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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
300
Every
one
knows
what
a
small
country
Post-office
is
nowadays.
When
we
seek
change
of
air
and
relaxation
in
the
holiday
season,
choice
is
made
maybe
of
some
little
country
village
or
seaside
resort
whereat
to
spend
the
few
weeks
at
our
disposal.
If
the
place
be
a
place
at
all,
there
we
shall
find
a
Post-office;
but
possibly
there
is
no
house-to-house
delivery,
and
letters
must
be
called
for
at
the
Post-office
itself.
As
the
post-hour
approaches,
groups
of
visitors
take
up
positions
near
the
office
door,
or
squat
themselves
down
on
any
patch
of
sward
that
may
be
conveniently
near.
Young
ladies
waited
upon
by
their
admirers,
mothers
with
their
children,
a
bachelor
group
or
two
from
the
inn,
and
here
and
there
a
native
of
the
place,
some
expecting
letters,
others
indulging
a
feeble
hope
in
that
direction,
attend
as
assistants
at
what
is
one
of
the
excitements
of
the
day.
Presently
the
post-runner,
with
his
wallet
slung
upon
his
back
and
a
rustic
walking-stick
in
his
hand,
appears
in
the
distance,
jogging
along
with
that
steady
swinging
stride
which
is
so
characteristic
of
his
class.
The
visitors
begin
to
close
up
around
the
Post-office;
in
a
few
minutes
the
runner
steps
into
it;
he
throws
down
his
wallet
of
treasures
on
the
counter,
removes
his
faded
and
dusty
hat,
and
with
his
coloured
cotton
handkerchief
wipes
the
sweat
from
his
soiled
and
heated
face.
Meanwhile
the
attention
of
the
postmistress
is
given
to
the
contents
of
the
bag;
and
as
the
expectant
receivers
of
letters
crowd
in
at
or
around
the
door,
a
few
who
have
been
unable
to
approach
sufficiently
near
derive
what
consolation
they
can
from
eyeing
the
operations
through
the
shop
window,
or
by
vainly
endeavouring
to
catch
an
early
glimpse
of
some
well-known
superscription
as
the
letters
pass
one
by
one
through
the
hands
of
the
postmistress.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
