San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-08-16

others rags at Valley Force. 49,,
pleasure in communicating wifi I 'ook
otheras often as possible. Their ea u.
tiers contained many items which n Let,
are found under the head of gan nOw
news. The prices of various s a,t;oIal
OF use, the cost of living, tbe iass
election, the current opinions of i tSa
day, were all found in letters s;, ~ sae
because they could be gathered frp ry
no other source. Practically tbsra
was no such thing as mail ' lure
than two hundred years ago a na Hsss
was issued creating the office Of pNat
master for the colonies of Amer H'''
but nothing came of it, because tbsrs'
were not enough letters mailed ~
Justify the establishment of sucb
service. About 1920 a line of r;do,a
extended from Philadelphia to several
points in Virginia, but the service
was extremely irregular, because tbs
post rider Wis never sent out with
mail until enough letters had bean
gathered to pay the expense of the
trip, and no one could, therefore tall
when his missive would be forwarded
The speed was usually about tbirtv
miles a day, and when, at the first II
shis century, the rider, by changing
horses, made one hundred miles in
the twenty-four hours, the achieve.
ment was marveled at. More letters
are now received in single day in
New York than were then in the
whole country during a year. The
mail then between New York and
Boston was carried in a single pair
saddle-bags, and when the quantity
increased so that two pairs had 10 be
used the carriers demonstrated so
loudly that the matter became of con.
siderable consequence.
To receive q letter then was great
event in neighborhood, since years
sometimes passed without a letter
being brought to a country town, and
when one came it was signal for all
the neighhors to come in and hear it
read. Letters often took six weeks to
go from Philadelphia to the country
towns of Massachusetts, and during
this time the carriers had abundance
of leisure to read them and get their
contents by heart-an opportunity
they were not slow to use. There
was no law forbidding them to do
this, and as they enjoyed telling the
news they bore, and the people liked
to listen to them, this arrangement
was very satisfactory. This practice,
so abominable to those who cores.
pended, continued for many years,
until the number of letters and greater
expedition in their carriage prevented
the carriers from reading them. For
this reason the majority Of the pub.
lie men correspondent in cipher Of
some kind or another-a habit which
has been mistaken for evidence Of
craft, when, in fact, it was merelya
desire to render correspondence pr.
vate. Bad as the system of postal
service was, it was so superior to the
facilities of travelling that few were
disposed to complain. In those days
the man who, for any purpose, at
tempted to start on a journey from
Virginia to Massachusetts,, called his
friends together, gave them fare
we'll dinner, made his will, had pray
ers for his safety offered up in church,
and made his general arrangements
as d man now would if intending to
go to India or Africa for term OF
years. In Washington's time two
stages carried all the travel between
New York and Boston, posting sl9h'
teen hours each day and reaching
their destination in only SIX days,
When the stage stuck i'll the mud all
the passengers turned out, as they
do now out of a street car, got RAILS
and helped the driver. When New
York was in sight the wretched pas
were sometimes compelled 10
v AIT Tor ten days, if there chancedtO
be wind, before they could cross
the river, and not infrequently, Wne9
ice was running, a ferfyboat Woulu
be crushed in the foes and the pas
seugers fol,al to Chamber out on the
cakes, where they would float lOf
hours at the imminent danger OF BE-
ire carried out to sea.-C0TeSPonde'"
ST. LoNis Globe Democrat.