Page:What to do for Uncle Sam; a first book of citizenship (IA whattodoforuncle00bail).pdf/127

Rh of gum for different seasons. The stamps are dried after gumming, looked over for spots or cracks, and the sheets are punched so that they will tear apart easily. Not long ago Uncle Sam decided to make books of stamps bound in card-board, and having oiled paper between the stamps so that they would not stick together. This means a great deal more work and the books sell for only a cent or two more than the same number of loose stamps.

Your stamp is your letter’s traveling ticket. Stick it on well, and drop the letter in the nearest post-box. Now its adventures begin.

If you live in the country, the rural free delivery postman comes along in his blue cart, takes your letter to the post office where it is stamped with the name of the town, the time of leaving, and the date, and is sent to the mail train. The city letters have a more exciting start than this. New York, Philadelphia, and some other great cities shoot their mail through underground tubes, miles long, from the post offices to the railroad stations and wharves.

Uncle Sam’s mail trains are the fastest in the world and in time of any railroad trouble are always given the right of way. The mail cars are like small post offices, lined with letter racks, and piled deep with mail pouches. The mail clerk