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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
305
We
have
only
space
to
close
with
a
graphic
extract
from
the
reminiscences
of
a
post-office
official,
in
which
the
everyday
life
of
a
country
post-office
is
admirably
described:
"For
the
poor
we
were
often
persuaded
both
to
read
and
write
their
letters;
and
the
Irish
especially,
with
whom
penmanship
was
a
rare
accomplishment,
seldom
failed
to
succeed
in
their
eloquent
petitions;
though
no
one
can
realize
the
difficulty
of
writing
from
a
Paddy's
dictation,
where
'the
pratees,
and
the
pig,
and
the
praiste,
God
bless
him!'
become
involved
in
one
long,
perplexed
sentence,
without
any
period
from
beginning
to
end
of
the
letter.
One
such
epistle,
the
main
topic
of
which
was
an
extravagant
lamentation
over
the
death
of
a
wife,
rose
to
the
pathetic
climax,
'and
now
I'm
obleeged
to
wash
meself,
and
bake
meself!'"
The
officers
of
the
Dead-Letter
Office
could
a
tale
unfold,
one
would
think,
only
an
essential
rule
of
the
service
binds
them
to
honourable
secresy.
The
Post-Office
official
often,
however,
and
in
spite
of
himself,
learns
more
than
he
cares
to
know.
"For,"
as
the
writer
continues,
"a
great
deal
can
be
known
from
the
outside
of
a
letter,
where
there
is
no
disposition
to
pry
into
the
enclosure.
Who
would
not
be
almost
satisfied
with
knowing
all
the
correspondence
coming
to
or
leaving
the
hands
of
the
object
of
his
interest?
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