reached their destination, nor were they ever after heard of. The
postmaster of S----, not generally supposed to be a very exact man,
particularly when remitting money in letters for farmers' boys to their
Irish friends in eastern or western parts, was ever ready to oblige, and
with hearty good will entered into the views of, Parson Gulmore, when he
called on him, according to the advice of Amanda, "to have Paul's
letters seen to." And never mind they were "seen to" and secured.

This disgraceful proceeding, so disreputable to all concerned, and so
characteristic of the fidelity with which the business of "Uncle Sam" is
managed, was not confined to the detention and destruction of the poor
orphan's letters, but to the piracy of their contents too.

There is no department of the public service in the United States so
badly managed as the post-office department. Not only do robber
postmasters continue in office after their exposure and their plunder of
money letters, but they can be bribed to convey the epistles of
individuals to interested parties, who would come at their secrets; and
thus the most sacred and secret concerns of life are liable to exposure,
and to be sold for gain. We knew a postmaster who for years continued to
rob with impunity the letters that were deposited in his "den of
thieves;" and when he was exposed and disgraced through the
instrumentality of the writer of this tale, whole bushels of letters,
directed to Ireland by poor emigrants to their fathers, wives, and sons,
were found thrown aside in a nook of his office; the sole motive for
this scandalous robbery being the plunder of the twenty-four cents paid
on the letters to free them to Europe.

Sadly did the mysterious miscarriage of his letters puzzle the ingenuous
heart of poor Paul; though he had reason to suspect, from certain hints