Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
298
"'Takes
two
cents,'
said
the
clerk,
after
weighing
it.
'If
there
is
writing
inside,
it
will
be
twelve
cents.'
"'Mercy
on
me,
but
how
you
do
charge!'
"Here
the
thirteen
men
began
to
push
up
and
bustle
around,
and
talk
about
the
old
match-box
delaying
two
dozen
business
letters;
but
the
woman
had
lots
of
time.
"'Then
it
will
be
two
cents,
eh?'
"'If
there
is
no
writing
inside,'
observed
the
clerk.
"'Well,
there
may
be;
I
know
she
is
a
great
hand
to
write.
She's
sending
some
flower-seed
to
her
sister,
and
I
suppose
she
has
told
her
how
to
plant
'em
----'
"'Two
threes,'
called
out
one
of
the
crowd,
as
he
tried
to
get
at
the
window.
"'Hurry
up!'
cried
another.
"'There
ought
to
be
a
separate
window
here
for
women,'
growled
a
third.
"'Then
it
will
take
twelve
cents?'
she
calmly
queried,
as
she
fumbled
around
for
her
purse.
"'Yes.'
"'Well,
I'd
better
pay
it,
I
guess.'
"From
one
pocket
she
took
two
coppers,
from
her
reticule
she
took
a
three-cent
piece,
from
her
purse
she
fished
out
a
nickel;
and
it
was
only
after
a
hunt
of
eighty
seconds
that
she
got
the
twelve
cents
together.
She
then
consumed
four
minutes
in
licking
on
the
stamps,
asking
where
to
post
the
box,
and
wondering
if
there
was
really
any
writing
inside.
"But
woman
proposes
and
man
disposes.
Twenty
thousand
dollars
worth
of
business
was
being
detained
by
a
twelve-cent
woman,
and
a
tidal
wave
suddenly
took
her
away
from
the
window.
In
sixty
seconds
the
thirteen
men
had
been
waited
on
and
gone
their
ways,
and
the
woman
returned
to
the
window,
handed
in
the
box,
and
said,
'Them
stamps
are
licked
on
crooked;
it
won't
make
any
difference,
will
it?'"
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
