the first post-rider would have looked upon the The locked box, in 1673, stood in the office of the Secre tary of the Colony, and was liter ally the Post office; not overcrowdedit took a month, at first, to accumulate a post-rider's mail, even with "small portable goods." But it was a great improvement upon the condition of things in 1652. A merchant had at that time brought to London some coffee, from the East, and his house was soon SO crowded with visitors to taste the delightful beverage-then innocent of AF chicory that he established his servant in a special coffee-house. From that beginning coffee-houses multiplied everywhere; and it is worthy of notice that benevolent people are again introducing them, in England, as a counteraction to intemperance-especially among seamen. To the coffee-house, then, as a popular gathering place, letters and packages were originally taken; left on the table, to be well thumbed and critically examined, till called for or removed of course, with no certainty of delivery, since so much depended upon the good-nature or mindfulness of neighbors and acquaintances. That "locked box," officially kept, and the monthly rider coming to empty it, were the first steps in advance toward system. In 1692, one person (Thomas Neale), received letters-patent in England to take charge of the whole postal business of the colonies. In 1704, a new arrangement was made; a general office in London, under a Postmaster-General, with a colonial deputy Postmaster General at New York. For fifty years, however, things went poorly under British management. The roads were bad; and we can imagine that poor foot-post, in 1730, trudging to Albany in midwinter-thankful, no doubt, if, like the rider from London to Edinburgh, in 1753, he had but one letter in his bagand that not overloaded with sealing-wax. Besides this, the riders were often untrustworthy, postmasters no better; and the service did not pay even their salaries, till, in 1753, Benjamin Franklin came into office as deputy PostmasterGeneral for the colonies. Then began system. He established the pennypost; made newspapers pay, which hitherto had been perquisites of the postmasters and riders; advertised letters, reduced rates; and quickened up riders and everything else. It was on one of his annual horseback journeys fom Philadelphia to Boston, for this purpose, that he stopped one cold evening at a tavern near New London.* The place around the fire was closely occupied, and no one stirred. "Give my horse a peck of raw oysters," said Franklin to the landlord. As the curious crowd followed the landlord out, he took the warmest corner; and since the horse, "foolish beast," refused the oysters, he had them set before himself. The result of Franklin's energy, as Postmaster-General, was, that in 1774, in THE OLD MAIL BAG. * Related in " Recollections of Olden Times," by Thos. Hazard of Rhode Island. stead of deficiency, there was a clear annual revenue to Great Britain of £3,000. In that year, for political reasons, he was dismissed, and the whole service practically collapsed; only again to reach like success under our two Postmasters and Postmaster-Generals Ebenezer Hazard and Thomas L. James. Early in 1775, my grandfather, Ebenezer Hazard, bookseller in New York, suggested to the patriot Committee of Safety, or rather of "Observation," as it was called, the great importance of reconstructing the Postoffice; and, under their sanction, he undertook the work. A few days after-viz., May 8, 1775they wrote to the Hartford committee that "a Constitutional Post-office is now rising on the ruins of the Parliamentary one, which is just expiring in convulsions!" Delightfully mixed metaphor"ruins, expiring in convulsions!" "I smell a rat; I see him floating in the air; I will nip him in the bud;" most certainly there was a countryman of Sir Boyle Roche on that committee ! It smacks SO sweetly of that rich and [From a painting in possession of Rev. Thomas E. Vermilye, D. L redundant brogue that has made itself heard in so many convulsions, and, doubtless, will be heard in the very last one. Evidently associated with Mr. Hazard, were William Goddard, born in New London, an enterprising journalist and printer of New York; and John Holt, a Virginian, editor of the New York Journal. The office was at Holt's printing-house, in Water Street; Goddard had charge of the route to Philadelphia, whilst Mr. Hazard superintended the route to Boston. This latter route had been the scene of some notable exploits in the way of EBENEZER HAZARD. post-riding. In 1773, the famous Paul Revere (who was an engraver by trade, and not a regular rider), had traveled the road in hot haste from Boston to New York, and thence to Philadelphia, with the news of the "Boston tea party." This same year (1775), Ebenezer Hurd, a regular rider, closed a service of forty-eight years, having begun it in 1727! Once a fortnight, during that entire period, he had made a journey from New York to Saybrook and back, 274 miles. In other words-for such is the computation—during those forty-eight years he had traveled over as much space as twelve and a half times round the world, or as far as to the moon and half way back! Meantime, what of the wife? Bringing up the children, managing the farm-during one year at least, 1767—spinning not less than five hundred yards of wool and flax, all raised on the place, making and mending, especially for that indefatigable rider who was doubtless "hard on his clothes." During the early night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere made his now famous ride. Before daybreak, that memorable daybreak of Wednesday, the 19th of April, of a spring so unusually bland that the gardens were already made-that daybreak, nevertheless, chill and seemingly disastrous, of which Samuel Adams said as he heard the firing, “Oh what a glorious morning is this"-before that daybreak the tragedy of Lexington Common was over; but not, for a whole day, the fight and the avengement. Somewhere about nine o'clock A.M., the Watertown committee started Israel Bissell to convey the news through the country. At noon he entered Worcester, shouting, "To arms, to arms, the war is begun!" He had ridden thirty six miles; and his white horse, bloody with spurring, and exhausted, fell as he reached the church door. Immediately another was procured, the Watertown dispatch was indorsed, and Israel Bissell was off again, due south for Brooklyn, Connecticut, thirty-eight miles more. This, for some reason, he only reached at eleven the next morning. But General Putnam quickly heard the news, left his plow in the furrow, and he, too, was off. Norwich, twenty miles more, was reached at four o'clock P.M.; New London (thirteen miles), at seven P.M. Here he had also reached the Boston post-road, by Providence; but the British had stopped the exit from Boston, and he must carry his news to Saybrook (twenty miles more) in order to meet the New York rider. At four A.M., of Friday, he was there. It is one hundred and thirty-seven miles to New York. A new rider now mounts, quite possibly the veteran Hurd, whose route it was. That same day, at noon, he was at Branford, seven miles from New Haven. At eight o'clock P. M., on Saturday, Jonathan Sturges signed his dispatch at Fairfield; Sunday, the twenty-third, at noon, Isaac Low signed it at New York, and at four o'clock P.M. forwarded it to THE SOUND or CHANNEL between Long Island and the Main, Ronte from New London to Saybrook, Say Brook Jerry P Stonington New London Groton dispatch Mr. Hazard afterward secured, and it is now in the Historical rooms at Philadelphia. But in New York how anxiously they discussed and how anx. iously awaited the next news! It is four days since the rider left Boston; the fight then in progress! On Monday at nine and one-half o'clock A.M., at New Haven, Pierrepont Edwards indorsed a second dispatch; the rider secured a fresh horse and hurried on. At three P.M. he was at Fairfield; at three A.M., Tuesday, the twenty-fifth, at Greenwich; and at two P.M., at New York. His name is not actually given, nor that of Sunday's rider, who bore the first dispatch. But whether as the first or second of the two-since this date closed up the old British service, and he was its veteranas he went clattering down the Bowery, shouting the news to eager crowds, it would have been a fine close to the riding days of Ebenezer Hurd. Mr. Hazard undertook the new arrangement the 1st of May. The matter of the post, however, was too vital to be left to disconnected efforts or individuals. Jefferson, in 1777, alludes to this-the great importance of speedy intelligence; falsehoods were propagated, and, simply for want of intelligence, people became lethargic, and the country suffered. Hence, they sent no provisions to the army, but left the States and places immediately involved to bear the brunt-so vital to the cause was a good and effective postal department. At Franklin's suggestion, the Continental Congress took up the matter; appointed him Postmaster-General for one year, or till another succeeded him, salary $1,000; and he appointed Richard Bache, his son-in-law, Secretary, Comptroller and Register-General, salary $340, commission to date from September 29, 1775, but signed October 2, 1775. In July (26th,) by a vote of twelve to six for Holt, the New York Provincial Congress (created in May,) had recommended Mr. Hazard to the Continental Congress as a fit person for Postmaster; and October 5, 1775, he was duly appointed by that body the first Postmaster of New York-nine months before the Declaration of Independence. FROM A PEN AND INK SKETCH IN FINLEY'S |