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

It seems that the Head Postmaster of the district recommended to the surveyor not only that the postman should be reprimanded, but that “the local sub-postmistress should be cautioned to keep a better look-out on the movements of the men under her control.” This lady had failed to report the irregularities; she had in fact winked at official lapses incidental to the prolonged honeymoon. Like the postman, she probably knew that his was an offence which time would cure. These written explanations of the postmen bring us to close quarters with human life: they illustrate for us, better than any description could do, the conditions of their life. For instance, “The slight smell of drink which the inspector noticed, was what I and my missus had for our suppers.” I am afraid this inclusion of the missus rather justifies some of the schoolboy's strictures on postmen. A rural postman was asked to explain how it was that he was ten minutes late at a certain point, and he stated that he had been “Reaveling in Nature.” Again our sympathies are stirred: we think it hard that the official machine should come down on him because he owned up to the possession of a soul.