which their mother had squeezed so frequently, carrying with her all the materials for the nest. The three survivors flew off one day when the door of the box was purposely left open for a time by the obliging postman portrayed in the picture.
That all is not gold that glitters has been recently brought home to three or four of the sub-postmasters in the Bristol district, a "sharper" having presented coins gilded to represent sovereigns and half-sovereigns, and obtained Postal Orders in exchange for them. Through the vigilance of the Bristol police the offender was eventually taken into custody, and, having been sentenced at the Assizes to six months' imprisonment, he had plenty of time to reflect on his offences. A bright, shining new farthing was received at the Bristol head office, sent inadvertently in a remittance from a sub-office as a half-sovereign, and mixed up with coins of that value, only to be detected, however, by the vigilant check clerk. The sub-postmaster who accepted it in error for a coin of more precious metal, and did not discover the mistake even in preparing the remittance, had to bear the loss.
One sub-postmaster, who has now departed this
life, was wont to furnish his explanations and reports in rhyme, a course which was tolerated on account of its singularity and of the writer's zeal and known devotion to his duty. The following is an example:—
To the Postmaster of Bristol:
"I willingly answer the question
Respecting the length of the track
From Shirehampton P.O. to Kingsweston
House front door, or lodge at the back;
But respecting the relative merits
Of back door, or door at the front,
As delivery door, I aver it's
A question I cannot but shunt.
To return to the question of distance:
Suppose that the birds of the air,
Sworn in as Post Office assistants,
To Kingsweston would messages bear:
As straight through their skiey dominions
They flew from front door to front door,
The length of the track of their pinions
In yards would be 1224.
When a featherless biped is bearer,
And through the lone woods his path picks,
The feet of this weary wayfarer
Cover yards quite 1466.
Should the wight have a key, there's a second
Way thro' the sunk fence's locked gate,
And then his poor feet must be reckoned
To make yards 1388.
As regards the back door, I pass by it;
The back lodge itself is much less
Than a mile, howsomdever you try it,
By Shirehampton Post Office Express.
I do not pretend to correctness,
To one yard or even a dozen;
No need for extreme circumspectness,
The margin's too ample to cozen.
I'm obliged by your flattering reference,
And when you've another dispute on,
I shall still be, with all proper deference,
Your obedient Servant,—G. Newton."
The turnpike gates in the neighbourhood of Bristol were abolished in October, 1867, and the consequence was that the proprietors of the various omnibuses by which day mail bags were conveyed to and from several of the districts around Bristol applied for, and obtained, a money payment in lieu of the tolls, the exemption, from which had formed the sole remuneration for the services performed.
The Bristol mail carts running to the rural districts, by permission of the Post Office, carry for the newspaper proprietors bundles of papers, weighing on an average on ordinary days 40 lbs., and on Saturdays 80 lbs. The enterprise of the Bristol newspaper proprietors in circulating by
private means the many thousands of the newspapers which they daily print is evidenced, from the circumstance that they find it necessary to commit to the agency of the Post Office only about 160 copies for distribution, and that chiefly in remote rural districts.