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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
92
These
figures
are,
however,
of
little
service
in
conveying
to
our
minds
any
due
conception
of
the
amount
of
work
which
they
represent.
Nor,
when
the
scene
of
the
work
is
spread
and
distributed
over
the
whole
country,
and
the
labour
involved
is
shared
in
by
a
host
of
public
servants,
would
any
arrangement
of
figures
put
the
matter
intelligibly
within
our
grasp.
The
quantity
of
paper
used
in
this
annual
interchange
of
thought
through
the
intermediary
of
the
British
Post-office,
may
perhaps
be
measured
by
the
following
facts:--Supposing
each
letter
to
contain
a
single
sheet
of
ordinary-sized
note-paper;
the
post-cards
taken
at
the
size
of
inland
post-cards;
book-packets
as
containing
on
an
average
fifty
leaves
of
novel-paper;
and
newspapers
as
being
composed
of
three
single
leaves
18
inches
by
24
inches,--the
total
area
of
paper
used
would
be
nearly
630
millions
of
square
yards.
This
would
be
sufficient
to
pave
a
way
hence
to
the
moon,
of
a
yard
and
a
half
in
breadth;
or
it
would
give
to
that
orb
a
girdle
round
its
body
53
yards
in
width;
or
again,
it
would
encircle
our
own
globe
by
a
band
14
yards
in
width.
Another
way
to
look
at
the
magnitude
of
the
Post-office
work
is
as
follows:--Suppose
that
letters,
book-packets,
newspapers,
and
post-cards
are
taken
at
their
several
ascertained
averages
as
to
weight,
the
total
amount
of
the
mails
for
a
year
passing
through
the
British
Post-office,
exclusive
of
the
weight
of
canvas
bags
and
small
stores
of
various
kinds,
would
exceed
42,000
tons,
which
would
be
sufficient
to
provide
full
freight
for
a
fleet
of
twenty-one
ships
carrying
2000
tons
of
cargo
each.
What
a
burthen
of
sorrows,
joys,
scandals,
midnight
studies,
patient
labours,
business
energy,
and
everything
good
or
bad
which
proceeds
from
the
human
heart
and
brain,
does
not
this
represent!
Yet,
after
all,
what
are
the
figures
above
given,
when
put
in
the
balance
with
the
facts
of
nature?
The
whole
paper,
according
to
the
foregoing
calculations,
although
it
would
gird
our
earth
with
a
band
14
yards
wide,
could
only
be
made
to
extend
hence
to
the
sun
by
being
attenuated
to
the
dimensions
of
a
tape
of
slightly
over
one-eighth
of
an
inch
in
width!
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