Foot-prints of a letter carrier; or, a history of the world's correspondece

21 “A mind regardless of life [if sacrificed in a good cause].”

22 Hinton.

23 That such scenes should have taken place here is not so strange, when we take into consideration the fact that all England was witch-mad, and the epidemic raged there subsequent to those atrocities which disgraced our colonial history. Even now the blush of shame reflects its hue on those pages devoted to witchcraft in New England, from the cheeks of those who cannot read our country’s history without referring to them. During the seventeenth century 40,000 persons are said to have been put to death for witchcraft in England alone. In Scotland the number was probably, in proportion to the population, much greater; for it is certain that even in the last forty years of the sixteenth century the executions were not fewer than 17,000. In 1643 the madness may be said to have reached its highest pitch; for in that year occurred the celebrated case of the Lancashire witches, in which eight innocent persons were deprived of their lives by the inherent falsehoods of a mischievous urchin. The civil war, far from suspending the prosecution, seemed to have redoubled it. In 1644-45 the infamous Matthew Hopkins was able to earn a livelihood by the profession of witch-finder, which he exercised, not indeed without occasional suspicion, but still with general success. And even twenty years later the delusion was still sanctioned by the most venerable name of the English law!

24 It was enlarged in 1737, burned down in 1776, rebuilt in 1778. The present building has a steeple 198 feet high.

25 The building occupied by the post-office originally belonged to the corporation of the Middle Dutch Church, and was their place of worship from the close of the seventeenth century until 1844. Up to that period it was the oldest church-edifice remaining in the city. A great part of the wood-work of the steeple, completely wrought, was brought from Holland. The building itself was of stone. During the Revolution it was near the upper verge of the city, its location being upon Nassau, Cedar, and Liberty Streets. When the British took possession of the city in 1776, they used it as a barracks for the soldiers. It was afterwards converted into a hospital, and finally the pews were removed and it was made a riding-school. In 1790 it was repaired, and again devoted to the worship of God. It was purchased by the General Government in 1861, for the purpose of a post-office, for $250,000.

26 “Ten Years among the Mail-Bags.” By J. Holbrook. 1856.

27 Thomas Makin appears to have been one of the most early settlers in the province of Pennsylvania. In 1689 he was second master of the Friends’ grammar-school in Philadelphia, which was the first of the kind in the province, and instituted about that time. In 1699 he was clerk for the Assembly, at four shillings per day. He was called “a good Latinist.”

In the “Mercury” of November, 1733, his death is thus announced:—“Last Tuesday night, Mr. Thomas Makin, a very ancient man, who for many years was a schoolmaster in this city, stooping over a wharf-end to get a pail of water, unhappily fell in, and was drowned.”

28 Watson’s Annals.

29 This building, known for many years as “The London Coffee-House,” stood at the southwest corner of Front and Market Streets. It was erected in 1701 by Charles Reed, and was first used as a “coffee-house” by William Bradford, the printer.

30 On very meagre authority it is stated that there was a “play-house” in New York in 1733. In an advertisement in “Bradford’s Gazette” of that period, a merchant gives his place of business as being “next door to the play-house.” This reference is all that has been found respecting it. What kind of a play-house is alluded to here remains a secret to those who take an interest in dramatic reminiscences.

31 This gentleman was mayor of the city in the years 1750 and 1755.

32 The play on this occasion was “George Barnwell.”

33 This lady was drowned, together with her maid-servant, in the winter of 1767.

34 A manuscript note in the file of the American Mercury, preserved in the City Library, says that Franklin wrote the first five numbers and part of the eighth of this series. The rest were written by J. B., probably Joseph Breintnail, a member of the junto, whom Franklin describes as a “good-natured, friendly, middle-aged man, a great lover of poetry, reading all he could meet with, and writing some that was tolerable; very ingenious in making little nicknackeries, and of sensible conversation.”

35 As an improvement on the above, cartridge-paper of a peculiar kind was used in 1778. When the American army entered Philadelphia, in June, 1778, upon the evacuation of the English troops, there was a want of paper fitted for the construction of cartridges. It was advertised for, and but a small quantity procured. An order was then issued demanding its instant production by all people in that city who had it. This produced but little, and most probably on account of its scarcity. A file of soldiers was then ordered to make search for it in every place where any was likely to be found. Among other places visited in July, 1778, was a garret in a house in which Benjamin Franklin had previously had his printing-office. Here were discovered about twenty-five hundred copies of a sermon which the Rev. Gilbert Tennent had written (printed by Franklin) upon “Defensive War,” to rouse the colonists during the French troubles. They were all taken and used as cases for musket-cartridges, and at once sent to the army; and most of them were used at the battle of Monmouth. The requisites in cartridge-paper were, of course, thinness, strength, pliability, and inflammability; and such paper was necessarily scarce then.

36 In 1776 was adopted the standard to be used by the commander-in-chief of the American navy, “being a yellow field, with a lively representation of a rattlesnake in the middle, in the attitude of striking;” underneath were the words, “Don’t tread on me.”

The same year the cruisers of the colony of Massachusetts hoisted a white flag, with a green pine-tree and the motto, “Appeal to Heaven.”

37 The author is indebted for the chief sources of information contained in this table, to that admirable and useful annual entitled “The Old Franklin Almanac,” a title as modest as its contents are useful and instructing. It should be found in every house.

38 This article appeared about the time Judge McLean was a candidate for the Presidency, and was brought out to bear upon his success. There is no denying the fact but what there was more truth than poetry in the charges.

39 A man by the name of Carroll, residing in Charleston, South Carolina, was accused of being intimate with slaves, and also as a receiver of stolen goods, particularly the article of cotton. He was dragged from his house (August, 1835), and received twenty lashes; he was then stripped from his waist upwards, tarred and feathered; he was then marched in procession through the streets and lodged in the jail; he was also compelled to leave the city. The law, it seemed, sanctioned the action of the mob; for he was actually received in the prison from this self-constituted authority.

40 Constitution of the United States, art. ii. sect. 2.

41 This took place on the 1st of July, 1857, by which the mails were to be conveyed between Washington and New Orleans in four days and a half, by way of Richmond and Lynchburg, Virginia, Bristol, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Grand Junction, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mississippi,—all by railroad, with the exception of a gap of ninety miles in Mississippi.

42 See Addenda.

43 The postal money-order system was approved by Congress, May 17, 1864. It went into operation July 4, 1864.

44 February 1, 1864.

45 Other classes of carriers receive higher salaries and other considerations from the government, which renders the office one of considerable importance, and requiring influence to obtain.

46 At this present writing a soldier who lost a leg at the battle of Gettysburg occupies this position.

47 The returns from 1846 to 1851 are for the six years under the law of March 3, 1845. Those from 1852 to 1863 are under the reduced rates established by the acts of March 3, 1851, and March 3, 1855.

48 Volney.

49 The postal history of Russia, like that of all other countries, is based upon its trade and commerce. Its railroads and canals, running through its vast extent of country, afford equal facility for its mails. Russia has her distributing cars for mails, and from its every post they are rapidly carried throughout the kingdom.

Recently the French Government has introduced mail-cars on the routes from Paris to Brest and from Paris to Calais. Mails to Germany, or at least to certain portions of its postal latitude, are thrown out at a point between Paris and Calais, at what is termed the “Junction Road.” To follow up this portion of postal history would furnish a most interesting account of the whole system, and show to the world how insignificant are all other policies of rule, political, scientific, and military, when compared with that of TRADE AND COMMERCE.

50 In connection with the English post-office there is a savings-bank, which is also a money-order office. This bank is open for business during the same hours as for money-orders.

51 The island is situated in the Ohio River, one hundred and eighty-eight miles below Pittsburg, and two and a half miles from the beautiful little town of Parkersburg.

52 We were told by an officer of the department that the meaning of this section of the postal law is not made sufficiently clear, but it is generally understood by those who have control of an office. This is not the case; for we know one large newspaper (weekly) proprietor who, taking the section literally, sends a very large edition of his paper through the Philadelphia post-office to all his subscribers, and defends himself under this order from the general post-office:— “Weekly newspapers (one copy only) sent by the publisher to actual subscribers within the county where printed and published, free.”

53 New York Review.

54 For a number of these addresses the author is indebted to that excellent paper entitled the “United States Mail.”

55 There is a small paper published in Albany, New York, entitled the “Stamp Collector’s Record.” It is entirely devoted to the cause of stamps and their collectors. It furnishes also considerable information upon the subject in connection with foreign stamps.

56 The number of individuals employed in the English post-office is very considerable. On the 31st of December, 1857, it gave employment to twenty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty-one persons, while the number has been since considerably increased. More than two thousand of these clerks are employed in the chief office in London. The number of persons employed in the post-office of France amounts to twenty-six thousand and seventy-one; but then it should be remembered that the extent and population of France are greater than the extent and population of Great Britain.

57 It may be added here that these deliveries are distinct from what is termed the “general delivery.” As all the principal mails arrive in London in the morning, there are but three deliveries a day by the carriers of the general post. These carriers are distinguished from those belonging to the two-penny post or city delivery by wearing the livery of the department, viz.: a scarlet coat with a blue collar, and buttons stamped with an impression of the royal arms.

58 Persons anxious to examine more closely into this subject, which, however, is now settled, no doubt finally, by a compromise with the parties, are referred to the opinion of the court, “United States vs. Kochersperger,” in report of the postmaster-general for the year 1860.