BEECHNUT’S RETURN. 63

Beechnut goes down State Street. The post-office. The delivery.

 

ward the water. He could see the masts of the ships and
other vessels that were lying at the wharves, at the lower
end of the street. After passing several granite blocks,
consisting of buildings occupied by banks and insurance
offices, he came at length to a great door through which
a multitude of people were going and coming. Beechnut
went in. He found himself in a long and wide passage-
way, crowded with people. A great» many were going in.
A great many others were coming out. Those that
were coming out, generally had newspapers or letters in
their hands. The floor of the building was of stone, and.
it was extremely wet, being drenched with the drippings
of innumerable umbrellas.

Beechnut went on, and at length came to a place where
the passage-way widened, and where there was a large
iron stairway leading to apartments above. Beyond this
stairway he passed by a long range of sashes with glass
in them like windows,—and on the inside of the sashes,
in a room within, were a great many little boxes or
pigeon-holes, filled with letters. ‘These were the boxes of
the merchants and other residents of Boston—the plan
being to put the letters of each merchant, when the
mails came in, into his box, and then he could tell by
looking through the window, from the passage-way, when
there were any letters for him. Beechnut, of course, had
no box, and so he went on to another place to get his
letters.

He came at length to a place beyond the boxes, where
there were three small niches or recesses, with a window
in each of them. Over the first of these recesses were
painted several letiers of the alphabet, namely, those from
A to F. The meaning of this was, that all persons