THE CORNISH MAIL 135 



fatigable official, and now print a few of its intro- 

 ductory pages so that the reader may judge of what 

 devolves on the postmaster of this ancient port. 



' I was appointed,' he writes, ' Postmaster of Falmouth on 

 July 19, 1856, being tlien between twenty-two and twenty-three 

 years of age, and being told at the time I was the youngest 

 head postmaster in the kingdom. I was to be on probation for 

 a fortnight, and thus prove whether I was competent or not. 

 The duties all being new, strange, and complicated, almost 

 frightened me ; but I thought what one man can do, another 

 can ; so I gave myself up body and mind, and at the end of my 

 probation was considered able and fit, and the office was handed 

 over to me. 



' My staff then consisted of my wife, myself, three to^vn post- 

 men, and three rural postmen — total eight. 



' My hours were seven a.m. to ten p.m., with no time for meals 

 but what could be caught between the sale of stamps, issue of 

 money orders and other window duty; and here I would say 

 every single penny stamp had to be cut from its sheet with a 

 pair of scissors. The present perforation (a boon indeed to Post- 

 Office officials) had not then been invented. I say seven a.m. to 

 ten p.m., because the office was open to the pubhc during those 

 hours, except for a quarter of an hour to despatch each of two 

 mails, and for an hour to sort two in-mails. The duties did not 

 cease at ten p.m., masmuch as at that hour the North mail was 

 due bj" four-horse coach from Plymouth — there was then no 

 railway connnunication below Plymouth. The mail never 

 arrived within half an hour of ten, it was often much later. All 

 the letters, etc., had at once to be stamped by myself and sorted 

 off for the delivery at seven-thirty next morning. 



' The foreign-ship letters charge generally amounted to ten or 

 twelve pounds a day. Eegistered letters had to be separately 

 entered on a green form, folded in it, and directed, this form 

 being signed by the addressee and retm-ned by the postman, the 

 dehvery receipt to be duly filed and kept for record. AVhen this 

 had been done, bags had to be made up for despatch at one- 

 thirty a.m. (up North mail, middle of the night, you see !) ; bags 



