Page:The Post Office of Fifty Years Ago.djvu/106

38 brought to the counter, and the postage paid at the rate already specified; viz., a penny for each letter or packet not exceeding half an ounce, with an additional penny for each additional half ounce; the letter being weighed, if necessary, in the presence of the bringer, and stamped with the date and the address of the receiving-house, the marks being given by a tell-tale stamp; that is to say, a stamp, connected with mechanism (upon a plan well known) for the purpose of counting the letters as they were impressed. It would be unnecessary to mark the amount of postage, and therefore the stamp would not be varied. The letter, when stamped, to be thrown by the receiver into a box marked with the initial letter of the post-town to which it is addressed. Thus all letters, as received, would be assorted alphabetically; that is to say, all letters for post-towns beginning with A would be thrown together, &c. A similar set of boxes would be required for newspapers, so long as the present arrangements respecting them exist, the newspapers and