THE CITY OF MANCHESTER 203 



disciplinarian, and well "able to reduce to order frac- 

 tions or careless officials of the opposite sex. The old 

 chief-clerk, full of nervous apprehension, would quake 

 at the prospect of his chief's reproof when anj^thing 

 went wrong. Any promoted officer would be told she 

 had given him her confidence — he was to ' beware 

 not to forfeit it.' 



Then, her duty done, the lady would unbend, and, 

 departing from the use of official English, would 

 break out into the racy Hallamshire vernacular, and 

 invite the happy man to her parlour to eat a piece of 

 parkin (the Yorkshire reader will own to the genuine 

 ring of my story), and, pouring out a glass of Marsala 

 wine, enjoin him, hospitably, to ' tak' ho'd, an' sup.' 



I remember that Mr. Scudamore and I went down 

 to Sheffield in 1868 to concert with Miss Wreaks and 

 the Surveyor arrangements for annexing the telegraph 

 business to her duties. But, although approaching 

 seventy years of age, the stout heart of the post- 

 mistress did not quail before the approaching burden. 

 What, in the event, did really disturb her was the 

 avalanche of official papers which telegraphy hurled 

 upon her desk. In fact, after a year or two's experi- 

 ence of the new work, she retired from office in 1872, 

 and until January 8, 1884, lived out a peaceful life 

 at Weston Bank. 



As in the case of Liverpool, its great neighbour, 

 Manchester, on the whole, has been fortunate in its 

 postmasters. What was written of one in '1772 was 

 true of another in 1887. 



