CHAPTER XI.

SORTERS AND CIRCULATION.

Post-office sorters, unlike men who follow other avocations, are a race unsung, and a people unknown to fame. The soldier of adventure, the mariner on the high seas, the village blacksmith, the tiller of the soil, the woodman in the forest—nay, even the tailor on his bench,—all of these have formed the theme of song, and have claimed the notice of writers of verse. It is otherwise with the men who sort our letters. This may possibly be due to two causes—that sorters are comparatively a modern institution, and that their work is carried on practically under seal. In times which are little beyond the recollection of persons now living, the lines of post were so few, and the division and distribution of letters so simple, that the clerks who examined and taxed the correspondence also sorted it: and the time taken over the work would seem to show much deliberation in the process; for we find that in 1796, when correspondence was very limited, it took above an hour at Edinburgh "to tell up, examine, and retax" the letters received by the mail from England for places in the north; and that, when foreign mails arrived, two hours were required; and further time was necessary for taxing and sorting letters posted in Edinburgh for the same district of country—the staff employed in the business being two clerks. In those days there were really no sorters, unless such as were employed in the chief office in London. As to the work being carried on under seal, it is not going beyond the truth to say that, to the great majority of persons, the interior of the Post-office is a terra incognita, their sole knowledge of the institution being derived from the pillar and the postman.

Yet the sorters of the present age, forming a very large body, are ever engaged in doing an important and by no means simple duty. As letters arrive in the morning, and are handed in at the breakfast-table, speculation arises as to their origin; a well-known hand is recognised, interest is excited by the contents, or the well-springs of emotion are opened—joy is brought with the silvered note, or sorrow with the black insignia of death; and thus, absorbed in the matter of the letters themselves, no passing thought is spared to the operators whose diligent hands have given them wings or directed their line of flight.

When most men are enjoying the refreshment of nature's sweet restorer, which it is the privilege of the night-hours to give, the sorters in a large number of Post-offices throughout the country are hard at work, and on nearly all the great lines of railway the travelling Post-offices are speeding their wakeful flight in every direction, carrying not only immense quantities of correspondence, but a large staff of men who arrange and sort it in transit. Unconsciously though it may be, these men by their work are really a most powerful agency in binding society together, and promoting the commercial enterprise of the country. It lies in the nature of things that sorters' duties should largely fall into the night. Like a skilful mariner who bends to his use every wind that blows, the Post-office avails itself of every opportunity to send forward its letters. To lay aside till morning, correspondence arriving at an intermediate stage at night, would not consort with the demands of the age we live in; despatch is of the first consequence, and hence it is that to deal with through correspondence, many offices are open during the night. Some offices are never closed: at all hours the round of duty goes on without intermission; but in these, as also in many other cases where the periods of duty are long, relays of sorters are necessarily employed. Much might be said of the broken hours of attendance, the early risings, the discomforts and cold of the travelling Post-offices in winter, and the like, which sorters have to endure; and something might also be said of their loyalty to duty, punctuality in attendance, and readiness to strain every nerve under the pressure of occasions like Christmas. But these things would not, perhaps, be of general interest, and our object here is rather to show what a sorter's work really is.

Does it ever occur to an ordinary member of the community how letters are sorted? And if so, what has the thinking member made of it? We fear the idea would wear a somewhat hazy complexion. This is how it is done in Edinburgh, for example. The letters when posted are of course found all mixed together, and bearing addresses of every kind. They are first arranged with the postage-stamps all in one direction, then they are stamped (the labels being defaced in the process), and thereafter the letters are ready to be sorted. They are conveyed to sorting frames, where a first division is carried out, the letters being divided into about twenty lots, representing roads or despatching divisions, and a few large towns. Then at these divisions the final sortation takes place, to accord with the bags in which the letters will be enclosed when the proper hour of despatch arrives. This seems a very simple process, does it not?

But before a sorter is competent to do this work, he must learn "circulation," which is the technical name for the system under which correspondence flows to its destination, as the blood courses through the body by means of the arteries and veins. By way of contrast to what will be stated hereafter, it may be convenient to see how letters circulated less than a hundred years ago. In 1793 the London mail arrived at Glasgow at 6 o'clock in the morning, but the letters for Paisley did not reach the latter place till 11 a.m.—that is, five hours after their arrival in Glasgow, though the distance between the places is only seven miles. A couple of years before that, letters arriving at Edinburgh on Sunday morning for Stirling, Alloa, and other places north thereof, which went by way of Falkirk, were not despatched till Sunday night; they reached Falkirk the same night or early on Monday morning, and there they remained till Tuesday morning, when they went on with the North mail—so that between Edinburgh and Falkirk two whole days were consumed. In the year 1794 the London mail reached Edinburgh at 6 a.m., unless when detained by bad weather or breakdowns. The letters which it brought for Perth, Aberdeen, and places on that line, lay in Edinburgh fourteen hours—viz., till 8 p.m.—before being sent on. The people of Aberdeen were not satisfied with the arrangement, and as the result of agitation, the hour was altered to 1 p.m. This placed them, however, in no better position, for the arrival at Aberdeen was so late at night, that the letters could only be dealt with next day. It was not easy to accommodate all parties, and there was a good deal of trouble over this matter. The Edinburgh newspapers required an interval, after the arrival of the London mail, for the printing of their journals and preparing them for the North despatch. The Aberdeen people thought that an interval of three hours was sufficient for all purposes, and urged that the North mail should start at 9 a.m. In one of their memorials they write thus:—"They think that the institution of posts was, in the first place, to facilitate commerce by the conveyance of letters with the quickest possible despatch from one end of the kingdom to the other, and, in the next place, to raise a revenue for Government; and they cannot conceive that either of those ends will be promoted by the letters of two-thirds of the kingdom of Scotland lying dormant for many hours at Edinburgh."

In another of the petitions from the people of Aberdeen, they strangely introduce their loyalty as a lever in pressing their claims:—"Were we of this city," say they, "to lay claim to any peculiar merit, it might perhaps be that of a sincere attachment to order and good government, which places us, in this respect at least, equal to the most dignified city in Britain."

From a Post-office point of view, the memorialists appeared to be under some mistake as to the gain to be derived from the change desired, for there was something connected with the return mails which did not fall in with the plan, and the surveyor made some opposition to it. In one of his reports he makes this curious observation:—"I am persuaded that some of them, as now appears to be the case, may be very well pleased to get free from the obligation of answering their letters in course—and particularly in money matters"!

One or two instances of the cross-post service of former times, in England itself, which might be supposed to be more fortunate than its Scottish neighbour, will repay consideration. Thus we find it duly recorded in official reports, that in 1792 there was no direct post between Thrapston and Wellingborough, though the distance separating them was only nine miles. Letters could circulate between these towns by way of Stilton, Newark, Nottingham, and Northampton, performing a circuit of 148 miles, or they could be sent by way of London, 74 miles up and 68-1/2 down, in which latter case they reached their destination one day sooner than by the former round-about route.

Again, from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds, two important towns of 11,277[3] and 7655[3] inhabitants respectively, and distant from one another only 22 miles, there was no direct post. Letters had to be forwarded either through Norwich and Newmarket, or by way of London, the distance to be covered in the one case being 105 miles, and in the other 143-1/2 miles. We have not the means of computing the time letters took to travel from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds in 1792, but an Itinerary for 1812 affords the necessary information as regards the later period. Suppose a letter were posted at Ipswich for Bury St Edmunds on Monday, it would be despatched to Norwich at 5.30 a.m. on Tuesday, reaching Norwich some six hours thereafter. It would leave Norwich at 4.0 p.m. same day (Tuesday), and arrive at Newmarket at about 11.0 p.m., where it would lie all night and the greater part of next day, and would only arrive at Bury St Edmunds at 5.40 p.m. on Wednesday. If the letter were sent by the Metropolitan route, its time would be the same, thus:—Leaving Ipswich at 9.30 p.m. on Monday, it would reach London at 8.0 a.m. on Tuesday. Thence it would not get despatched till 7.30 p.m.; and proceeding to Newmarket, would arrive there at 4.0 a.m. on Wednesday. Here it would remain till the afternoon, and would reach Bury St Edmunds, as in the former case, at 5.40 p.m. (on Wednesday). So that, in practice, to cover this short interval of 22 miles by post, three whole days were necessary.

One more instance:—From Salisbury to South Wales, a distance of some 70 miles, letters had to circulate through London, making a journey, up and down, of something like 220 miles, and this without alternative.

These facts show what a poor circulation the Post-office had at the period in question, and what splendid intervals there were in which to sort the correspondence. Nowadays, in any office pretending to importance, the letters pour in all day long (and all night too, possibly), and they pour out in a constant stream at the same time—letters being in and out of an office in certain instances within the space of a few minutes. A good sorter will sort letters at the rate of 25 to 40 a minute. But let us look at what a sorter has to learn to do this. A leaf of the circulation book in use at Edinburgh for places in England is here inserted (p. 131), which will be of assistance in understanding the matter. It will be observed that there are seven times in the day at which despatches are made to England. Letters for Martock, in Somersetshire, for example, in accordance with the hour at which they may be posted, would be sent thus: to Birmingham at 10.0 a.m.; to the Midland Travelling Post-office Forward, third division, at 2.40 p.m.; no circulation at 4.15 p.m.; to the Glasgow and Carlisle Sorting Tender (a sorting carriage running between these towns) at 5.50 p.m.; no circulation at 7.20 p.m.; to the Bristol and Exeter Travelling Post-office at 9.0 p.m.; and to London at 10.0 p.m. Then if we take Mitcheldean, at the foot of the sheet, its circulation is this: to Birmingham at 10.0 a.m.; to Gloucester at 2.40 p.m.; to the Glasgow and Carlisle Sorting Tender at 5.50 p.m.; to Gloucester at 9.0 p.m.; and to Manchester at 10.0 p.m. And so on throughout the book, which contains the names of some 1300 places in England. Nor, as regards England, is this all. The sorters have to divide letters into the several London districts by reference to the street addresses which the letters bear. Again, these men have to know the circulation for Scotch towns and Irish towns, and many of them have, besides, such a knowledge of the streets of their own city, Edinburgh, as enables them to sort letters for delivery into the several postmen's districts. Thus it will be seen that the sortation of letters is no mere mechanical process, but demands considerable head-work, as well as activity of body.

Towns.Counties.How Sent.
Martock, R.S.O.Somerset10 a.m. Birmingham
(Ilminster) 2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., F. 3
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. B. & E. T.P.O.
10.0 p.m. London
MaryportCumberland10 a.m. Carlisle
2.0 p.m. Carlisle
5.50 p.m. Carlisle
9.0 p.m. Carlisle
Matlock BathDerby2.40 p.m. Derby
4.15 p.m. Derby
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. Derby
10.0 p.m. Leeds
MelkshamWiltshire10.0 a.m. Birmingham
2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., F. 2
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
7.20 p.m. London
9.0 p.m. London, G.W. Div.
10.0 p.m. London
Melton MowbrayLeicester2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., No. 3
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. Leicester
10.0 p.m. Leeds
Menai Bridge, R.S.O.Anglesea5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
(Bangor) 9.0 p.m. Liverpool
10.0 p.m. Manchester
Merthyr TydvillGlamorgan10.0 a.m. Birmingham
2.40 p.m. Gloucester
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. Gloucester
10.0 p.m. Manchester
Micheldever StationHants10.0 a.m. London
2.40 p.m. London, S.W. Div.
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
7.20 p.m. London
9.0 p.m. London, S.W. Div.
10.0 p.m. London
MiddlesboroughYork10.0 a.m. Darlington
10.0 p.m. Bag
Middleton-on-the-Hants10.0 a.m. York
Wolds, (Beverley) 2.40 p.m. Normanton
7.20 p.m. Hull
10.0 p.m. York
MiddlewichChester10.0 a.m. Liverpool
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. N.W. T.P.O.
10.0 p.m. Liverpool
MidhurstSussex10.0 a.m. London
2.40 p.m. London S.W. Div.
5.50 p.m. London S.W. Div.
7.20 p.m. London
9.0 p.m. London S.W. Div.
10.0 p.m. London
Milford HavenPembroke 10.0 a.m. Birmingham
2.40 p.m. Gloucester
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. Gloucester
10.0 p.m. Manchester
MilnthorpeWestmorland10.0 a.m. Birmingham
2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., F. 3
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. B. & E. T.P.O.
10.0 p.m. London
Milverton, R.S.O.Somerset10.0 a.m. Birmingham
(Taunton) 2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., F. 3
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. B. & E. T.P.O.
10.0 p.m. London
Milnehead, R.S.O.Somerset10.0 a.m. Birmingham
(Taunton) 2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., F. 1
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. B. & E. T.P.O.
10.0 p.m. London
MitchamSurrey10.0 a.m. London
2.40 p.m. London Sub.
5.50 p.m. London Sub.
7.20 p.m. London
9.0 p.m. London Sub.
10.0 p.m. London
Mitcheldean, R.S.O.Gloucester10.0 a.m. Birmingham
(Ross) 2.40 p.m. Gloucester
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. Gloucester
10.0 p.m. Manchester

With some men it is impossible for them ever to become good sorters, even with the most earnest desire on their part to do so. There are certain qualities necessary for the purpose, and if they are not united in the person, he will never come to the front as a good sorter. These are: self-command—necessary when working against time; activity in his person so as to meet any sudden strain of work; a methodical habit; and, the sine quâ non of a sorter, a quick, prehensile, and retentive memory. So much has a sorter to learn, that a man without a head can never distinguish himself; and an educational test, except as a measure of acquirements in a collateral way, is of very little use. A sorter's success rests chiefly upon natural aptitude.

In the circulation of letters, we may discover the paradox that "the longest road is often the shortest"; the explanation of which is, that by a round-about way letters may sometimes arrive sooner than by waiting the next chance by a more direct route. Post-office circulation is not tied down by any strait-laced lines of geographical science, nor by any consideration but that of the economy of time.

For example, at certain periods letters from Edinburgh for places in Norfolk and Suffolk go on to London, to return north to those counties by the mails out of London; similarly, letters for places north of Manchester are at certain hours sent on to that city, to be returned part of the way by next opportunity. It will no doubt seem a puzzle that letters for Ireland should, at a certain time of day, be forwarded from Edinburgh to Leeds in Yorkshire! Yet this is so, and with good results,—the fact being that, after the more direct despatches for the day, Irish letters are sent by the last evening train to Leeds, whence early next morning they are sent across the country, reaching a travelling Post-office proceeding from London to Holyhead, and then catching the day-mail packet for Ireland. Thus they arrive in the sister isle by the time they would otherwise be only leaving Scotland. In the travelling Post-offices the plan of carrying letters away from their destinations in order that time may be gained for their sortation, and afterwards sending them back by a Post-office carriage proceeding in the reverse direction, is largely practised, and with the greatest advantage. Again, letters from Newcastle-on-Tyne for Glasgow, forwarded by the night-mail, take what might be thought to be a very wide circuit—namely, by way of Normanton in Yorkshire, and Manchester and Wigan in Lancashire; yet that circulation is found to be best at the hour at which the night-mail despatch is made. In one more case that may be cited, letters from Berwick-on-Tweed for Carlisle are, at a certain time of the day, forwarded through Edinburgh as the most expeditious route. There is such a complexity of arrangement in the matter of circulation, and so great a dependence of any one part on a great many other surrounding parts, that comparatively few persons ever thoroughly understand it, and only those who can master it should meddle with it.

In one aspect the process of sortation bears some resemblance to digestion. This is observed in connection with the strange courses which letters run if, by a first misreading of the address, they happen to get out of their proper line or direction. A day seldom passes but some letter addressed to Edenbridge in Kent reaches the city of Edinburgh, either from London or some other English town. There is, of course, a strong resemblance between the names of the two places as written, yet the missent letters must have passed through the hands of two or three sorters before reaching Edinburgh. But though this might seem to suggest carelessness, there is this to be said, that whenever a letter for Edenbridge gets out of its own course, and into the stream of letters for Edinburgh, the sorters have a predisposition to assimilate it as an Edinburgh letter, and so it gets forwarded to that city. The same thing applies in regard to letters for Leek, Leith, and Keith, and for Musselburgh and Middlesborough—especially when, as is too often the case, the writing is not good; and many other similar instances might be given. Letters for Fiji frequently reach Edinburgh from London and the South, being missent as for Fife in Scotland; and we have it on the authority of the Colonial Postmaster of Fiji, that numbers of letters, papers, &c., directed to Fife, reach the Fiji Islands. Two letters posted at Hamilton, Bermuda, and addressed to Edinburgh, Saratoga Co., N.Y., were recently observed to perform a curious circuit before reaching their destination. Instead of being sent direct to the United States from Bermuda, they were forwarded to London in England; and here, getting into the current of inland correspondence, they were sent to Edinburgh in Scotland. At this stage their wild career was stopped, and they were put in proper course to recross the Atlantic. It is near the truth to say, that similarity of names and bad writing are the causes of very many of the irregularities which befall letters in their transit through the post.