Arriving at the station, I crossed over to the post-office, and there remained until the whistle of the locomotive was heard. "Well, good bye, Mr. W----," said I to the post master, offering my hand. "I think," said he, "that I will ride a little way with you, as far at least as the next station." He accompanied me across to the depot, and as we stepped upon the platform of a car, we were followed by the "Committee" and one of his most interested friends, who had come over in the stage with us, an inside passenger. These gentlemen were evidently bent on thwarting the plans of my saccharine associate, but he had in an important particular greatly the advantage over them, for, by virtue of his office, he was allowed the privilege of riding in the mail car, to which we at once proceeded, leaving our disappointed friends in the outer world, among the undistinguished crowd whom the conductor indiscriminately calls upon for "your money or your ticket." My companion and his opponents alighted at the next station, to wait for the return train, and as the cars moved on, I observed that they were conversing together, the countenance of the former displaying a radiant appearance of satisfaction which plainly showed his triumphant state of mind. I have no means of knowing what passed between them on their return, but it is altogether probable that the "Committee" and his friend employed the time in "pumping" or attempting to pump their associate, unless he took refuge in the mail car. The investigation resulted in restoring the post-office to the center village, and in discontinuing the two others. The reader will be pleased to learn that the "Committee on Statistics" received the appointment of post master. 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 Congressmen in a "Fix"--The Difficulty "arranged." There is no blessing bestowed upon us by a kind Providence, which man's selfishness may not pervert into a grievance. We have seen this principle illustrated in the use and abuse of post-offices, as often as in any other civil institution. How society in the nineteenth century could exist without mail routes and the regular delivery of letters, it is impossible to conceive.