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The Computer
as Crucible

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The Computer
as Crucible
An Introduction to
Experimental Mathematics
Jonathan Borwein
Keith Devlin
with illustrations by Karl H. Hofmann
A K Peters, Ltd.
Wellesley, Massachusetts

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Editorial, Sales, and Customer Service Office
A K Peters, Ltd.
888 Worcester Street, Suite 230
Wellesley, MA 02482
www.akpeters.com
Copyright c 2009 by A K Peters, Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright
notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechani-
cal, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Borwein, Jonathan M.
The computer as crucible : an introduction to experimental mathematics /
Jonathan Borwein and Keith Devlin ; with illustrations by Karl H. Hofmann.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-56881-343-1 (alk. paper)
1. Experimental mathematics. I. Devlin, Keith J. II. Title.
QA8.7.B67 2008
510–dc22
2008022180
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 08 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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For Jakob Joseph, age two,
and all others who will experience
much more powerful mathematical crucibles

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Contents
Preface ix
1 What Is Experimental Mathematics? 1
2 What Is the Quadrillionth Decimal Place of π? 17
3 What Is That Number? 29
4 The Most Important Function in Mathematics 39
5 Evaluate the Following Integral 49
6 Serendipity 61
7 Calculating π 71
8 The Computer Knows More Math Than You Do 81
9 Take It to the Limit 93
10 Danger! Always Exercise Caution When Using the Computer 105
11 Stuff We Left Out (Until Now) 115
Answers and Reflections 131
Final Thought 149
Additional Reading and References 151
Index 155
vii

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Preface
Our aim in writing this book was to provide a short, readable account
of experimental mathematics. (Chapter 1 begins with an explanation of
what the term “experimental mathematics” means.) It is not intended as
a textbook to accompany a course (though good instructors could surely
use it that way). In particular, we do not aim for comprehensive coverage
of the field; rather, we pick and choose topics and examples to give the
reader a good sense of the current state of play in the rapidly growing
new field of experimental mathematics. Also, there are no large exercise
sets. We do end each chapter with a brief section called “Explorations,” in
which we give some follow-up examples and suggest one or two things
the reader might like to try. There is no need to work on any of those
explorations to proceed through the book, but we feel that trying one or
two of them is likely to increase your feeling for the subject. Answers to
those explorations can be found in the “Answers and Reflections” chapter
near the end of the book.
This book was the idea of our good friend and publisher (plus math-
ematics PhD) Klaus Peters of A K Peters, Ltd. It grew out of a series of
three books that one of us (Borwein) coauthored on experimental mathe-
matics, all published by A K Peters: Jonathan Borwein and David Bailey’s
Mathematics by Experiment (2004); Jonathan Borwein, David Bailey, and
Roland Girgensohn’s Experimentation in Mathematics (2004); and David
Bailey, Jonathan Borwein, Neil J. Calkin, Roland Girgensohn, D. Russell
Luke, and Victor H. Moll’s Experimental Mathematics in Action (2007).
We both found this an intriguing collaboration. Borwein, with a back-
ground in analysis and optimization, has been advocating and working
in the new field of experimental mathematics for much of his career. This
pursuit was considerably enhanced in 1993 when he was able to open the
Centre for Experimental and Constructive Mathematics at Simon Fraser
University, which he directed for a decade. (Many of the results presented
here are due to Borwein, most often in collaboration with others, par-
ticularly Bailey.) Devlin, having focused on mathematical logic and set
ix

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x Preface
theory for the first half of his career, has spent much of the past twenty
years looking at the emerging new field known as mathematical cogni-
tion, which tries to understand how the human brain does mathematics,
how it acquires mathematical ability in the first place, and how mathemat-
ical thinking combines with other forms of reasoning, including machine
computation. In working together on this book, written to explain to those
not in the field what experimental mathematics is and how it is done, Bor-
wein was on the inside looking out, and Devlin was on the outside looking
in. We saw reassuringly similar scenes.
Experimental mathematics is fairly new. It is a way of doing math-
ematics that has been made possible by fast, powerful, and easy-to-use
computers, by networks, and by databases.
The use of computers in mathematics for its own sake is a recent phenom-
enon—much more recent than the computer itself, in fact. (This surprises
some outsiders, who assume, incorrectly, that mathematicians led the com-
puter revolution. To be sure, mathematicians invented computers, but
then they left it to others to develop them, with very few mathematicians
actually using them until relatively recently.)
In fact, in the late 1980s, the American Mathematical Society, noting
that mathematicians seemed to be lagging behind the other sciences in see-
ing the potential offered by computers, made a deliberate effort to make
the mathematical community more aware of the possibilities presented
by the new technology. In 1998, their flagship newsletter, the Notices of
the American Mathematical Society, introduced a “Computers and Mathe-
matics” section, edited originally by the late Jon Barwise, then (from Oc-
tober 1992 through December 1994) by Devlin. Devlin’s interest in how
the use of computers can change mathematical practice was part of his
growing fascination with mathematical cognition. Correspondingly, Bor-
wein’s experience led to a growing interest in mathematical visualization
and mathematical aesthetics.
A typical edition of the “Computers and Mathematics” section began
with a commissioned feature article, followed by reviews of new mathe-
matical software systems. Here is how Devlin opened his first “Comput-
ers and Mathematics” section: “Experimental mathematics is the theme of
this month’s feature article, written by the Canadian mathematical broth-
ers Jonathan and Peter Borwein.”
With this book, the circle is complete!
The “Computers and Mathematics” section was dropped in January
1995, when the use of computers in the mathematical community was
thought to have developed sufficiently far that separate treatment in the

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Preface xi
Notices was no longer necessary. As this short book should make abun-
dantly clear, things have come a long way since then.
Both authors want to thank Klaus Peters for coming up with the idea
for this book, and for his continued encouragement and patience over the
unexpectedly long time it took us to mesh our sometimes insanely busy
schedules sufficiently to make his vision a reality. And both authors are
enormously grateful to Karl Heinrich Hofmann for generously providing
his always entertaining and occasionally “subversive” illustrations, some
of which reflect his Platonic ideas.
Jonathan Borwein
Keith Devlin
March 2008

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Chapter 1
What Is Experimental
Mathematics?
I know it when I see it.
—Potter Stewart (1915–1985)
United States Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart famously observed
in 1964 that, although he was unable to provide a precise definition of
pornography, “I know it when I see it.” We would say the same is true
for experimental mathematics. Nevertheless, we realize that we owe our
readers at least an approximate initial definition (of experimental mathe-
matics, that is; you’re on your own for pornography) to get started with,
and here it is.
Experimental mathematics is the use of a computer to run computa-
tions—sometimes no more than trial-and-error tests—to look for patterns,
to identify particular numbers and sequences, to gather evidence in sup-
port of specific mathematical assertions that may themselves arise by com-
putational means, including search. Like contemporary chemists—and
before them the alchemists of old—who mix various substances together
in a crucible and heat them to a high temperature to see what happens,
today’s experimental mathematician puts a hopefully potent mix of num-
bers, formulas, and algorithms into a computer in the hope that something
of interest emerges.
Had the ancient Greeks (and the other early civilizations who started
the mathematics bandwagon) had access to computers, it is likely that the
word “experimental” in the phrase “experimental mathematics” would
be superfluous; the kinds of activities or processes that make a particular
mathematical activity “experimental” would be viewed simply as mathe-
matics. We say this with some confidence because if you remove from our
initial definition the requirement that a computer be used, what would be
1

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2 The Computer as Crucible
left accurately describes what most, if not all, professional mathematicians
spend much of their time doing, and always have done!
Many readers, who studied mathematics at high school or university
but did not go on to be professional mathematicians, will find that last
remark surprising. For that is not the (carefully crafted) image of math-
ematics they were presented with. But take a look at the private note-
books of practically any of the mathematical greats and you will find
page after page of trial-and-error experimentation (symbolic or numeric),
exploratory calculations, guesses formulated, hypotheses examined (in
mathematics, a “hypothesis” is a guess that doesn’t immediately fall flat
on its face), etc.
The reason this view of mathematics is not common is that you have to
look at the private, unpublished (during their career) work of the greats in
order to find this stuff (by the bucketful). What you will discover in their
published work are precise statements of true facts, established by logical
proofs that are based upon axioms (which may be, but more often are not,
stated in the work).
Because mathematics is almost universally regarded, and commonly
portrayed, as the search for pure, eternal (mathematical) truth, it is easy
to understand how the published work of the greats could come to be re-

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Chapter 1. What Is Experimental Mathematics? 3
garded as constitutive of what mathematics actually is. But to make such
an identification is to overlook that key phrase “the search for.” Mathe-
matics is not, and never has been, merely the end product of the search;
the process of discovery is, and always has been, an integral part of the
subject. As the great German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss wrote
to his colleague Janos Bolyai in 1808, “It is not knowledge, but the act
of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the
greatest enjoyment.”1
In fact, Gauss was very clearly an “experimental mathematician” of the
first order. For example, in 1849 he recounted his analysis of the density
of prime numbers [Goldstein 73]:
I pondered this problem as a boy, in 1792 or 1793, and found that the
density of primes around t is 1/ log t, so that the number of primes
up to a given bound x is approximately
Z x
2
dt

log t.
Formal proof that Gauss’s approximation is asymptotically correct,
which is now known as the Prime Number Theorem, did not come until
1896, more than 100 years after the young genius made his experimental
discovery.
To give just one further example of Gauss’s “experimental” work, we
learn from his diary that, one day in 1799, while examining tables of inte-
grals provided originally by James Stirling, he noticed that the reciprocal
of the integral
2
π
Z 1
0
dt
√
1 − t4
agreed numerically with the limit of the rapidly convergent arithmetic-
geometric mean iteration (AGM):
a0 = 1, b0 =
√
2;
an+1 =
an + bn
2
, bn+1 =
p
anbn.
1The complete quote is: “It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but
the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. When I have clarified and
exhausted a subject, then I turn away from it, in order to go into darkness again; the never-
satisfied man is so strange if he has completed a structure, then it is not in order to dwell in
it peacefully, but in order to begin another. I imagine the world conqueror must feel thus,
who, after one kingdom is scarcely conquered, stretches out his arms for others.”

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The sequences (an) and (bn) have the common limit
1.1981402347355922074 . . . .
Based on this purely computational observation (which he made to 11
places), Gauss conjectured and subsequently proved that the integral is
indeed equal to the common limit of the two sequences. It was a remark-
able result, of which he wrote in his diary, “[the result] will surely open
up a whole new field of analysis.” He was right. It led to the entire vista
of nineteenth-century elliptic and modular function theory.
For most of the history of mathematics, the confusion of the activity
of mathematics with its final product was understandable: after all, both
activities were done by the same individual, using what to an outside ob-
server were essentially the same activities—staring at a sheet of paper,
thinking hard, and scribbling on that paper.2 But as soon as mathemati-
cians started using computers to carry out the exploratory work, the dis-
tinction became obvious, especially when the mathematician simply hit
the ENTER key to initiate the experimental work, and then went out to eat
while the computer did its thing. In some cases, the output that awaited
the mathematician on his or her return was a new “result” that no one had
hitherto suspected and might have no inkling how to prove.
The scare quotes around the word “result” in that last paragraph are
to acknowledge that the adoption of experimental methods does not nec-
essarily change the notion of mathematical truth, nor the basic premise
that the only way a mathematical statement can be certified as correct is
when a formal proof has been found. Whenever a relationship has been
obtained using an experimental approach—and in this book we will give
many specific examples—finding a formal proof remains an important
and legitimate goal, although not the only goal.
What makes experimental mathematics different (as an enterprise)
from the classical conception and practice of mathematics is that the exper-
imental process is regarded not as a precursor to a proof, to be relegated to
private notebooks and perhaps studied for historical purposes only after
a proof has been obtained. Rather, experimentation is viewed as a signifi-
2The confusion would have been harmless but for one significant negative consequence:
it scared off many a young potential mathematician, who, on being unable instantaneously
to come up with the solution to a problem or the proof of an assertion, would erroneously
conclude that they simply did not have a mathematical brain.

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cant part of mathematics in its own right, to be published, to be considered
by others, and (of particular importance) to contribute to our overall math-
ematical knowledge. In particular, this gives an epistemological status to
assertions that, while supported by a considerable body of experimental
results, have not yet been formally proved, and in some cases may never
be proved. (As we shall see, it may also happen that an experimental pro-
cess itself yields a formal proof. For example, if a computation determines
that a certain parameter p, known to be an integer, lies between 2.5 and
3.784, that amounts to a rigorous proof that p = 3.)
When experimental methods (using computers) began to creep into
mathematical practice in the 1970s, some mathematicians cried foul, say-
ing that such processes should not be viewed as genuine mathematics—
that the one true goal should be formal proof. Oddly enough, such a reac-
tion would not have occurred a century or more earlier, when the likes of
Fermat, Gauss, Euler, and Riemann spent many hours of their lives carry-
ing out (mental) calculations in order to ascertain “possible truths” (many
but not all of which they subsequently went on to prove). The ascendancy
of the notion of proof as the sole goal of mathematics came about in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when attempts to under-
stand the infinitesimal calculus led to a realization that the intuitive con-
cepts of such basic concepts as function, continuity, and differentiability
were highly problematic, in some cases leading to seeming contradictions.
Faced with the uncomfortable reality that their intuitions could be inade-
quate or just plain misleading, mathematicians began to insist that value
judgments were hitherto to be banished to off-duty chat in the mathemat-
ics common room and nothing would be accepted as legitimate until it
had been formally proved.
This view of mathematics was the dominant one when both your pres-
ent authors were in the process of entering the profession. The only way
open to us to secure a university position and advance in the profession
was to prove theorems. As the famous Hungarian mathematician Paul
Erdős (1913–1996) is often quoted as saying, “a mathematician is a ma-
chine for turning coffee into theorems.”3
3A more accurate rendition is: “Renyi would become one of Erdős’s most important col-
laborators. ... Their long collaborative sessions were often fueled by endless cups of strong
coffee. Caffeine is the drug of choice for most of the world’s mathematicians and coffee is
the preferred delivery system. Renyi, undoubtedly wired on espresso, summed this up in a

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As it happened, neither author fully bought into this view. Borwein
adopted computational, experimental methods early in his career, using
computers to help formulate conjectures and gather evidence in favor
of them, while Devlin specialized in logic, in which the notion of proof
is itself put under the microscope, and results are obtained (and pub-
lished) to the effect that a certain statement, while true, is demonstrably
not provable—a possibility that was first discovered by the Austrian logi-
cian Kurt Gödel in 1931.
What swung the pendulum back toward (openly) including experi-
mental methods, we suggest, was in part pragmatic and part philosophi-
cal. (Note that word “including.” The inclusion of experimental processes
in no way eliminates proofs. For instance, no matter how many zeroes
famous remark almost always attributed to Erdős: ‘A mathematician is a machine for turning
coffee into theorems.’ ... Turan, after scornfully drinking a cup of American coffee, invented
the corollary: ‘Weak coffee is only fit for lemmas’” [Schecter 98, p. 155].

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of the Riemann zeta function are computed and found to have real part
equal to 1/2, the mathematical community is not going to proclaim that
the Riemann hypothesis—that all zeroes have this form—is true.4)
The pragmatic factor behind the acknowledgment of experimental
techniques was the growth in the sheer power of computers to search for
patterns and to amass vast amounts of information in support of a hy-
pothesis.
At the same time that the increasing availability of ever cheaper, faster,
and more powerful computers proved irresistible for some mathemati-
cians, there was a significant, though gradual, shift in the way mathe-
maticians viewed their discipline. The Platonistic philosophy that abstract
mathematical objects have a definite existence in some realm outside of
humankind, with the task of the mathematician being to uncover or dis-
cover eternal, immutable truths about those objects, gave way to an ac-
ceptance that the subject is the product of humankind, the result of a par-
ticular kind of human thinking.
In passing, let us mention that the ancient-sounding term “Platonis-
tic,” for a long-standing and predominant philosophy of working math-
ematicians, is fairly recent. It was coined in the 1930s, a period in which
Gödel’s results made mathematical philosophers and logicians think very
hard about the nature of mathematics. Mathematicians largely ignored
the matter as of concern only to philosophers. In a similar vein, the lin-
guist Steve Pinker recently wrote: “I don’t think bio-chemists are going to
be the least bit interested in what philosophers think about genes.” This
led biologist Steve Jones to retort: “As I’ve said in the past, philosophy is
to science as pornography is to sex: It’s cheaper, easier, and some people
prefer it.”5
It would be a mistake to view the Platonist and the product-of-the-
human-mind views of mathematics as an exclusive either-or choice. A
characteristic feature of the particular form of thinking we call mathemat-
ics is that it can be thought of in Platonistic terms—indeed most mathemati-
cians report that such is how it appears and feels when they are actually
doing mathematics.
4Opinions differ as to whether, or to what degree, the computational verification of bil-
lions of cases provides meaningful information as to how likely the hypothesis is to be true.
We’ll come back to this example shortly.
5This exchange can be found in The Scientist, June 20th, 2005.

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN YEARS
AMONG THE MAIL BAGS ***

TEN YEARS
AMONG
THE MAIL BAGS:
OR,
OF THE
POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.
BY J. HOLBROOK.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
PHILADELPHIA:
H. COWPERTHWAIT CO.
1855.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855.
BY J. HOLBROOK
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Columbia.
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THOSE OFFICIALLY CONNECTED
WITH
THE MAIL SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES.

PREFACE.
The idea of preparing the present work was suggested to the author
by the universal interest manifested in regard to the class of
delinquencies to which it relates, and the eagerness with which the
details of the various modes adopted in successful cases to detect
the guilty parties, have been sought after by all classes. He was also
induced to undertake this series of narratives by the hope and belief
that while it afforded interesting matter for the general reader, it
might prove a public benefit by increasing the safety of the United
States mails, and fortifying those officially connected with the post-
office and mail service, against the peculiar temptations incident to
their position, thus preserving to society some at least who, without
such warnings as the following sketches contain, might make
shipwreck of their principles, and meet with a felon's doom.
It has been said that whoever acts upon the principle that honesty
is the best policy, is himself dishonest. That is, policy should not be
the motive to honesty, which is true; but taking into view how many
there are who would not be influenced by higher considerations, it is
evident that whatever serves to impress on the mind the inevitable
connection between crime and misery, if not between honesty and
happiness, will aid in strengthening the barriers against dishonesty,
too often, alas! insufficient to withstand the pressure of temptation.
The author has endeavored to enforce these truths in the following
pages, and he relies for the desired impression on the fact that they
are not dry, abstract precepts which he presents, but portions of real
life; experiences the like of which may be the lot of any young man;
temptations before which stronger men than he have fallen, and
which he must flee from if he would successfully resist.

The most elaborate treatise on rascality would not compare in its
effects on the mass of mankind, with the simplest truthful narrative
of a crime and its consequences, especially if addressed to those
exposed by circumstances to the danger of committing offences
similar to the one described.
Two objections to the publication of a work like the present,
occurred to the author as well as to others whom he consulted, and
caused him to hesitate in commencing the undertaking. First, the
possibility that the detailed description of ingenious acts of
dishonesty, might furnish information which could be obtained from
no other source, and supply the evil-disposed with expedients for
the prosecution of their nefarious designs. Second, the danger of
again inflicting pain upon the innocent relatives and friends of those
whose criminal biography would furnish material for the work.
In reference to the first of these objections it may be said, that,
although descriptions of skilful roguery are always perused with
interest, and often with a sort of admiration for the talent displayed,
yet when it is seen that retribution follows as certainly and often as
closely as a shadow; that however dexterously the criminal may
conceal himself in a labyrinth of his own construction, the ministers
of the law track him through all its windings, or demolish the
cunningly devised structure; and that when he fancies himself out of
the reach of Justice, he sees, to his utter dismay, her omnipresent
arm uplifted to strike him down; when these truths are brought to
light by the record, an impressive view will be given of the resources
which are at command for thwarting the designs of dishonesty, and
of the futility of taking the field against such overwhelming odds.
And in addition to the certainty of detection, the penalty inflicted for
offences of this description is to be taken into the account.
Doubtless many employés in Post-offices have committed crimes of
which they never would have been guilty but for a mistaken idea of
security from the punishment to which they were making themselves
liable. It is well for all to be correctly informed on this subject, and
to know that offences committed against this Department are not

lightly dealt with. Information of this character the author has fully
supplied.
Again—Comparatively but few of the secret modes of detection are
exhibited, and he who should consider himself safe in evading what
plans are here described, will find to his sorrow that he has made a
most dangerous calculation.
As to the second objection above mentioned, namely, the danger of
wounding the feelings of innocent parties, the author would observe
that fictitious names of persons and places are generally substituted
for the real ones; thus avoiding any additional publicity to those
concerned in the cases given. And furthermore, he ventures to hope
that few of the class to which this objection refers, would refuse to
undergo such a trial of their feelings, if by this means a wholesome
warning may be given to those who need it.
There are other wrongs and delinquencies connected with our postal
system, of a mischievous and immoral tendency, and of crushing
effect upon their authors, which, although not in all cases punishable
by statute, yet require to be exposed and guarded against.
Descriptions of some of the most ingenious of these attempts at
fraud, successful and unsuccessful, are also here held up to public
view.
It was the author's intention to give two or three chapters of an
historical and biographical character,—a condensed history of our
post-office system, with some notice of that of other countries, and
brief biographical sketches of our Post Masters General. But matter
essential to the completeness of the work in hand, as illustrating the
varieties of crime in connection with post-offices, has so
accumulated, that the chapters referred to could not be introduced
without enlarging the volume to unreasonable dimensions; and the
author has been compelled to limit his biographies of the Post
Masters General to a short chronological notice of each of those
officers.

THE POST MASTERS GENERAL.
Under the Revolutionary organization, the first Post Master General
was Benjamin Franklin. He was experienced in its duties, having been
appointed Post Master of Philadelphia in 1737, and Deputy Post
Master General of the British Colonies in 1753. He was removed
from this office, to punish him for his active sympathies with the
colonists; and one of the first acts of their separate organization was
to place him at the head of their Post-Office Department. It is a
singular coincidence that this eminent philosopher, who cradled our
postal system in its infancy, also, by first bringing the electric fluid
within the power of man, led the way for the electric telegraph, the
other great medium for transmitting intelligence.
The necessities of the Revolutionary struggle, demanded the abilities
of Franklin for another sphere of action. Richard Bache, his son-in-
law, was appointed to succeed him as Post Master General, in
November, 1776. He was succeeded by Ebenezer Hazard, who
subsequently compiled the valuable Historical Collections bearing his
name. He held the office until the inauguration of President
Washington's Administration.
In relation to the several Post Masters General, since the adoption of
the Federal Constitution, the author regrets that he is compelled,
contrary to his original intention, to confine himself to brief
chronological notes. The succession is as follows:—
1. Samuel Osgood.—Born at Andover, Mass., Feb. 14, 1748. Graduated
at Harvard College in 1770. A member of the Massachusetts
Legislature, and also of the Board of War, and subsequently an Aid
to Gen. Ward. In 1779, a member of the Massachusetts
Constitutional Convention. In 1781, appointed a member of
Congress; in 1785, first Commissioner of the Treasury; and Sept. 26,

1789. Post Master General. He was afterwards Naval Officer of the
port of New York, and died in that city Aug. 12, 1813.
2. Timothy Pickering.—Born at Salem, Mass., July 17, 1746. Graduated
in 1763. Was Colonel of a regiment of militia at the age of nineteen,
and marched for the seat of war at the first news of the battle of
Lexington. In 1775, appointed Judge of two local courts. In the fall
of 1776 marched to New Jersey with his regiment. In 1777
appointed Adjutant-General; and subsequently a member of the
Board of War with Gates and Mifflin. In 1780 he succeeded Greene
as Quarter Master General. In 1790 he was employed in negotiations
with the Indians; Aug. 12, 1791, he was appointed Post Master
General; in 1794, Secretary of War; and in 1795, Secretary of State.
From 1803 to 1811 he was Senator, and from 1814 to 1817,
Representative in Congress. Died at Salem, June 29, 1829.
3. Joseph Habersham.—Born in 1750. A Lieutenant Colonel during the
Revolutionary War; and in 1785 a member of Congress. Appointed
Post Master General Feb. 25, 1795. He was afterwards President of
the U. S. Branch Bank in Savannah, Georgia. Died at that place Nov.
1815.
4. Gideon Granger.—Born at Suffield, Ct., July 19, 1767. Graduated at
Yale College in 1787, and the following year admitted to the Bar. In
1793 elected to the Connecticut Legislature. Nov. 28, 1801,
appointed Post Master General. Retired in 1814, and removed to
Canandaigua, N. Y. April, 1819, elected a member of the Senate of
that State, but resigned in 1821, on account of ill health. During his
service in that body he donated one thousand acres of land to aid
the construction of the Erie Canal. Died at Canandaigua, Dec. 31,
1822.
5. Return Jonathan Meigs.—Born at Middletown, Ct., in 1765.
Graduated at Yale College in 1785, and subsequently admitted to the
Bar. In 1788 emigrated to Marietta, Ohio, then the North Western
Territory. In 1790, during the Indian wars, he was sent by Gov. St.
Clair on a perilous mission through the wilderness to the British

commandant at Detroit. In the winter of 1802-3, he was elected by
the Legislature the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the
new State. In October, 1804, he was appointed Colonel commanding
the United States forces in the upper district of the Territory of
Louisiana, and resigned his judgeship. In the following year he was
appointed as one of the United States Judges for Louisiana. April 2,
1807, he was transferred to the Territory of Michigan. In October
following he resigned his judgeship, and was elected Governor of the
State of Ohio, but his election was successfully contested on the
ground of non-residence. He was chosen at the same session as one
of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State; and at the next
session as United States Senator, for a vacancy of one year and also
for a full term. In 1810 he was again elected Governor of Ohio, and
on the 8th of December resigned his seat in the Senate. In 1812 he
was re-elected Governor. On the 17th of March, 1814, he was
appointed Post Master General, which he resigned in June, 1823.
Died at Marietta, March 29, 1825.
6. John McLean.—Born in Morris Co., New Jersey, March 11, 1785. His
father subsequently removed to Ohio, of which State the son
continues a resident. He labored on the farm until sixteen years of
age, when he applied himself to study, and two years afterwards
removed to Cincinnati, and supported himself by copying in the
County clerk's office, while he studied law. In 1807 he was admitted
to the Bar. In 1812 he was elected to Congress, and re-elected in
1814. In 1816 he was unanimously elected by the Legislature, a
Judge of the Supreme Court of the State. In 1822 he was appointed
by President Monroe, Commissioner of the General Land Office, and
on the 26th of June, 1823, Post Master General. In 1829 he was
appointed as one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United
States, which office he yet holds.
7. William T. Barry.—Born in Fairfax Co., Va., March 18, 1780.
Graduated at the College of William and Mary. He was admitted to
the Bar, and in early life emigrated to Kentucky. In 1828, he was a
candidate for Governor of that State, and defeated by a small

majority, after one of the most memorable contests in its annals.
Appointed Post Master General March 9, 1829. In 1835 appointed
Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain, and died at Liverpool, England, on
his way to Madrid.
8. Amos Kendall.—Born at Dunstable, Mass., August 16, 1789.
Graduated at Dartmouth College in 1811. About the year 1812
removed to Kentucky, and in 1815 was appointed post master at
Georgetown, in that state. In 1816 he assumed the editorial charge
of the Argus, published at Frankfort, in the same State, which he
continued until 1829, being, most of the time, State Printer. In 1829
he was appointed Fourth Auditor of the United States Treasury; and.
May 1, 1835, Post Master General. He resigned the latter office in
1840, and has, since the introduction of the electric telegraph, been
mainly employed in connection with enterprises for its operation. He
is yet living.
9. John Milton Niles.—Born at Windsor, Ct., August 20, 1787.
Admitted to the Bar in December, 1812. About 1816 he removed to
Hartford, and was one of the first proprietors of the Hartford Times,
and had charge of its editorial columns until the year 1820. In 1821
he was appointed Judge of the Hartford County Court, which office
he held until 1829. In 1826 he represented Hartford in the
Connecticut Legislature. In April, 1829, he was appointed post
master at Hartford; which he held until December, 1835, when he
was appointed United States Senator to fill a vacancy, and in the
ensuing May was elected by the Legislature for the remainder of the
term. In 1839 and 1840 he was supported by his party, though
without success, for the office of Governor of the State. May 25,
1840, he was appointed Post Master General. In 1842 he was
elected United State Senator for a full term. Mr. Niles is yet living.
10. Francis Granger.—Born at Suffield, Ct., Dec. 1, 1792. Graduated
at Yale College in 1811. Admitted to the Bar in May, 1816. He was
elected a member of the New York Legislature in 1825, and again in
1826, 1827, 1829, and 1831. In 1828 he was a candidate for the
office of Lieutenant Governor, but was defeated; and in 1830 and

again in 1832, he was run for Governor, with the same result. In
1834 he was elected to Congress. In 1836 he was a candidate for
Vice President, and received the electoral votes of the States of
Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio. Indiana, and
Kentucky. He was again elected to Congress in 1838 and in 1840.
Appointed Post Master General March 6, 1841, but resigned the
following September. His successor in Congress thereupon resigned,
and Mr. Granger was again elected to that body. On the 4th of
March, 1843, he finally retired from public life, but is yet living.
11. Charles A. Wickliffe.—Born at Bardstown, Kentucky, June 8,
1788, and was admitted to the Bar at an early age. He was twice
elected to the State Legislature during the war of 1812. He twice
volunteered in the Northwestern Army, and was present at the Battle
of the Thames. In 1820 he was again elected to the Legislature. In
1822 he was elected to Congress, and was four times re-elected.
During his service in that body, he was appointed by the House as
one of the managers in the impeachment of Judge Peck. Upon
leaving Congress, in 1833, he was again elected to the lower branch
of the State Legislature; and, upon its assembling, was chosen
Speaker. In 1834 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of the State,
and in 1839, by the death of Gov. Clark, he became Acting Governor.
He was appointed Post Master General, September 13, 1841. In
1849 he was chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention
of Kentucky; and, under the new Constitution, he was appointed as
one of the Revisers of the Statute Laws of the State. He is yet living.
12. Cave Johnson.—Born, January 11, 1793, in Robertson Co..
Tennessee. His opportunities for education were limited, but made
available to the greatest extent. In his youth, he acted as deputy-
clerk of the County, his father being clerk. He was thence led to the
study of the law. In 1813 he was appointed Deputy Quarter Master
in a brigade of militia commanded by his father, and marched into
the Creek nation under General Jackson. He continued in this service
until the close of the Creek war in 1814. In 1816 he was admitted to
the Bar. In 1817 he was elected by the Legislature one of the

Attorneys General of the State, which office he held until elected a
member of Congress in 1829. He was re-elected in 1831, 1833, and
1835. Defeated in 1837. Again elected in 1839, 1841, and 1843.
Appointed Post Master General, March 5, 1845. In 1849 he served
for a few months as one of the Circuit Judges of Tennessee; and, in
1853, was appointed by the Governor and Senate as President of the
Bank of Tennessee, at Nashville. He is yet living.
13. Jacob Collamer.—Born at Troy, N. Y., about 1790, and removed in
childhood to Burlington, Vt., with his father. Graduated at the State
University at that place in 1810. Served during the year 1812, a
frontier campaign, as a lieutenant, in the service of the United
States. Admitted to the Bar in 1813. Practised law for twenty years,
serving frequently in the State Legislature. In 1833 he was elected
an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, from which
position he voluntarily retired in 1842. In the course of that period,
he was also a member of a convention held to revise the
Constitution of the State. In 1843 elected to Congress to fill a
vacancy, and re-elected for a full term, in 1844, and again in 1846.
Appointed Post Master General March 7th, 1849. In 1850 he was
again elected a Justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont; and in
1854 he was chosen United States Senator, which office he now
holds.
14. Nathan Kelsey Hall.—Born at Skaneateles, N. Y., March 28th,
1810. Removed to Aurora in the same State in 1826, and
commenced the study of the law with Millard Fillmore. Removed with
the latter to Buffalo in 1830. Admitted to the Bar in 1832. Appointed
First Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1841. In 1845 elected a
member of the State Legislature, and in 1846 a member of
Congress. He was appointed Post Master General July 20, 1850; and,
in 1852, United States Judge for the Northern District of New York,
which office he now holds.
15. Samuel Dickinson Hubbard.—Born at Middletown, Ct.. August 10,
1799. Graduated at Yale College in 1819. He was admitted to the Bar
in 1822, but subsequently engaged in manufacturing enterprises. He

was Mayor of the city of Middletown, and held other offices of local
trust. In 1845 he was elected a member of Congress, and re-elected
in 1847. He was appointed Post Master General September 14, 1852.
Died at Middletown October 8, 1855.
16. James Campbell, the present Post Master General of the United
States, was born September 1, 1813, in the city of Philadelphia, Pa.
Admitted to the Bar in 1834, at the age of twenty-one years. In
1841, at the age of twenty-eight, he was appointed Judge of the
Common Pleas Court for the City and County of Philadelphia, which
position he occupied for the term of nine years. In 1851, when the
Constitution of the State was changed, making the Judiciary elective,
he was nominated by a State Convention of his party as a candidate
for the Bench of the Supreme Court of the State, but was defeated
after a warmly contested and somewhat peculiar contest, receiving
however 176,000 votes. In January, 1852, he was appointed
Attorney General of Pennsylvania, which he resigned to assume the
duties of Post Master General. He was appointed to that office on
the 8th of March, 1853.

INTRODUCTION.
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
Æolus, biding their time to go forth and fulfil their office, whether
it be to refresh and invigorate the drooping flower, or to bring
destruction 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.
But leaving these general speculations, let us give more particular
attention to the motley crowd in durance vile. If each one
possessed the power of uttering audibly the ideas which it contains,
a confusion of tongues would ensue, worthy of the last stages of the
tower of Babel, or of a Woman's Rights convention. Indeed matters
would proceed within these leathern walls, very much as they do in

the world at large. The portly, important money letter, would look
with contempt upon the modest little billet-doux, and the
aristocratic, delicately-scented, heraldically-sealed epistle, would
recoil from the touch of its roughly coated, wafer-secured neighbor,
filled to the brim, perhaps, with affections as pure, or friendship as
devoted as ever can be found under coverings more polished. Would
that the good in one missive, might counteract the evil in another,
for here is one filled with the overflowings of a mother's heart,
conveying language of entreaty and remonstrance,—perhaps the
traces of anxious tears,—to the unwary youth who is beginning to
turn aside from the path of rectitude, and to look with wishful eyes
upon forbidden ground. Need enough is there of this message to
strengthen staggering resolution, to overpower the whispers of evil;
for close by are the suggestions of a vicious companion, lying in wait
to lure him on to vice, and to darken the light of love which hitherto
has guided his steps.
In one all-embracing receptacle, the strife of politics is for a time
unknown. Epistles of Whigs, Democrats, Pro and Anti-Slavery men
lie calmly down together, like the lion and the lamb, (if indeed we
can imagine anything lamb-like in political documents,) ready,
however, to start up in their proper characters like Satan at the
touch of Ithuriel's spear, and to frown defiance upon their late
companions. Theological animosity, too, lies spell-bound. Orthodoxy
and Heterodoxy. Old and New School, Protestant and Catholic, Free
Thinkers and No Thinkers, are held in paper chains, and cease to
lacerate one another with controverted points. Nor in this view of
dormant pugnacity, should that important constituent, the Law, be
left out of sight. An opinion clearly establishing the case of A. B.
unsuspectingly reposes by the side of another utterly subverting it,
thus placing, or about to place, the unfortunate A. B. in the condition
of a wall mined by its assailants, and counter-mined by its
defenders, quite sure (to use a familiar phrase,) of bursting up in
either case. And the unconscious official who distributes these
missiles, might well exclaim, if he knew the contents, cry havoc,
and let slip the dogs of war.

But we come to another discord in our miniature life-orchestra.
Those all-embracing, ever-sounding tones, which lie at the two
extremities of the diapason of humanity, namely, Life and Death,
here find their representatives. Here lies a sable-edged missive,
speaking to the eye as the passing bell speaks to the ear, telling of
blighted happiness, a desolate home, and loving hearts mourning
and refusing to be comforted because the loved one is not; while
close at hand and perchance overlying the sad messenger, is the
announcement of another arrival upon the stage of life—Our First—
and though it is as yet behind the curtain, not having made its bow
to the world at large, is an important character in the green room;
and the aid of that convenient individual, Uncle Sam, is invoked to
convey the information of its advent to a circle of expectant friends,
as highly favored as that select few who are sometimes invited to
witness a private performance by some newly-arrived artist, before
he makes his appearance in a more public manner.
Nor should we omit at least a passing notice of the humorous
aspects of our Bag. Physiognomy will not go far in aiding us to
determine as to a given letter, whether its contents are grave or gay.
A well-ordered epistle, like a highly bred man, does not show on its
face the emotions which it may contain. But in what we may call the
lower class of letters, where nature is untrammeled by envelopes,
and eccentricity or unskilfulness display themselves by the various
shapes and styles in which the documents are folded and directed,
there is more room for speculation on their internal character; and it
is the author's intention to furnish some rare specimens of
unconscious humor of this kind, for the delectation of his readers.
As we contemplate the wit, fun, humor, and jollity of all sorts, which
lie dormant within these wrappages, we are tempted to retract our
commiseration for the imaginary official whom we have supposed to
know the contents of the letters in his charge, and therefore drag
out a miserable existence under their depressing influence. At least
we feel impelled to modify our remarks so far as to say that in the
case supposed, his days would be passed in alternate cachinnations

and sympathizing grief. He would become a storehouse of wit, a
magazine of humor. For there is much of wit, humor, and jollity
running through these secret channels, that never is diffused
through the medium of the press, but flows among the privacies of
domestic circles, adding life to their intercourse, and increasing the
attractions of social fellowship, like some sparkling stream, both
refreshing and adorning the landscape through which it takes its
course.
We leave the further development of this prolific train of thought, to
the reader's imagination. Yet the imagination can devise no
combination more strange than those which may be found every day
within the narrow precincts of which we have been speaking; and
the same may be said of the Post-Office system at large, interwoven
as it is with the whole social life of civilized man.
The laws of the land are intended not only to preserve the person
and material property of every citizen sacred from intrusion, but to
secure the privacy of his thoughts, so far as he sees fit to withhold
them from others. Silence is as great a privilege as speech, and it is
as important that every one should be able to maintain it whenever
he pleases, as that he should be at liberty to utter his thoughts
without restraint. Now the post-office undertakes to maintain this
principle with regard to written communications as they are
conveyed from one person to another through the mails. However
unimportant the contents of a letter may be, the violation of its
secrecy while it is in charge of the Post-Office Department, or even
after having left its custody, becomes an offence of serious
magnitude in the eye of the law; and as the quantity and importance
of mail matter is continually increasing, it has been found necessary
to adopt means for its security, which were not required in the
earlier history of the Post-Office. One kind of danger to which the
mails were exposed before the days of railroads and steamboats,
namely, highway robbery, is now almost unknown. The principal
danger at present to be apprehended, is from those connected with
their transportation and delivery, and a system of surveillance has

been adopted, suited to the exigency of the case, namely, the
creation of Special Agents, who have become a fixed institution,
likely to be essential to the efficiency of the Department, as long as
any of its employés are deficient in principle or honesty. The origin
of this Special Agent System will be given elsewhere. It is sufficient
to say here, that the curious developments of character, and
combinations of circumstances, which will be found in the following
pages, were mainly brought to light by the operation of this system,
as carried out by one of its Agents. Ten years of experience have
given the author (or at least ought to have given him) an ample
supply of material for the illustration of nearly every phase in Post-
Office life. His principal difficulty is the embarras des richesses; yet
he has endeavored to select such cases as are not only interesting in
themselves, but well calculated to benefit those for whose use the
present work is especially designed.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
No Ear-Biters employed—The Commission—A
whole School robbed—Value of a quarter—
Embargo on Trunks—Unjust Suspicion—The dying
Mother—Fidelity of Post Masters—A venerable pair of
Officials—President Pierce assists—A clue to the
Robberies—The Quaker Coat—An insane Traveler—
The Decoy Letters—Off the Road—The dancing
Horse—The Decoy missing—An official Visit by night
—Finding the marked Bills—The Confession—The
Arrest Page 25
CHAPTER II.
A competent Assistant—Yielding to Temptation—An
easy Post Master—Whispers of Complaint—Assistant
embarrassed—Application to his Uncle—The Refusal
—Value of a kind Word—Resort to Depredations—
Evidences of Guilt—Decoy Letter taken—The Bowling
Saloon—The Agent worsted—The Restaurant—
Bother of the Credit System—The fatal Bank-Note—
Keen Letter to the Agent—The Arrest—The next
Meeting 52
CHAPTER III.
Business Rivalry—Country Gossiping—Museum of
Antiquities—New Post Master—Serious Rumors—
Anonymous Letters—Package detained—Bar-room
Scene—Ramifications of the Law—First Citizens—
Rascally Enemies—Lawyer's Office—Gratuitous
66

Backing—Telegraphing—U. S. Marshal arrives—The
Charge—The Fatal Quarter—Enemies' Triumph—The
Warrant—Singular Effects of Fear—A Faithful Wife—
Sad Memories—The Squire's Surprise—All right
CHAPTER IV.
High Crimes in low Places—Honest Baggage-masters
—Suspicious Circumstances—Watching the
Suspected—Shunning the Dust—Honesty Triumphant
—An Episode—Unexpected Confession—The Night
Clerks—Conformity to Circumstances—Pat the Porter
—Absents himself—Physician consulted—The Dead
Child—Hunting Excursions—No Go—Pat explains
his Absence—His Discharge—The Grave-stones—
Stolen Money appears—The Jolly Undertakers—Pat
at the Grave—More Hunting—Firing a Salute—
Removing the Deposits—Crossing the Ferry—Scene
at the Post-Office—Trip to Brooklyn—Recovery of
Money—Escape—Encounter with a Policeman—
Searching a Steamer—Waking the wrong Passenger
—Accomplices detained—Luxuries cut off—False
Imprisonment Suit—Michael on the Stand—Case
dismissed 95
CHAPTER V.
An infected District—A fast Route Agent—Heavy
Bank Losses—Amateur Experiments—Dangerous
Interference—A Moral Lecture—The Process
discovered—An unwelcome Stranger—Midnight
Watching—Monopoly of a Car—Detected in the Act—
The Robber searched—His Committal—A supposed
Accomplice—The Case explained—Honesty again
triumphant—Drafts and Letters—A long Sentence—
122

Public Sympathy—A Christian Wife—Prison Scenes—
Faithful to the last—An interesting Letter
CHAPTER VI.
Safety of the Mails—Confidence shaken—About Mail
Locks—Importance of Seals—City and Country—
Meeting the Suspected—Test of Honesty—Value of a
String—A dreary Ride—Harmless Stragglers—A
cautious Official—Package missing—An early
Customer—Newspaper Dodge—Plain Talk—A Call to
Breakfast—Innocence and Crime—Suspicion
Confirmed—The big Wafers—Finding the String—The
Examination—Escape to Canada—A true Woman—
The Re-arrest—Letter of Consolation—The Wife in
Prison—Boring Out—Surprise of the Jailor—Killing a
Horse 136
CHAPTER VII.
Startling Complaints—Character against Suspicion—
The two Clerks—Exchanging Notes—The Faro Bank—
Tracing a Bill—An official Call—False Explanation—
Flight of the Guilty—The Fatal Drug—The Suicide—
Sufferings of the Innocent—The Moral 152
CHAPTER VIII.
A NIGHT IN A POST-OFFICE.
Midnight Mails—Suspected Clerk—A trying Position—
Limited View—A crack Agent—Sneezing—Counter
Irritation—The Night Bell—Fruitless Speculations—
Insect Orchestra—Picolo introduced—Snoring—
Harmless Accident—The Boot-black—A tenanted
Boot—The Exit 165
CHAPTER IX.

Throwing off the Cars—Fiendish Recklessness—The
Boot-Tracks—A Scamp among the Printers—
Obstruction removed—A Ruse—The Boots secured
—Big Jobs—The Trial—Unreliable Witness—A Life-
Sentence 172
CHAPTER X.
STOPPING A POST-OFFICE.
The Unpaid Draft—The Forged Order—A Reliable
Witness—Giving up the Mail Key—A Lady Assistant—
Post-Office Records—The official Envelope—Return
of the Post Master—The Interview—Embarrassment
of Guilt—Duplicate Circular—Justice secured 181
CHAPTER XI.
Indian Depredations—The model Mail Contractor—
Rifles and Revolvers—Importance of a Scalp—Indian
Chief reconnoitering—Saving dead Bodies—Death of
a Warrior—The Charge—A proud Trophy—Sunset on
the Prairie—Animal Life—A solitary Hunt—The
Buffalo Chase—Desperate Encounter with an Indian
—Ingenious Signal—Returning to Camp—Minute
Guns—A welcome Return 192
CHAPTER XII.
Cheating the Clergy—Duping a Witness—Money
missing—A singular Postscript—The double Seal—
Proofs of Fraud—The same Bank-Note—Post-Boy
confronted—How the Game was played—Moving off 201
CHAPTER XIII.
Young Offenders—Thirty Years ago—A large Haul—A
Ray of Light 206

CHAPTER XIV.
OBSTRUCTING THE MAIL.
A sound Principle—A slow Period—A wholesome Law
—Ahead of the Mail—Moral Suasion—Indignant
Passengers—Dutch Oaths—A Smash—Interesting
Trial—A rowdy Constable—The Obstructors mulcted 213
CHAPTER XV.
A dangerous Mail Route—Wheat Bran—A faithful
Mail Carrier—Mail Robber shot—A Dead-head
passenger—An Old Offender—Fatal Associate—
Robbery and Murder—Conviction and Execution—
Capital Punishment—Traveling in Mexico—Guerillas—
Paying over—The Robbers routed—A Fine Young
English Gentleman—The right stuff 222
CHAPTER XVI.
The tender Passion—Barnum's Museum—Little Eva—
The Boys in a Box—The Bracelet—Love in an
Omnibus—Losses explained 226
CHAPTER XVII.
DETACHED INCIDENTS.
Bank Letter lost—The Thief decoyed—Post-Office at
Midnight—Climbing the Ladder—An exciting Moment
—Queer Place of Deposit—A Post Master in Prison—
Afflicted Friends—Sighs and Saws—The Culprit's
Escape—How it was done—A cool Letter—A Wife's
Offering—Moral Gymnastics—Show of Honesty—
Unwelcome Suggestion—A hard road to travel—
Headed by a Parson—Lost Time made up—A Male
overhauled 229

CHAPTER XVIII.
FRAUDS CARRIED ON THROUGH THE MAILS.
Sad Perversion of Talent—Increase of Roguery—
Professional Men suffer—Young America at the
Bar—Papers from Liverpool—The Trick successful—
A legal Document—Owning up—A careless
Magistrate—Letters from the Un-duped—Victimizing
the Clergy—A lithograph Letter—Metropolitan
Sermons—An up-town Church—A Book of Travels—
Natural Reflections—Wholesome Advice—The Seed
Mania—Strong Inducements—Barnes' Notes—First
rate Notice—Farmer Johnson—Wethersfield outdone
—Joab missing—Gift Enterprise—List of Prizes—
The Trap well baited—Evading the Police—The Scrub
Race 242
CHAPTER XIX.
POST-OFICE SITES.
Embarrassing duty—An exciting Question—A Hard
Case—Decease of a Post Master—The Office
discontinued—The other side—Call at the White
House—The Reference—Agent's Arrival—Molasses
Incident—An honest Child—Slicking up—The
Academy—Stuck fast—The Shoe Factory—A shrewd
Citizen—The Saw Mill—A Tenantless Building—
Viewing the Sites—Obliging Post Master—The
defunct Bank—A Funeral Scene—The Agent
discovered—Exciting Meeting—Restoration Hall—
Eloquent Appeals—A Fire Brand—Committee on
Statistics—Generous Volunteers—Being put
down—Good-nature restored—The Bill settled—A
Stage Ride—Having the last Word 264

CHAPTER XX.
HARROWFORK POST-OFFICE.
A gloomy Picture—Beautiful Village—Litigation in
Harrowfork—A model Post Master—The Excitement—
Petitioning the Department—Conflicting Statements
—The decisive Blow—The new Post Master—The
Reliable Man—Indignant Community—Refusal to
serve—An Editor's Candidate—The Temperance
Question—Newspaper Extracts—A Mongrel
Quotation—A Lull—A Spy in Washington—Bad
Water—New Congressmen—The Question revived—
Delegate to Washington—Obliging Down Easter—
The lost Letters—Visit to the Department—
Astounding Discovery—Amusing Scene—A
Congressman in a Fix—The Difficulty arranged 289
CHAPTER XXI.
UNJUST COMPLAINTS.
Infallibility not claimed—Scape-Goats—The Man of
Business Habits—Home Scrutiny—A Lady in Trouble
—A bold Charge—A wronged Husband—Precipitate
Retreat—Complaints of a Lawyer—Careless Swearing
—Wrong Address—No Retraction—A careless Broker
—The Charge repulsed—The Apology—Mistake
repeated—The Affair explained—A comprehensive
Toast 323
CHAPTER XX1I.
PRACTICAL, ANECDOTAL, ETC.
The wrong Address—Odd Names of Post-Offices—
The Post-Office a Detector of Crime—Suing the
British Government—Pursuit of a Letter Box—An
Extra Customer—To my Grandmother—Improper
333

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