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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
287
Semi-official
legends,
with
a
very
strong
smack
of
probability
about
them,
tell
of
sundry
boys
being
thrown
in,
seized,
emptied,
and
thrown
out
again
void.
As
six
o'clock
approaches
still
nearer
and
nearer,
the
turmoil
increases
more
perceptibly,
for
the
intelligent
British
public
is
fully
alive
to
the
awful
truth
that
the
Post-office
officials
never
allow
a
minute
of
grace,
and
that
'Newspaper
Fair'
must
be
over
when
the
last
stroke
of
six
is
heard.
One--in
rush
files
of
laggard
boys,
who
have
purposely
loitered
in
the
hope
of
a
little
pleasurable
excitement;
two--and
grown
men
hurry
in
with
the
last
sacks;
three--the
struggle
resembles
nothing
so
much
as
a
pantomimic
melee;
four--a
babel
of
tongues
vociferating
desperately;
five--final
and
furious
showers
of
papers,
sacks,
and
bags;
and
six--when
all
the
windows
fall
like
so
many
swords
of
Damocles,
and
the
slits
close
with
such
a
sudden
and
simultaneous
snap,
that
we
naturally
suppose
it
to
be
a
part
of
the
Post-office
operations
that
attempts
should
be
made
to
guillotine
a
score
of
hands;
and
then
all
is
over,
so
far
as
the
outsiders
are
concerned."
Though
the
tradition
referred
to
of
boys
being
thrown
into
the
letter-box
may
not
have
a
very
sure
foundation
in
fact,
it
is
the
case
at
any
rate
that
a
live
dog
was
posted
at
Lombard
Street,
and
falling
into
the
bag
attached
to
the
letter-box,
it
was
not
discovered
till
the
contents
of
the
bag
were
emptied
out
on
a
table
in
the
General
Post-office.
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