Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-07-29
HOW WE PROGRESS.
fame ~ ,eta Aksst tie Time Whss .
at,rlel sair or saddle baEN Carried an
the M Between New Isrk Az
Beaten.

s>-. n ,eta Ahsst the Time Whss .
a,,.Ie sair or saddle-haEN Carried an
the nA I Between New Isrk a.s
Beaten.
~ LOWS Gtobs. Gkmerui.
The nevn papers and the invention.
for transmit, ing mails and intelligeuc,
have vorks d marvellous change
among other thing, in letter.wriilnp,
Few men hay, now time or inclination
I'd carry on Goa respondence with then
friends in distaA cities, and when they
do write their Leu tiers treat OF some mat.
ter which IL disp tsed OF In the fewest
possible words. I hen II was different
and the men who had fought together
at the Brandy via 'e, who had stool
shoulder to should y ut Trenton and
Germantown, and had shared each
others rage at Valley Forge, took pleas.
IRE in communicating with each other
rs often as possible. I heir letters con
tanned many items (which now are
found in the papers unA'er the head Of
general news. The pm ces OF vados
articles Of Use, the cost OF living, the
last election, the current opinions Of
the day, were all found in letters simply
because they could be gathered from no
other source. Practically there Wa no
such thing as mall. Less than two
hundred years ago a patent was isssed
creating the Office Of postmaster for the
colonies Of A merica, but nothing came
Of il, because there was not enough lea
ters mailed to justify the establish ment
of service. About ITO line OF riders
extended from Philadelphia To several
points In Virginia, but the service wAs
extremely irregular, because the post
rider was never sent out with mali un-
ill enough letters had been gathered Ia
pay the expense OF the trip, aud no one
could therefore, tell when his missivr
would be forwarded. The
Speed Was Usually Aboat Thirty miles
Dnv.
and when, ut the first OF this century.
the rider, by changing horses, made LOO
miles i'm the twenty four hours, the
achievement was msrvelled at. More
mails are now received in II single day
in New York than were then In six
months: ana more letters there in one
day than then In the whole country
during n year. The mail then between
New York and Boston was carriei ~
single pair OF saddle.bags, aud when
the quantity increased ~ that two pars
had To he used the carriers monstrsted
70 loudly that the matter became OF
considerable consequence. To receive
a letter then was great event In
neighborhood, since years sometimes
passed without a letter being brought to
q country town, and when one came II
WIS a signal for all the neighbors ~
come in and hear II read. Letters often
took six weeks 10 go from Philadelphia
TO the country towns OF Massachusetts,,
and during this time the carriers hSd
abundance OF leisure to read them and
get their contents by heart, an oppor.
tunity 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 10 listen
TO them, this arrangement was very
This practice, SO aboinin.
BILE TO those v no correspond, contiucd
for many years until the number Of
letters and greater expedition In their
canirge prevented the carriefs Rom
reading them. For this reason the
majority OF the
Public Men CORES pondcd IN Giphev
Of some kind or another, n habit which
has been mistaken for evidence Of cram
"DCD III TACT IL WaS IDtTeIy ucslTo W
render correspondence private. BAD ~
the system Of postal service was, 1t
was so superior to the facilities for
travelling that few were disposed to
complain. In those days the man Who,
for any purpose, attempted to start on
q Journey from Virginia TO MassAchu-
sets called his friends together, gave
them q farewell dinner, made bis will.
bad prayers for his safety offered up in
the church, and made his general ar
a. o man now would u In
tending 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 eighteen
hours OF each day and reaching their
destination In only six days. When
the stage stuck In the mud all the pas
seDgers turned out, a. they do now out
of street car, got rails and helped the
drivsr. When New York was In sight
The wretched passengers were some
lines compelled TO wait for ten days, II
there CHANGED to be q wind, before they
could cross the river, and not In
frequently, when ice was running, .
rerry boat would be crushed In the 6oes
snd the passengers forced TO CHAMBER
out on the cakes. where they would foat
for hours at the imminent danger u
A., ip0 oa rvi.t nut IN aAa