But few persons have any adequate idea of the vast number of letters which day after day pass through the post-office into the hands of the carrier, to be delivered at their final destination. The following list gives the number of letters delivered and collected in the four largest cities during the month of June, 1865:— Mail Letters Drop Letters Letters Delivered. Delivered. Collected. New York 799,389 253,434 785,990 Philadelphia 492,004 168,330 361,068 Chicago 118,200 9,200 100,591 Cincinnati 84,370 7,714 47,201 ——————— ——————— ——————— Total 1,493,963 438,678 1,294,850 During the same period there were collected from pillar or lamp-post boxes 1,294,850 letters. The annexed statement gives the number of letters delivered in three principal cities:— Boston 284,440 Baltimore 152,230 Chicago 130,819 ——————— Total 567,489 Philadelphia 516,836 So, according to this, the amount of business transacted through the Philadelphia post-office is almost equal to that of Boston, Baltimore, and Chicago combined. Statistics further show that it is nearly equal to the combined business of Brooklyn, St. Louis, Washington, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. From the little room which we have termed the “distribution-room,” letters are sent and scattered over the area named above, to the full amount of 18,000 daily, not including those called “city drops.” The distributor is to know, _or is supposed to know_, apart from consulting the directory, the name of every street, lane, and alley, as well as their locality, so that he can place the letters so directed into their separate pigeon-holes, both for the city carriers and the “subs.” He has to observe the limits of certain routes, and see that his letters do not go astray, thus causing a delay in the delivery of at least twenty-four hours. Many letters are received without direction, and others, again, so imperfectly given that it requires the exercise of a little of Job’s patience, assisted by an imperfect directory, to find out where they actually belong. The carriers, however, to whom these letters are submitted, being familiar with the names of persons on their routes, select from this _débris_ of letters those that they _think_ belong to the parties to whom they are so carelessly directed. A good carrier never brings back a letter to the office until he is fully satisfied that it is not on his route. _Philadelphia can boast of such._