Foot-prints of a letter carrier; or, a history of the world's correspondece

rs, Carr

is a good

the heart i

as can ease i

au

t there is no doubt but as civilization progressed the word and its meaning laid the foundation for the many improvements which are

senger: it is that of the dove that went forth from the ark. "And the dove came in to him in the evening, and,

URN OF

in the ark at th

ide waters the

he night she c

had pluck'd on h

f Noah knelt d

nthems their pra

d tidings! oh,

e, thou art w

ck

ssaticum, and this from missus, one sent. The old Frenc

he thus

ede and seeming

n, much like a

letters, which hi

en

of the fourteent

ow is hir

alled "winge

t messages to the world, and, therefore, their very name

utifully alludes to

will

e dwellings

d with freque

send her wing

of supern

dages to the post-office, and now form one of its most

s a most welcome guest; and if he bring a lett

RRIER-

his "Metamorphoses," who tells us that Taurosthenes, by a pigeon stained with purple, gave not

ative place, and particularly where they have brought up their young, that these b

ng seized, a letter was found under its wings from its Sultan, in which he assured the garrison that "he would be with them in three days with an army sufficient to raise the siege." For this letter the besiegers substituted another to this purpose: "that the garrison must see to their own safety; for the Sultan had such other affairs pressing him it was impo

lly a basketful of them sent him from the grand seraglio, where they are bred, and, in case of any insurrection or other emergency, he is enabled, by lett

mense height to the place of their destination. They are believed to dart onward in a straight line, and never descend except when at a loss for breath; and then they are to be seen commo

o Aleppo in five hours, though couriers occupy the whole day, an

ys after their arrival there, might be thrown up precisely when the town-clock struck nine in the morning. This was done accordingly, and the pigeon arrived in London an

d to stand out till the enemy, despairing of reducing the place, withdrew. On the siege being raised, the Prince of Orange ordered that the pigeons which had rendered such

ich had been conveyed to London and there let loose, made the transit back-be

eir birth, and particularly to the spot where they had brought

or otherwise about half a mile from home and there turned out; after this it is carried a mile, two, f

TT

racters upon tablets smeared over or covered with wax. From this word comes that of letters; and, as they are more immediately connected with our subject, we incline to the opinion of Pliny that the word linere, to sme

with this only on it; but when in addition he could scarcely read the name through the mists of blotted ink and bad

al history. With the original ethnographic varieties of the human species, the primitive distribution of mankind, the patriarchal fountains of a once-pure religion, and the earliest sources of the diversity

ians. They were also termed "sacred sculptured characters," which was the original or, rather, monumental me

that philosopher to the popular lawyers of the House of Commons in the reign of James I., meaning those

that which is committed to writing will remain as e

script

T LETTER

a letter-writer: "So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the l

t may be well to state that she was allowed to do so by him, and that his name and seal were to be used as she ple

they may convey me over till I come into Judah." Also, in Esther i. 22: "For he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing th

he was a friend of David's . So he sent ambassadors to him, and saluted him, and congratulated him on the

TO KIN

ks to God for the peace I at present enjoy, and on that account I am at leisure and design to build a house to God; for God foretold to my father that such a house should be built by me. Wherefore I desire thee to send

stle he was pleased with it,

O KING

that thou sendest to me about; for when by my subjects I have cut down many trees of cedar and cypress wood, I will send them to sea, and will order my subjects to make floats of them, and to sail to what place soever of

records in the city of Tyre. Other epistles are also there recorded, among which were those written by Xerxes, King of the Persians, to Ezra; Artaxerxes to the Governme