SORTERS AND CIRCULATION.
Post-office sorters, unlike men who follow other avocations, are a race
unsung, and a people unknown to fame. The soldier of adventure, the
mariner on the high seas, the village blacksmith, the tiller of the
soil, the woodman in the forest--nay, even the tailor on his bench,--all
of these have formed the theme of song, and have claimed the notice of
writers of verse. It is otherwise with the men who sort our letters.
This may possibly be due to two causes--that sorters are comparatively a
modern institution, and that their work is carried on practically under
seal. In times which are little beyond the recollection of persons now
living, the lines of post were so few, and the division and distribution
of letters so simple, that the clerks who examined and taxed the
correspondence also sorted it: and the time taken over the work would
seem to show much deliberation in the process; for we find that in 1796,
when correspondence was very limited, it took above an hour at Edinburgh
"to tell up, examine, and retax" the letters received by the mail from
England for places in the north; and that, when foreign mails arrived,
two hours were required; and further time was necessary for taxing and
sorting letters posted in Edinburgh for the same district of
country--the staff employed in the business being two clerks. In those
days there were really no sorters, unless such as were employed in the
chief office in London. As to the work being carried on under seal, it
is not going beyond the truth to say that, to the great majority of
persons, the interior of the Post-office is a _terra incognita_, their
sole knowledge of the institution being derived from the pillar and the
postman.
Yet the sorters of the present age, forming a very large body, are ever
engaged in doing an important and by no means simple duty. As letters
arrive in the morning, and are handed in at the breakfast-table,
speculation arises as to their origin; a well-known hand is recognised,
interest is excited by the contents, or the well-springs of emotion are
opened--joy is brought with the silvered note, or sorrow with the black
insignia of death; and thus, absorbed in the matter of the letters
themselves, no passing thought is spared to the operators whose diligent
hands have given them wings or directed their line of flight.
When most men are enjoying the refreshment of nature's sweet restorer,
which it is the privilege of the night-hours to give, the sorters in a
large number of post-offices throughout the country are hard at work,
and on nearly all the great lines of railway the travelling post-offices
are speeding their wakeful flight in every direction, carrying not only
immense quantities of correspondence, but a large staff of men who
arrange and sort it in transit. Unconsciously though it may be, these
men by their work are really a most powerful agency in binding society
together, and promoting the commercial enterprise of the country. It
lies in the nature of things that sorters' duties should largely fall
into the night. Like a skilful mariner who bends to his use every wind
that blows, the Post-office avails itself of every opportunity to send
forward its letters. To lay aside till morning, correspondence arriving
at an intermediate stage at night, would not consort with the demands of
the age we live in; despatch is of the first consequence, and hence it
is that to deal with _through_ correspondence, many offices are open
during the night. Some offices are never closed: at all hours the round
of duty goes on without intermission; but in these, as also in many
other cases where the periods of duty are long, relays of sorters are
necessarily employed. Much might be said of the broken hours of
attendance, the early risings, the discomforts and cold of the
travelling post-offices in winter, and the like, which sorters have to
endure; and something might also be said of their loyalty to duty,
punctuality in attendance, and readiness to strain every nerve under the
pressure of occasions like Christmas. But these things would not,
perhaps, be of general interest, and our object here is rather to show
what a sorter's work really is.
Does it ever occur to an ordinary member of the community how letters
are sorted? And if so, what has the thinking member made of it? We fear
the idea would wear a somewhat hazy complexion. This is how it is done
in Edinburgh, for example. The letters when posted are of course found
all mixed together, and bearing addresses of every kind. They are first
arranged with the postage-stamps all in one direction, then they are
stamped (the labels being defaced in the process), and thereafter the
letters are ready to be sorted. They are conveyed to sorting frames,
where a first division is carried out, the letters being divided into
about twenty lots, representing roads or despatching divisions, and a
few large towns. Then at these divisions the final sortation takes
place, to accord with the bags in which the letters will be enclosed
when the proper hour of despatch arrives. This seems a very simple
process, does it not?
But before a sorter is competent to do this work, he must learn
"circulation," which is the technical name for the system under which
correspondence flows to its destination, as the blood courses through
the body by means of the arteries and veins. By way of contrast to what
will be stated hereafter, it may be convenient to see how letters
circulated less than a hundred years ago. In 1793 the London mail
arrived at Glasgow at 6 o'clock in the morning, but the letters for
Paisley did not reach the latter place till 11 A.M.--that is, five hours
after their arrival in Glasgow, though the distance between the places
is only seven miles. A couple of years before that, letters arriving at
Edinburgh on Sunday morning for Stirling, Alloa, and other places north
thereof, which went by way of Falkirk, were not despatched till Sunday
night; they reached Falkirk the same night or early on Monday morning,
and there they remained till Tuesday morning, when they went on with the
North mail--so that between Edinburgh and Falkirk two whole days were
consumed. In the year 1794 the London mail reached Edinburgh at 6 A.M.,
unless when detained by bad weather or breakdowns. The letters which it
brought for Perth, Aberdeen, and places on that line, lay in Edinburgh
fourteen hours--viz., till 8 P.M.--before being sent on. The people of
Aberdeen were not satisfied with the arrangement, and as the result of
agitation, the hour was altered to 1 P.M. This placed them, however, in
no better position, for the arrival at Aberdeen was so late at night,
that the letters could only be dealt with next day. It was not easy to
accommodate all parties, and there was a good deal of trouble over this
matter. The Edinburgh newspapers required an interval, after the arrival
of the London mail, for the printing of their journals and preparing
them for the North despatch. The Aberdeen people thought that an
interval of three hours was sufficient for all purposes, and urged that
the North mail should start at 9 A.M. In one of their memorials they
write thus:--"They think that the institution of posts was, in the first
place, to facilitate commerce by the conveyance of letters with the
quickest possible despatch from one end of the kingdom to the other,
and, in the next place, to raise a revenue for Government; and they
cannot conceive that either of those ends will be promoted by the
letters of two-thirds of the kingdom of Scotland lying dormant for many
hours at Edinburgh."
In another of the petitions from the people of Aberdeen, they strangely
introduce their loyalty as a lever in pressing their claims:--"Were we
of this city," say they, "to lay claim to any peculiar merit, it might
perhaps be that of a sincere attachment to order and good government,
which places us, in this respect at least, equal to the most dignified
city in Britain."
From a Post-office point of view, the memorialists appeared to be under
some mistake as to the gain to be derived from the change desired, for
there was something connected with the return mails which did not fall
in with the plan, and the surveyor made some opposition to it. In one of
his reports he makes this curious observation:--"I am persuaded that
some of them, as now appears to be the case, may be very well pleased to
get free from the obligation of answering their letters in course--and
particularly in money matters"!
One or two instances of the cross-post service of former times, in
England itself, which might be supposed to be more fortunate than its
Scottish neighbour, will repay consideration. Thus we find it duly
recorded in official reports, that in 1792 there was no direct post
between Thrapston and Wellingborough, though the distance separating
them was only nine miles. Letters could circulate between these towns
by way of Stilton, Newark, Nottingham, and Northampton, performing a
circuit of 148 miles, or they could be sent by way of London, 74 miles
up and 68-1/2 down, in which latter case they reached their destination
one day sooner than by the former round-about route.
Again, from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds, two important towns of 11,277[3]
and 7655[4] inhabitants respectively, and distant from one another only
22 miles, there was no direct post. Letters had to be forwarded either
through Norwich and Newmarket, or by way of London, the distance to be
covered in the one case being 105 miles, and in the other 143-1/2 miles.
We have not the means of computing the time letters took to travel from
Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds in 1792, but an Itinerary for 1812 affords
the necessary information as regards the later period. Suppose a letter
were posted at Ipswich for Bury St Edmunds on Monday, it would be
despatched to Norwich at 5.30 A.M. on Tuesday, reaching Norwich some six
hours thereafter. It would leave Norwich at 4.0 P.M. same day (Tuesday),
and arrive at Newmarket at about 11.0 P.M., where it would lie all night
and the greater part of next day, and would only arrive at Bury St
Edmunds at 5.40 P.M. on Wednesday. If the letter were sent by the
Metropolitan route, its time would be the same, thus:--Leaving Ipswich
at 9.30 P.M. on Monday, it would reach London at 8.0 A.M. on Tuesday.
Thence it would not get despatched till 7.30 P.M.; and proceeding to
Newmarket, would arrive there at 4.0 A.M. on Wednesday. Here it would
remain till the afternoon, and would reach Bury St Edmunds, as in the
former case, at 5.40 P.M. (on Wednesday). So that, in practice, to cover
this short interval of 22 miles by post, three whole days were
necessary.
[3 and 4] From published records of 1812.
One more instance:--From Salisbury to South Wales, a distance of some
70 miles, letters had to circulate through London, making a journey, up
and down, of something like 220 miles, and this without alternative.
These facts show what a poor circulation the Post-office had at the
period in question, and what splendid intervals there were in which to
sort the correspondence. Nowadays, in any office pretending to
importance, the letters pour in all day long (and all night too,
possibly), and they pour out in a constant stream at the same
time--letters being in and out of an office in certain instances within
the space of a few minutes. A good sorter will sort letters at the rate
of 25 to 40 a minute. But let us look at what a sorter has to learn to
do this. A leaf of the circulation book in use at Edinburgh for places
in England is here inserted (p. 131), which will be of assistance in
understanding the matter. It will be observed that there are seven times
in the day at which despatches are made to England. Letters for Martock,
in Somersetshire, for example, in accordance with the hour at which they
may be posted, would be sent thus: to Birmingham at 10.0 A.M.; to the
Midland Travelling Post-office Forward, third division, at 2.40 P.M.; no
circulation at 4.15 P.M.; to the Glasgow and Carlisle Sorting Tender (a
sorting carriage running between these towns) at 5.50 P.M.; no
circulation at 7.20 P.M.; to the Bristol and Exeter Travelling
Post-office at 9.0 P.M.; and to London at 10.0 P.M. Then if we take
Mitcheldean, at the foot of the sheet, its circulation is this: to
Birmingham at 10.0 A.M.; to Gloucester at 2.40 P.M.; to the Glasgow and
Carlisle Sorting Tender at 5.50 P.M.; to Gloucester at 9.0 P.M.; and to
Manchester at 10.0 P.M. And so on throughout the book, which contains
the names of some 1300 places in England. Nor, as regards England, is
this all. The sorters have to divide letters into the several London
districts by reference to the street addresses which the letters bear.
Again, these men have to know the circulation for Scotch towns and Irish
towns, and many of them have, besides, such a knowledge of the streets
of their own city, Edinburgh, as enables them to sort letters for
delivery into the several postmen's districts. Thus it will be seen that
the sortation of letters is no mere mechanical process, but demands
considerable head-work, as well as activity of body.
[Abbreviations used in the following table:
T.P.O. - Travelling Post-office
S.T. - Sorting Tender
F. - Forward]
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Towns. | Counties. | How Sent. |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Martock, R.S.O. | Somerset | 10 A.M. Birmingham |
| (_Ilminster_)| | 2.40 P.M. Midland T.P.O., F. 3 |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 9.0 P.M. B. & E. T.P.O. |
| | | 10.0 P.M. London |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Maryport | Cumberland | 10 A.M. Carlisle |
| | | 2.0 P.M. Carlisle |
| | | 5.50 P.M. Carlisle |
| | | 9.0 P.M. Carlisle |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Matlock Bath | Derby | 2.40 P.M. Derby |
| | | 4.15 P.M. Derby |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 9.0 P.M. Derby |
| | | 10.0 P.M. Leeds |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Melksham | Wiltshire | 10.0 A.M. Birmingham |
| | | 2.40 P.M. Midland T.P.O., F. 2 |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 7.20 P.M. London |
| | | 9.0 P.M. London, G.W. Div. |
| | | 10.0 P.M. London |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Melton Mowbray | Leicester | 2.40 P.M. Midland T.P.O., No. 3 |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 9.0 P.M. Leicester |
| | | 10.0 P.M. Leeds |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Menai Bridge, | Anglesea | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| R.S.O. (_Bangor_)| | 9.0 P.M. Liverpool |
| | | 10.0 P.M. Manchester |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Merthyr Tydvill | Glamorgan | 10.0 A.M. Birmingham |
| | | 2.40 P.M. Gloucester |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 9.0 P.M. Gloucester |
| | | 10.0 P.M. Manchester |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Micheldever | Hants | 10.0 A.M. London |
| Station | | 2.40 P.M. London, S.W. Div. |
| | | 5.50 P.M. London, S.W. Div. |
| | | 7.20 P.M. London |
| | | 9.0 P.M. London, S.W. Div. |
| | | 10.0 P.M. London |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Middlesborough | York | 10.0 A.M. Darlington |
| | | 10.0 P.M. Bag |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Middleton-on-the- | York | 10.0 A.M. York |
|Wolds, (_Beverley_)| | 2.40 P.M. Normanton |
| | | 7.20 P.M. Hull |
| | | 10.0 P.M. York |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Middlewich | Chester | 10.0 A.M. Liverpool |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 9.0 P.M. N.W. T.P.O. |
| | | 10.0 P.M. Liverpool |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Midhurst | Sussex | 10.0 A.M. London |
| | | 2.40 P.M. London, S.W. Div. |
| | | 5.50 P.M. London, S.W. Div. |
| | | 7.20 P.M. London |
| | | 9.0 P.M. London, S.W. Div. |
| | | 10.0 P.M. London |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Milford Haven | Pembroke | 10.0 A.M. Birmingham |
| | | 2.40 P.M. Gloucester |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 9.0 P.M. Gloucester |
| | | 10.0 P.M. Manchester |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Milnthorpe | Westmorland | 10.0 A.M. Birmingham |
| | | 2.40 P.M. Midland T.P.O., F. 3 |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 9.0 P.M. B. & E. T.P.O. |
| | | 10.0 P.M. London |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Milverton, R.S.O. | Somerset | 10.0 A.M. Birmingham |
| (_Taunton_) | | 2.40 P.M. Midland T.P.O., F. 3 |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 9.0 P.M. B. & E. T.P.O. |
| | | 10.0 P.M. London |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Milnehead, R.S.O. | Somerset | 10.0 A.M. Birmingham |
| (_Taunton_) | | 2.40 P.M. Midland T.P.O., F. 1 |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 9.0 P.M. B. & E. T.P.O. |
| | | 10.0 P.M. London |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Mitcham | Surrey | 10.0 A.M. London |
| | | 2.40 P.M. London Sub. |
| | | 5.50 P.M. London Sub. |
| | | 7.20 P.M. London |
| | | 9.0 P.M. London Sub. |
| | | 10.0 P.M. London |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
| Mitcheldean, | Gloucester | 10.0 A.M. Birmingham |
| R.S.O. (_Ross_) | | 2.40 P.M. Gloucester |
| | | 5.50 P.M. G. & C. S.T. |
| | | 9.0 P.M. Gloucester |
| | | 10.0 P.M. Manchester |
+-------------------+--------------+----------------------------------+
With some men it is impossible for them ever to become good sorters,
even with the most earnest desire on their part to do so. There are
certain qualities necessary for the purpose, and if they are not united
in the person, he will never come to the front as a good sorter. These
are: self-command--necessary when working against time; activity in his
person so as to meet any sudden strain of work; a methodical habit; and,
the _sine qua non_ of a sorter, a quick, prehensile, and retentive
memory. So much has a sorter to learn, that a man without a head can
never distinguish himself; and an educational test, except as a measure
of acquirements in a collateral way, is of very little use. A sorter's
success rests chiefly upon natural aptitude.
In the circulation of letters, we may discover the paradox that "the
longest road is often the shortest"; the explanation of which is, that
by a round-about way letters may sometimes arrive sooner than by waiting
the next chance by a more direct route. Post-office circulation is not
tied down by any strait-laced lines of geographical science, nor by any
consideration but that of the economy of time.
For example, at certain periods letters from Edinburgh for places in
Norfolk and Suffolk go on to London, to return north to those counties
by the mails out of London; similarly, letters for places north of
Manchester are at certain hours sent on to that city, to be returned
part of the way by next opportunity. It will no doubt seem a puzzle
that letters for Ireland should, at a certain time of day, be forwarded
from Edinburgh to Leeds in Yorkshire! Yet this is so, and with good
results,--the fact being that, after the more direct despatches for the
day, Irish letters are sent by the last evening train to Leeds, whence
early next morning they are sent across the country, reaching a
travelling post-office proceeding from London to Holyhead, and then
catching the day-mail packet for Ireland. Thus they arrive in the sister
isle by the time they would otherwise be only leaving Scotland. In the
travelling post-offices the plan of carrying letters away from their
destinations in order that time may be gained for their sortation, and
afterwards sending them back by a Post-office carriage proceeding in the
reverse direction, is largely practised, and with the greatest
advantage. Again, letters from Newcastle-on-Tyne for Glasgow, forwarded
by the night-mail, take what might be thought to be a very wide
circuit--namely, by way of Normanton in Yorkshire, and Manchester and
Wigan in Lancashire; yet that circulation is found to be best at the
hour at which the night-mail despatch is made. In one more case that may
be cited, letters from Berwick-on-Tweed for Carlisle are, at a certain
time of the day, forwarded through Edinburgh as the most expeditious
route. There is such a complexity of arrangement in the matter of
circulation, and so great a dependence of any one part on a great many
other surrounding parts, that comparatively few persons ever thoroughly
understand it, and only those who can master it should meddle with it.
In one aspect the process of sortation bears some resemblance to
digestion. This is observed in connection with the strange courses which
letters run if, by a first misreading of the address, they happen to get
out of their proper line or direction. A day seldom passes but some
letter addressed to Edenbridge in Kent reaches the city of Edinburgh,
either from London or some other English town. There is, of course, a
strong resemblance between the names of the two places as written, yet
the missent letters must have passed through the hands of two or three
sorters before reaching Edinburgh. But though this might seem to suggest
carelessness, there is this to be said, that whenever a letter for
Edenbridge gets out of its own course, and into the stream of letters
for Edinburgh, the sorters have a predisposition to assimilate it as an
Edinburgh letter, and so it gets forwarded to that city. The same thing
applies in regard to letters for Leek, Leith, and Keith, and for
Musselburgh and Middlesborough--especially when, as is too often the
case, the writing is not good; and many other similar instances might be
given. Letters for Fiji frequently reach Edinburgh from London and the
South, being missent as for Fife in Scotland; and we have it on the
authority of the Colonial Postmaster of Fiji, that numbers of letters,
papers, &c., directed to Fife, reach the Fiji Islands. Two letters
posted at Hamilton, Bermuda, and addressed to Edinburgh, Saratoga Co.,
N.Y., were recently observed to perform a curious circuit before
reaching their destination. Instead of being sent direct to the United
States from Bermuda, they were forwarded to London in England; and here,
getting into the current of inland correspondence, they were sent to
Edinburgh in Scotland. At this stage their wild career was stopped, and
they were put in proper course to recross the Atlantic. It is near the
truth to say, that similarity of names and bad writing are the causes of
very many of the irregularities which befall letters in their transit
through the post.