rare, but pouches have lodged on the trucks and have been carried many
miles.

To return to the clerks and their work. In the meantime, the "through"
work continues, when the distance between stations and junctions will
allow of it; letters in packages are distributed into boxes with a
celerity and economy of motion which could be acquired only by continued
practice and training of the eye to decipher an ever-varying
chirography, and of mental activity to almost instantly locate a
post-office on its proper route, its earliest point of supply, or
connecting line.

The emptying of pouches continues; package after package of letters roll
out on the counter as though they were potatoes rather than the dumb
expression of every human emotion, or the innocent touchspring of their
awakening. The pouches are labeled to indicate those requiring the
earliest attention, as are also the packages of letters they contain;
this plan prevents, to a great extent, the carrying of mail past its
destination.

The packages of letters to be distributed by routes, post-offices, and
States, are taken to the letter-case; those not to be so separated, that
is, unbroken packages, _en transit_, are placed at once into their
proper pouches.

The emptying of sacks of paper mail follows that of the pouches; the
papers and packages of merchandise are faced in a manner to be readily
picked up, their addresses read, and deftly thrown into the mouths of
the pouches and sacks in the racks; this is very skilfully done, as the
want of space requires that they shall be crowded closely together.