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

“Oh, then, as you are my friend, burn that fatal letter! While it exists, I am wretched: it is the curse of the few short moments I have yet to live. I have read it until each w...

When the city of Ptolemais, in Syria, was invested by the French and Venetians, and it was ready to fall into their hands, they observed a pigeon flying over them, and immediate...

After a visit to Lord Baltimore in his government of Maryland, Penn returned to _Coaquannock_ (the site of Philadelphia), and, still conscientiously regarding the Indians as rig...

“If the mail was not to move on Sunday on the routes enumerated, it would be delayed from three to four days in passing from one extreme of the route to the other. From Washingt...

Laws were enacted to punish those who laid the decoy, as well as those who fell into the trap. These punishments consisted of the bastinado, the pillory, banishment, hard labor,...

“FORBIDDEN ARTICLES.—The rule which forbids the transmission through the post of any article likely to injure the contents of the mail-bags or the person of any officer of the p...

The materials and instruments with which writing was performed were, in comparison with our pen, ink, and paper, extremely rude and unwieldy. One of the earliest methods was to...

To Mrs. Jane Gleason send this away; Please send it off without delay To Ripleyville P. O., if it goes aright; She will surely get it on Thursday night, In Huron county, Ohio St...

The boy Fletcher was at first supposed to be the only person concerned in the affair; but the investigation developed the facts above stated, and Barrett, who had suddenly left...

That country must be in a bad way where the heads of the several departments find it necessary to resort to the most infamous means of tracing out suspected traitors. Thus, in t...

The towns of the “Hanseatic League” were originally a confederacy united in an alliance for the mutual support and encouragement of their commerce. Perhaps the world’s history d...

Dull and heavy glide on the hours of night; silence like that of the prairie rests for a while on and around the city, save the howl of some watchful dog and the far-off sound o...

JACOB COLLAMER.—Born at Troy, New York, about 1792, and removed in childhood to Burlington, Vermont, with his father; graduated at the State University at that place in 1810; se...

One of the strongest tests by which the progressive prosperity of a country may be ascertained is that of its postal department. It forms a chain which links together all privat...

Ten years after the removal of Docwray from his office, another rival to the government department sprung up, in the shape of a half-penny post. The scheme, established by a Mr....

Having brought the postal history of the colonies up to the time Richard Bache succeeded Benjamin Franklin (November, 1776), and whose dismissal gave the latter some grounds of...

In September, 1835, near the close of his twentieth year, he graduated with high honor to himself and the university, then under the long successful presidency of the Rev. R. H....

Religious, educational, and agricultural newspapers of small size, issued less frequently than once a week, may be sent in packages to one address at the rate of one cent for ea...

To trace up the postal history of the colonies to the glorious epoch of our independence would be to give a history of trade and commerce, science and art. To these do every thi...

The postal services of the colonies now began to assume a somewhat business form, and, although some of these services were not immediately connected with the department, they w...

When in the capital to him A monument shall rise, The record of a nation’s love, The tribute of her sighs, We’ll vow that traitorous deeds no more Shall desecrate our fame; No m...

“Particular cases of gross abuse upon the post-office are within our knowledge, and the postmaster-general will be informed of hundreds of others. The opinion of those acquainte...

It is estimated that the 2870 miles of railroads finished in New England have cost $132,000,000,—which gives an average of nearly $46,000 per mile. In the Middle States, where t...

_Verse 7_ I understand to mean that when the _sea_ (_Neptune’s back_) is _red_ with the _American stripes_, the naval power of Britain shall decline. A proper exertion in the ar...

Connected with stamps, whether used as a currency or for the increase of revenue, there are many curious and interesting circumstances. The idea of producing a revenue by the sa...

Young Bevel Mr. Rigby. Mr. Sealand Mr. Malone. Sir John Bevel Mr. Bell. Myrtle Mr. Clarkson. Cimberton Mr. Miller. Humphry Mr. Adcock. Daniel Master L. Hallam. Tom Mr. Singleton...

“The Post-Office is properly a mercantile project. The government advances the expense of establishing the different offices, and of buying or hiring the necessary horses or car...

Harvey, Jenner, Palmer of Bath, of whom we have antecedently spoken, and scores of other discoverers and philanthropists, were less fortunate than the late post-office secretary...

The moment men, as well as nations, feel their own insignificance and witness the rising greatness of others, that moment they begin to plot mischief. Treason is the offspring o...

The first flag adopted by the colonial army before Boston was a red flag, with the mottoes, “An appeal to Heaven,” and “Qui transtulit sustinet,” which was construed by the colo...

From the little room which we have termed the “distribution-room,” letters are sent and scattered over the area named above, to the full amount of 18,000 daily, not including th...

─────────────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬────────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬────────────── States and │ Incidental │ Total │ Amount of │ Total │ Excess of...