years ago it was his business to carry the Southern mail on his shoulder down to the Cortlandt Street landing, transport it by skiff to Paulus Hook (Jersey City), and receive the Southern mail in return. The change may be vaguely realized when we consider that it takes four stout horses each day to draw the same mail to the "Washington train." In spite of the infirmities of advancing years, at eighty the colonel was faithfully at his post in the letter-delivery department. year or more ago his desk and its business, when he was absent from duty, were moved up stairs. The old colonel, after this change, went to his accustomed place, and found it occupied by another; where there had been letters were piles of newspaper packages-all was changed. He was shown where was in future to be his desk, but he ob A jected, and wanted to be put on duty in his old | turns abruptly away because her absent spouse location; the spot and its surroundings had "had failed to write." become necessary for his happiness. This, of course, was impossible, and he has never recovered from the disappointment. In the month of June, 1869, when the foundations of the new post-office were laid in the Park, he was a prominent actor. When all had been concluded the old government officer observed, "Now let me live to see this building completed, and I will die content." The windows of the post-office for the distribution of letters and the selling of stamps, "in sums less than one dollar," are interesting places to study the cosmopolitan character of our busy population. It is not uncommon to witness people of every nationality "in line," waiting for their turn to inquire for correspondence. The ladies' window is especially a centre of observation; and the appearance of the sex dressed in gay colors and wreathed in smiles lightens up the otherwise care-worn, pell-mell, rushing, and sombre-looking crowd. Here the "young lady of the period" contrasts with the old crone whose undutiful son is "off at sea." The widow in her weeds throws sly glances at the dashing clerk; her hopefulness of the future contrasting strongly with the face of the suffering wife, who, sad and discontented, During the rebellion the post-office clerks, by virtue of their duties, were often made unwilling participants in many sad scenes and associations. There was a terrible significance in the hymn or prayer book returned "from the front," often saturated with blood or marred by the bullet. Then there were the packets of unclaimed letters, dictated by loving, patriotic hearts, returned to the mother, wife, or sweetheart of the soldier, bearing the formal but terrible indorsement of the adjutant of the regiment, of "William Brown, killed in battle." It was often almost like stabbing the recipients to the heart to hand them such a fatal gift, and the look of unutterable anguish that sometimes followed haunted the day musings and midnight dreams of the sympathizing official. But there sometimes, nay, often, came a letter that conveyed to wife and family a respite to agonizing suspense, and then the old post-office was for the moment bright, and the dangers of war for an instant were forgotten. Lessons of human nature are taught at the delivery window of a postoffice in the classified peculiarities of the universal patrons of the "republic of letters," among which are developed the common facts, that "clergymen, as a class, and women, universally, are the most difficult to please;" certainly they seem to complain the most. Romantic incidents are not unusual in the history of specific mails. When the Japanese empire was opened to the outside world, the first mail from that legendary country was sent to New York in a sailing vessel via San Francisco, Panama, and Aspinwall. By a coincidence a mail from China via England arrived at the post-office simultaneously, and the written ideas and wishes of these two Oriental nations for the moment reposed side by side. In their route of destination they separated, and made the circuit of the world, to meet again in our great Western city of "mushroom barbarians." But speculation is brief in the postoffice when work is to be done; the words, "Who separates ?" are heard, the "travelers" are "broken up," and piecemeal sent to their various destinations. "This book will be handed to you by Mr., who is authorized to collect moneys of the clerks for political derstand that giving funds for such a purpose is at his purposes; but I wish each clerk distinctly to unown option. Those who give will not be helped by it, and those who refuse will not be injured." Possibly it is necessary for us to state that while the clerks saved their money, and the party wasn't injured, the "grand central committee" was deprived of nothing more nor less than the means of indulging in a Champagne supper. A post-office clerk, under the most favorable circumstances, has a delicate and responsible position to hold, for he is constantly subjected to suspicion. Money letters can be robbed before they reach the office, and can be robbed before they reach their owners after they leave the office. One day a person called on the postmaster with a letter written by a lady of great respectability, in which it was stated that Some years since a steamer running between "inclosed you will find ten dollars in liquidaLiverpool and Quebec was involved in a terrible tion of your bill against me." But the letter storm that swept over the mouth of the St. Law- had apparently been opened, and the remains The stanch ship was lost, and all liv- only of the edges of the remittance, sticking to ing creatures on board perished. Two months some paste, were left behind. The bill, save the afterward the divers, among other things, re- remains of the slight mutilation alluded to, was covered from the wreck the New York city gone. By examining the fragment still adhermail, and it was promptly forwarded to its ing to the paste the word one, one, one, oft replace of destination. When opened the con- peated, presented itself. Thus this base attents were found comparatively safe; the let-tempt to swindle an honest creditor and defame ters were carefully dried and duly distributed; and these frail, delicate, paper memorials of thought remained intact, while the iron-ribbed ship and the brave men who commanded her still repose in their ocean grave. rence. the credit of the post-office was exposed. People who come to the post-office and make complaints of being robbed, when they discover that they were mistaken never call and make reparation, or relieve the department of the charge made against its employés. A merchant, much excited, complained that a letter sent to him "by a most responsible house,” containing $500, had not been received. This charge was fortified by showing a letter from the postmaster who mailed the missing letter, No service in any department of the federal government is more exacting in hours of labor and hard work than the post-office, and no government service has more enthusiastic and faithful officers. On a recent occasion a ward politician was appointed to a place in the post-office. He was set to work "killing postage stamps"-certifying that it was forwarded, and contained that is, defacing the stamp on mailed letters. He worked away from 8 o'clock A.M. until noon, then deliberately quit his table, went up to the postmaster, and drawled out, "Look here, gineral, I wanted an app'intment, not hard work; and ef this is the best thing you can do for me, I'll quit." And the "wielder of powerful political influence" quit, and departed to the more genial quarters of a drinking saloon up town. the $500. Detectives were at once set to work to unravel the iniquity, but all efforts proved unavailing. Finally the post-office authorities, after weeks of hard work, called on the complaining merchant and asked if he had heard any thing about the missing money. "Oh," replied the gentleman, with great vivacity, "that's all right; by mistake that letter was thrown into the safe, and remained unopened nearly four weeks. Funny, wasn't it?" Not even an apology was made for charging the post-office with purloining the money, or for giving its officers so much unnecessary trouble. The pay of the post-office clerk is exceedingly small, and, however earnest he may be as a partisan, the political tax annually levied is by no means a bright spot in his hard fortunes. Charges of dishonesty against the post-office We have mentioned how Mr. Coddington treat- are made where nobody but "extraordinary ed this custom; another example may not be circumstances" are to blame. A letter conout of place. When General Dix was post-taining two $1000 bills in it was delivered by master he was approached on the subject of allowing a subscription to be taken among the clerks for party purposes. He appeared to promptly coincide with the idea, making only one condition-that it should be taken up in his own way. He accordingly took a small blank book and wrote the following: the carrier, who, according to custom (ignorant of its contents, of course), at the house of its owner, shoved it into the hallway, under the door. The letter was missing. Complaint was made at the post-office; evidence was produced that the money had been forwarded. The detectives were set to work to trace out the robbery. The poor carrier, and the clerks Broadway, Albany, and the faithful clerks had thrown it into their own city delivery box instead of forwarding it to New York. The confusion in the mind of the writer of the letter grew out of the fact that there is a Broadway in both cities, and from force of habit he Miserable chirography is one of the most prolific causes of post-office inefficiency. It is safe to say that unmistakenly written directions would remove nine-tenths of the complaints. What is a nonplused clerk to do with letters addressed to "Mahara Seney," "Old Cort," or "Cow House," when Morrisania, Olcott, and The misdirection of letters is the cause of serious charges against the post-office. A let-Cohoes were really intended? ter containing $700 was mailed from Albany to New York. It was sent from a well-known person, and the package which was supposed to contain the letter, made up in Albany, was not opened until it reached New York. Both ends of the line were under suspicion. It was stated that the letter was addressed Mr. Broadway, New York. After a long search it was found that the letter had never left Albany at all, being directed by mistake Mr. One day, possibly four years ago, Mr. Kelly was sitting in his private office opening his personal letters, and enjoying the delusion that every thing was working satisfactorily, when, to his surprise, he found one letter from Washington calling his especial attention to the "inclosed editorial," cut from the Tribune, in which the carelessness of his clerks, and the generally unsatisfactory manner with which he carried on his business, were dilated upon, ending with DELIVERING LETTERS. At the post-office, when they distribute letters, those on which the direction is not instantly made out, to save time, are thrown in a pile for especial examination; if a second and more careful study fails, they are consigned to an especial clerk, who is denominated the chief of the bureau of "hards." To this important functionary the envelope of Chappaqua was at last referred. He examined it a moment, and his eye flashed with the expression of recognizing an old acquaintance. "This thing," said he, holding up the envelope with the tip ends of his fingers, "came to me some days ago along with the other 'hards.' I studied the superscription at my leisure a whole day, but couldn't make it out. I then showed it to the best experts in handwriting attached to the office, and called on outsiders to test their skill; but what the writing meant, if it was writing, was a conundrum that we all gave up. Finally, in desperation, it was suggested, as a last resort, to send it to Chappaqua," which happened to be its place of destination. Such is the literal history of the reason of an earnestly written denunciation of the inefficiency of the city post. We have traced the growth of the post-office of New York ment for one postmaster and a single assistant to the present, and what a change! Language fails to give an idea; statistics pall on the ear in unmeaning sounds, and only confuse the mind. A few random illustrations must therefore suffice. the startling announcement that, under the | from the time when it found but partial employpresent management of the department, it took four days to get a letter from New York to Chappaqua, distance about thirty miles, and made literally no distance by a fast railway! Consternation ensued, and Mr. Kelly, to commence examination into these serious charges, sent a special agent to Chappaqua for the envelope of said delayed letter. At the place named the official fortunately not only found what he went after (the envelope), but also Mr. Greeley and "Miles O'Reilly." After due explanations the envelope was handed to Miles O'Reilly, with the query of what he thought was the meaning of the superscription. "Why," said that genial wit, who had once been a deputy postmaster, "the devil himself couldn't make it out." The envelope was then brought to the attention of the berated clerks, who looked at it with glazed eyes, the hieroglyphics suggesting somewhat the same intellectual speculation that would result from studying the foot-prints of a gigantic spider that had, after wading kneedeep in ink, retreated hastily across the paper. The discipline and efficiency of the city post is shown in the reminiscence that, twenty years ago, before there was a postal treaty with England, people in that country, according to their caprice, indorsed on the outside of their letters by what line of steamers they desired them to be sent. By some accident neither of the two composing the American line crossed from England in six months! The consequence was an extraordinary accumulation of letters indorsed by American steamer;" and when the Washington did reach this port, having "broken her shaft, and been frozen up in the harbor of Bremen," she had a six months' mail on board. This enormous collection of letters was taken to the post-office, and the clerks, without neglecting their daily routine duties and working "overtime," distributed this ac |