Business was not so brisk, however, in Berry and Lincoln's grocery,
even after the license was granted, that the junior partner did not
welcome an appointment as postmaster which he received in May, 1833.
The appointment of a Whig by a Democratic administration seems to have
been made without comment. "The office was too insignificant to make
his politics an objection," say the autobiographical notes. The duties
of the new office were not arduous, for letters were few, and their
comings far between. At that date the mails were carried by four-horse
post-coaches from city to city, and on horseback from central points
into the country towns. The rates of postage were high. A single-sheet
letter carried thirty miles or under cost six cents; thirty to eighty
miles, ten cents; eighty to one hundred and fifty miles, twelve and
one-half cents; one hundred and fifty to four hundred miles, eighteen
and one-half cents; over four hundred miles, twenty-five cents. A copy
of this magazine sent from New York to New Salem would have cost fully
twenty-five cents. The mail was irregular in coming as well as light
in its contents. Though supposed to arrive twice a week, it sometimes
happened that a fortnight or more passed without any mail. Under these
conditions the New Salem post-office was not a serious care.
A large number of the patrons of the office lived in the country--many
of them miles away--but generally Lincoln delivered their letters at
their doors. These letters he would carefully place in the crown of
his hat, and distribute them from house to house. Thus it was in a
measure true that he kept the New Salem post-office in his hat. The
habit of carrying papers in his hat clung to Lincoln; for, many years
later, when he was a practising lawyer in Springfield, he apologized
for failing to answer a letter promptly, by explaining: "When I
received your letter I put it in my old hat, and buying a new one the
next day, the old one was set aside, and so the letter was lost sight
of for a time."
But whether the mail was delivered by the postmaster himself, or the
recipient came to the store to inquire, "Anything for me?" it was the
habit "to stop and visit awhile." He who received a letter read it and
told the contents; if he had a newspaper, usually the postmaster could
tell him in advance what it contained, for one of the perquisites of
the early post-office was the privilege of reading all printed matter
before delivering it. Every day, then, Lincoln's acquaintance in New
Salem, through his position as postmaster, became more intimate.