because the letter man whom she accosted on the street was a new member of the service, she induced him to take the baby. Then she went cheerily on her way. The letter carrier had his own troubles with the baby, but he got it to the post office and turned the youngster over to the superior. He found to his sorrow, however, that ‘live animals’ could not be sent through the mails, and the package was restored to him, neatly marked ‘return to sender.’ Under orders he tearfully located the woman’s house, but the place was locked, and there was no one in sight to accept the unwelcome package. The postman tried to leave it on the doorstep, but a stern policeman convinced him he was wrong, so again he wandered back to the post office. By this time the mother had discovered that there was something wrong with the parcel post, for her baby had not arrived in Jersey City. She made frantic search, finally heard the policeman’s story and rushed around to the post office just in time to save the little one from a journey to the dead letter office. Any postal official who religiously lives up to the rules will tell you that this is exactly what would happen when a ‘live animal’ barred from the mails was returned and the owner thereof could not be located.
Summary from The Moving Picture World · 17 May 1913
