Download or read book Ten Years Among the Mail Bags, 1855 written by J. Holbrook and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-07-17 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Ten Years Among the Mail Bags, 1855: Or Notes From the Diary of a Special Agent of the Post-Office Department A mail bag is an epitome of human life. All the elements which go to form the happiness or misery of individuals - the raw material, so to speak, of human hopes and fears - here exist in a chaotic state. These elements are imprisoned, like the winds in the fabled cave of olus, biding their time to go forth and fulfil their office, whether it be to refresh and invigorate the drooping flower, or to bring destruo tion upon the proud and stately forest-king. Well is it for the peace of mind of those who have in temporary charge these discordant forces, that they cannot trace the course of each missive as it passes from their hands. For although many hearts are made glad by' these silent messengers, yet in every day's mail there is enough of sadness and misery, lying torpid like serpents, until warmed into venomous life by a glance of the eye, to cast a gloom over the spirits of any one who should know it all; and to add new emphasis to the words of the wise man, He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. But until they are released from their temporary captivity, the letters guard in grim silence their varied contents. Joy and sorrow as yet have no voice; vice and crime are yet concealed, running, like subterranean streams, from the mind which originated, to the mind which is to receive their influence. The mail bag is as great a leveller as the grave, and it is only by the superscription in either case, that one occupant can be distinguished from the other. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.