128 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



years ago it used to be a subject of speculation how 

 it was that lapses of punctuality in the post from 

 St. Austell to Higher Sticker gave rise to little or no 

 complaint. The delivery was made by a small, weak- 

 backed, not very physically-fit man ; and it was 

 supposed that the sympathy of those he served caused 

 them to refrain from grumbling at late arrivals of 

 correspondence. The office, too, looked aside as 

 far as it properly might. When it was obliged to 

 take notice, his poor back was the invariable excuse. 

 'One day,' writes a correspondent, 'when I had to 

 speak to him more seriously than usual, he said, 

 " Well, I will tell you the truth : there were more 

 people than usual on my round that day who wanted 

 shaving." Now, as the masculine part of the popula- 

 tion cared just as much about being shaved as about 

 getting their letters, no complaint arose. Pity kept 

 the others silent. The invalid had for years com- 

 bined the duties of a rural postman with those of a 

 barber, and had stayed on his rounds to shave or cut 

 the hair of any who needed the tonsorial office while 

 he should have been delivering his letters.' 



The times, one need not write, are changed smce 

 June 18, 1821, when Thomas Carlyle, at Edinburgh, 

 explained to Jane Carlyle, at Haddington, the delay 

 in the arrival of ' Nochden's German Grammar ' by 

 the fact of the London smacks being all becalmed.* 

 They are changed not only as regards postal methods 

 affecting the North, but as regards Cornish posts too. 



* ' Early Letters of T. Carlyle.' Macmillan, 1886. 



