The Bulk Of Our Letters Is Handled
In This Manner, And The Advantage Of Such An Arrangement Is
Manifest.
But it seemed that in the States no such practice
prevailed.
Letters arrived at any hour in the day miscellaneously,
and were dispatched at any hour, and I found that the postmaster at
one town could never tell me with certainty when letters would
arrive at another. If the towns were distant, I would be told that
the conveyance might take about two or three days; if they were
near, that my letter would get to hand "some time to-morrow." I
ascertained, moreover, by painful experience that the whole of a
mail would not always go forward by the first dispatch. As regarded
myself this had reference chiefly to English letters and newspapers.
"Only a part of the mail has come," the clerk would tell me. With
us the owners of that part which did not "come," would consider
themselves greatly aggrieved and make loud complaint. But in the
States complaints made against official departments are held to be
of little moment.
Letters also in the States are subject to great delays by
irregularities on railways. One train does not hit the town of its
destination before another train, to which it is nominally fitted,
has been started on its journey. The mail trains are not bound to
wait; and thus, in the large cities, far distant from New York,
great irregularity prevails. It is I think owing to this - at any
rate partly to this - that the system of telegraphing has become so
prevalent.
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