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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
72
In
winter-time,
and
on
occasions
of
severe
storms,
the
post-runners
have
sometimes
to
endure
great
fatigue;
and
it
is
then
that
their
loyalty
to
the
service
is
put
to
the
test.
An
instance
of
stern
fidelity
to
duty
on
the
part
of
one
of
these
men,
at
the
time
of
the
snowstorm
of
1836,
formed
the
subject
of
a
petition
to
the
Postmaster-General
from
the
inhabitants
of
Sheerness
and
the
Isle
of
Sheppy.
The
document
recites
that
a
foot-messenger
named
John
Wright
continued
for
nine
days,
from
the
25th
December
1836,
to
carry
the
mails
between
Sheerness
and
Sittingbourne--a
distance
for
the
double
journey
of
about
twenty-four
miles.
At
the
end
of
this
time
he
was
so
completely
exhausted
and
overcome
by
the
effects
of
cold
and
exposure,
that
he
had
to
give
up
duty
for
a
time.
The
memorial
sets
forth
that
"the
road
is
circuitous
and
crooked,
through
marshes,
and
very
exposed,
without
any
protection
from
the
drift
(in
many
places
very
deep),
and
with
a
ditch
on
either
side--the
water
of
which
was
frozen
just
sufficient
to
bear
the
weight
of
the
snow,
thereby
rendering
the
travelling
extremely
hazardous,
inasmuch
as
the
dangers
were
in
a
great
measure
unseen;
and
had
the
postman
mistaken
his
road
(which
from
the
frequent
drifting
of
the
snow,
and
the
absence
of
traffic
at
that
time
was
often
untracked),
and
fallen
into
one
of
these
ditches,
he
must
no
doubt
have
perished."
It
appeared
further,
that
between
the
two
places
there
was
a
ferry
which
the
postman
had
to
cross,
and
that
in
making
the
passage
on
the
night
of
the
25th
December,
the
boat
in
which
he
was
nearly
swamped,
and
he
"was
compelled
to
escape
through
mud
and
water
up
to
his
waist."
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