CARRIER-PIGEONS 327 



sheets weighing scarcely a gram and enclosed in a 

 quill contained as much reading matter as ten printed 

 volumes. What a marvelous piece of work, that 

 package of letters fastened to the pigeon's tail, that 

 quill transformed into a library in which thousands 

 of persons — friends, kinsfolk, statesmen — communi- 

 cated their projects, their fears, their hopes! In 

 this manner the mail service was maintained during 

 those woeful times. ' ' 



