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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
267
A
fond
parent,
finding
that
some
white
mice
sent
by
his
little
boy
were
detained
in
the
Post-office,
owing
to
the
transmission
of
live
animals
being
contrary
to
regulations,
writes
very
indignantly
to
the
Department,
overlooking
its
impersonal
nature,
and
singles
out
the
officer
whose
performance
of
duty
provoked
him
for
such
castigation
as
his
pen
was
capable
of
inflicting.
Here
is
his
letter,
and
it
is
mild
compared
with
some
of
the
comminatory
effusions
which
occasionally
reach
the
Post-office:--
"SIR,--Tuesday
last
week
my
little
son
sent
three
white
mice
to
a
friend
at
----,
in
a
wooden
revolving
cage,
done
up
strongly
in
brown
paper,
with
such
sufficient
biscuit
to
serve
them
for
the
day;
but
to-day
we
have
heard
that
your
officious
manager
at
our
district
office
delayed
sending
it,
and
wrote
instead
to
ask
the
address
of
the
sender,
and
called
to-day
to
say
he
would
not
forward
the
cage.
Now
allow
me
to
ask
by
what
law
has
he
dared
to
delay
the
delivery,
and
by
that
means
no
doubt
killed
the
little
animals?
They
were
in
a
wooden
cage,
carefully
packed,
and
could
not
in
any
way
have
been
an
annoyance;
they
were
not
explosive,
they
were
not
loose;
and
I
know
of
no
notice
in
your
regulations
whereby
he
dare
to
delay
the
delivery
and
starve
the
little
creatures
to
death.
I
would
also
ask
by
what
law
did
he
open
the
package?
The
full
postage
was
on
the
parcel,
and
no
doubt
the
stamp
(4d.)
has
been
obliterated,
which
he
will
of
course
have
to
refund,
as
also
the
cost
of
the
white
mice;
he
cannot,
of
course,
pay
the
disappointment.
Why
did
the
office
at
----
take
it
if
wrong?
But
it
is
not,
because
he
has
sent
several
such
little
creatures
to
others,
and
they
have
always
reached
safely.
He
likewise
had
the
impudence
to
say
I
was
to
send
to
the
office
for
the
cage,
&c.
I
feel
assured
you
will
be
equally
astonished
with
me
at
his
assurance.
The
package
was
booked
from
here
over
eight
days
ago,
and
it
was
his
duty
to
have
delivered
it.
Please
see
to
it;
the
address
on
the
parcel
was
----."[6]
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