Page:All the Year Round - Series 1 - Volume 1.djvu/200

192 ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [June 18, 1859.] one would suppose who merely observed the operation from the carriage; at the same instant, several bags come tumbling into the carriage net, as if from the moon. Before the guard has hauled them all in, dragged up the net, and shut out the fresh night air once more, the whole train has shot half a mile beyond the place where the Railway Post-office has effected this advantageous exchange.

The guard instantly plunges head first amongst his new treasures, which he opens, and presents to the sorting clerks. Letters that have been brought by hand and cart from some quiet village in the heart of Hertfordshire, and whose destination is some quiet village in the heart of Kent, are now careering towards the north with the speed of the wind, to be sorted, made up, and sent back, along their proper arteries, at the next postal station. Local papers going to London to set an example to the metropolitan press; London papers sucked dry by provincial politicians, and sent across the country to some fourth or fifth day's reader; letters from country to their London merchants, which smell of tobacco, cheese, and tea; dead letters from the country post town, done up in a funeral black bag, and money-order communications encased in large coarse envelopes, the colour of golden orange; neat little pink notes from Lady Fusbos in the country to the Hon. Miss Busfos in town, one posted close upon the other, and the latter rendering the former null and void; letters from country Lawyers about rents and land, addressed in that unmistakable clear hand which is recognised as the law clerk's with half a glance; letters from country drapers to that firm not far from Watling-street, stating that it will be utterly impossible to meet that bill which will fall due on the fourth of that month; letters from the indefatigable Mr. Binks, the commercial traveller, enclosed in printed envelopes, addressed to "the firm," and containing long sheets of orders to a highly satisfactory amount; letters with narrow black borders, that show how death has distantly appeared to some household, and letters with broad black borders, that show how his dark shadow has fallen very near; letters with the whitest of envelopes, and the firmest of contents, which tell of something more cheerful than the grave; letters in brown and yellow envelopes, with equally solid contents, which convey some country auctioneer's card to view a property that is advertised for sale; letters that are warm and affectionate, free and easy, cold and dignified; letters where compliments are presented, where Sir gradually thaws into Dear sir, Dear sir into My dear sir, and so on through Tomkins, Henry, Harry, Hal, Old fellow, and Everlasting brick; letters that are registered in heaven, letters that are registered on earth, and letters that are registered in the other extreme these, and many more whose contents could not be guessed by their exteriors, are amongst the treasures which our guard has hauled in by the way.

Other baits were hung out at different points of our journey, always with the same successful result; and after we got to Rugby the work became doubly heavy as far as Preston, and our three clerks were increased to six. Heavy bags, it is true, were taken out at places where we stopped, but bags that were equally heavy were generally taken in, and the labour was always being renewed from the point where it seemed to leave off. The sorting from Rugby became more fast and furious; the ventilation of the carriage became more doubtful, and the scent of the sealing-wax more strong; the dust increased in a very perceptible degree; the sorters became more fishy-eyed and worn out, especially as they approached Preston the town where they were to be relieved. The five thousand letters, which each officer is bound to sort during one journey, whether it be long or short, were just finished by each individual as the signal whistle announced the entry into the not very sightly station of the old Lancashire town. I leaped off the end counter, where I had long been sorted, out of the way, in my character as a letter, and at once reassumed my character of a bed-seeking, coffee-drinking man. The idle apprentices who had been tossing restlessly upon their costly, luxurious, first-class couches throughout the night, might have looked with envy upon the group of industrious apprentices who had never found a moment of time from London to Preston that hung, in the slightest degree, heavily upon their hands. Another batch of industrious apprentices were waiting to fill the vacant places, and before the inexperienced traveller had ascertained where he was, the Railway Post-office and its adjuncts were again upon their way. Dozens of such offices were at the same moment flying all over the country flying, as they began to fly some twenty years ago as they have, one or other, never ceased to fly from that hour to this. They will never cease to fly to the end of time.