In 1673 the Massachusetts General Court provided for certain payments to post messengers, although the first successful postal system established in any of the Colonies was that of William Penn, who, in 1683, appointed Henry Waldy to keep a post, supply passengers with horses, etc. In the following year Governor Dungan of New York revived the route that had been established by Governor Lovelace, and, in addition, he proposed post-offices along the Atlantic coast. In 1687 a post was started between certain points in Connecticut. The real beginning of postal service in America seems to date from February 17, 1691, when William and Mary granted to Thomas Neale authority to conduct offices for the receipt and despatch of letters. From that time until 1721 the postal system seems to have been under the direction of Andrew Hamilton and his associates. In the latter year John Lloyd was appointed postmaster-general, to be succeeded in 1730 by Alexander Spotsward. Head Lynch was postmaster-general from 1739 to 1743, and Elliott Berger from 1743 to 1753. In July, 1775, the Continental Congress established its post-office with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster-general. Mr. Franklin had been appointed postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737. Samuel Osgood, of Massachusetts, however, was the first postmaster-general under the Constitution and Washington's administration. From Samuel Osgood to Hubert Work there have been forty-five postmasters-general, that official becoming a member of the President's cabinet in 1829. _Fast Mails of Pioneer Days_ Post-riders and stage-coaches were the earliest means of transporting the mails, to be followed by steamboats, railway trains, and, in time, by airplanes. In considering our modern mailing methods, no feature of the development of our postal system is more striking than the improvement that has been made in methods of mail transportation. Up to a few decades ago, pony express riders sped across the western part of our country, and back, carrying the "fast mail" of the days when Indians and road-agents constituted a continual source of annoyance and danger to stage-coach passengers and drivers, and made the transportation of valuables extremely hazardous. The coaches carried baggage, express, and "slow mail," as well as passengers, while the "fast mail" was handled exclusively by pony riders. The inimitable Mark Twain has given us a great word-picture of these pony express riders, from which we quote the following: