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

In the eighteenth and the early years of the nineteenth century the town postman carried a bell, which he rang vigorously to give notice of his approach. There are all sorts and conditions of men employed as postmen, and among them are to be found men of education and culture. I have known several such men, who could talk on any subject, and had read widely. I asked one postman how he spent his annual holiday, and I think I suggested to him that he probably lay on the beach all day resting his tired limbs. “Good gracious, no!” he replied; “I go on a walking tour. I have done the Lakes, Wales, and Scotland. You see, sir, it's really a change of movement for me, for we postmen don't walk, we shuffle.” And this is perhaps the reason why the postman fails to impress us as an individual. In Mr. H. J. Barker's delightful book, The Comic Side of School Life, there is an amusing essay entitled The Postman, supposed to have been written by a little boy. Perhaps if all writers were to follow his example, and record what they have actually observed, rather than what has been communicated to them second hand, they would be equally entertaining.