The post office and its story an interesting account of the activities of a great government department

This first President was said to be very amenable to the softening influence of a judicious present. The clerk who wanted a holiday would call in at Sweeting's and buy a brace of pheasants. Then he would put in his application for leave with the pheasants. Things were very lax indeed. One man was asked to explain his absence on a Saturday morning, and he replied: “My absence to-day was really not intended on my part. I mistook the day of the week, and thought the day was Sunday.” I do not know whether it was in finding the door of his parish church closed that he discovered his mistake. A man absented himself from the Office during the first three days of the week, and then calmly explained on the Thursday morning that he had overslept himself; in no other way could he explain the passing of the three days. In those days, when a new Postmaster-General had an opportunity of using his patronage, new officers used to come up from the country in batches. Three or four Cumberland men, newly appointed as clerks, arrived at the Money Order Office one morning in a farmer's cart, in which they had been driven up to town from the north. They had saved their coach fares, and were mightily proud of their achievement. The Office was moved in 1847 from St. Martin's le Grand to an ugly and lofty building in Aldersgate Street. It was frankly stated at the time that “the building was not intended to be an ornament to the City, but only the Money Order Office.” Those who remember this unsightly building do not require the unnecessary explanation.