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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
288
Now
we
are
at
an
old
country
town,
with
quiet-going
people,
living
as
their
fathers
did
before
them,
and
inheriting
not
only
their
money
and
lands,
but
their
most
cherished
principles:
their
letters
are
just
as
we
expected,
little,
quiet,
old-fashioned-looking
things,
remarkable
for
nothing
so
much
as
their
fewness.
Now
we
are
among
the
coal-districts,
and
almost
all
the
letters
have
a
smudged
appearance,
making
you
imagine
that
they
must
have
been
written
by
the
light
of
pit-candles,
in
some
region
of
carbon
"two
hundred
fathoms
down."
This
bag
comes
from
a
sea-bathing
place,
and
so
long
as
summer
continues,
will
unmistakably
remind
you
of
sea-shore,
sea-sand,
and
sea-anemones.
These
bags
have
previously
had
to
cross
a
broad
sea
ferry,
and
the
letters
tell
of
salt
water
as
certainly
as
if
they
were
so
many
fishes.
Another
twenty
miles,
and
we
come
to
an
old
cathedral
town
with
its
letters
looking
as
orthodox
as
any
Convocation
could
wish;
whilst
that
other
town
is
clearly
a
resort
of
fashion,
if
we
may
judge
from
the
finely
scented,
perfumed,
elegant-looking
billets
that
escape
from
its
post-bag.
And
thus
interested
and
observing,
we
are
rapidly
reaching
our
destination.
We
are
at
the
terminus
at
last.
The
office
is
emptied
of
all
its
contents,
and
the
bags,
securely
made
up,
are
forwarded
under
care
of
other
officers
in
different
trains,
proceeding
far
and
near.
Nor
have
we
forgotten
our
own
letter.
In
the
vast
mass
of
letters
it
holds
a
well-secured
place,
being
safely
ensconced
in
one
of
these
very
bags;
and
we
will
endeavour
to
be
present
when
the
bag
is
opened,
that
we
may
verify
our
assertion.
Out
of
the
carriage
and
once
on
terra
firma,
we
feel
a
sensation
of
dreamy
wonder
that
nothing
has
happened
to
us;
that,
considering
the
noise
and
the
whirl,
and
the
excitement
of
the
work
we
have
witnessed,
our
brain
is
not
tied
up
in
a
knot
somewhere
in
the
head,
instead
of
only
swimming.
Dusty,
tired,
and
sleepy,
we
hurry
through
the
streets
for
refreshment,
if
not
repose,
while
the
day
is
just
breaking.
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