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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
133
When
most
men
are
enjoying
the
refreshment
of
nature's
sweet
restorer,
which
it
is
the
privilege
of
the
night-hours
to
give,
the
sorters
in
a
large
number
of
post-offices
throughout
the
country
are
hard
at
work,
and
on
nearly
all
the
great
lines
of
railway
the
travelling
post-offices
are
speeding
their
wakeful
flight
in
every
direction,
carrying
not
only
immense
quantities
of
correspondence,
but
a
large
staff
of
men
who
arrange
and
sort
it
in
transit.
Unconsciously
though
it
may
be,
these
men
by
their
work
are
really
a
most
powerful
agency
in
binding
society
together,
and
promoting
the
commercial
enterprise
of
the
country.
It
lies
in
the
nature
of
things
that
sorters'
duties
should
largely
fall
into
the
night.
Like
a
skilful
mariner
who
bends
to
his
use
every
wind
that
blows,
the
Post-office
avails
itself
of
every
opportunity
to
send
forward
its
letters.
To
lay
aside
till
morning,
correspondence
arriving
at
an
intermediate
stage
at
night,
would
not
consort
with
the
demands
of
the
age
we
live
in;
despatch
is
of
the
first
consequence,
and
hence
it
is
that
to
deal
with
through
correspondence,
many
offices
are
open
during
the
night.
Some
offices
are
never
closed:
at
all
hours
the
round
of
duty
goes
on
without
intermission;
but
in
these,
as
also
in
many
other
cases
where
the
periods
of
duty
are
long,
relays
of
sorters
are
necessarily
employed.
Much
might
be
said
of
the
broken
hours
of
attendance,
the
early
risings,
the
discomforts
and
cold
of
the
travelling
post-offices
in
winter,
and
the
like,
which
sorters
have
to
endure;
and
something
might
also
be
said
of
their
loyalty
to
duty,
punctuality
in
attendance,
and
readiness
to
strain
every
nerve
under
the
pressure
of
occasions
like
Christmas.
But
these
things
would
not,
perhaps,
be
of
general
interest,
and
our
object
here
is
rather
to
show
what
a
sorter's
work
really
is.
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