The sun., 1916-12-31

Moberly Bell Of the Thunderer. He
arrived late for dinner at the House
one night. having been sitting on the
commission for amending the divorce
laws. He told his friends Of this incl
dent: In the middle of the proceed
ings Lady Frances Balfour had handed
him a sheaf Of papers. with the re-
quest: please take care Of these for
me. I haven't a pocket" what
exclaimed BELL in a good loud voice
you haven't q pocket and yet you
want to vote. God bless my soul"
Next. Mi. Roosevelt: ION the night
Of September 30. 1908. n. H. dined
with one Of his sons at the United
Service Club, and sat. after dinner, in
. fever Of impotence as the hands Of
the clock slowly crawled round to
midnight. As the clock finished strik-
ing II. H. had the satisfaction Of
posting holf a dozen letters to America
bearing The penny stamp. 1t was no
small qualification to II. H. to re-
ceive a letter Of congratuiation from
Mr.. Roosevelt posted likewise in
America Just after midnight. Some
time later II. H. met Mr.. Roosevelt
at the Guildhall in London. 1T was q
very great pleasure to me to post you
that letter said Mr.. Roosevelt. Yes
replied II. H. but why did you put
a twopence h%alfpenny stamp on IT,"
Mr.. Asquith said once. III | give
way to Henniker Heaton on a single
point be II on my doorstep the next
morning With nifty more" And that
u the way the father Of penny postage
worked for realisation Of his great
hope. Tho history OF his campaigning
for Il removes the Governments han
ding Of mall matter from the level Of
dull mechanic business to the plane Of
human interest" on which II belongs.
We cannot look at . mail bag without
being teased by its mystery. specu-
lating on Its human possibilities. 1t
Is not the mere conglomeration Of
scripts that we admire-love letters,
hate letters, duns, promises to pay,
receipts. advertisements. wedding in
%vitations. notes Of coincidence, letters
home from s%choolboys and soldiers Of
fortune. inky floods Of gossip or drip
pings from the poison pen. manu-
scripts for the printer. and so on and
on and on-not the h~odgepodge. but
tho certainty of q dramatic orderii-
ness concealed within the seeming
chaos. And all these enterprises and
relationships. part Of the great plot
Of the human play. are moved with
the moro facility because Sir Henni-
ker Heaton made . life work of
cheaper postage.
1t was in 1886, soon after he en-
tered Parliament. that he move a
resolution in the House Of Commons
inviting the Government to enter into
negotiations with other Governments
for the establishment Of a universal
system of penny postage" He was
regarded as a visionary. BY 1890
he had succeeded in reducing inter-
national postage from sixpence to
twopence ~ha'penny, and in July of
1895 he reJoiced over the initiation,
not complete establishment. OF penny
postage throughout the British En-
pire. 30 that "those might write who
v wrote before. and those who
wrote might only write the more"
Sir Henniker Heaton-"oh. what a
name for a novel;" exclaimed Anthony
Hope on being introduced to Its hon
ored bearer-was IL. Carlsbad when
the war broke out. With other non
combatants he started Immediately for
home: but his health was bad. and
the strain OF the first reports Of a VIC
torious German advance was too much
for him. He got as far as Geneva;
died there September 8. 1914, and 10
buried In that beautiful city.