The Stamp-collector's magazine, Volumes 9-111871 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
adhesive album American appearance bearing bistre blue brown carmine catalogue centavos centimes centre cents circle collection collectors colour copies corner CORREOS correspondent crown dark doubt Editor emission English engraving envelopes essay existence Express fact figure Fiji forgeries frame French genuine German give green groschen handstamp impression inscribed inscription issued kreuzer labels letters lilac lines lithographed Magnus Mahé ment Moens notice obliterated oblong original oval OVERY TAYLOR pale paras Paris penny PENNY POST perf perforated peseta philatelic Philatelical Journal Philatelist philately portrait post cards post-office postage stamps postmark postmaster present Prussian blue readers received rect reis reprints rose Russian shades sheet side specimens STAMP-COLLECTOR'S MAGAZINE struck surcharged Tamboff Thurn and Taxis Timbre-Poste tion town unperforated upper varieties vermilion violet watermark whilst white paper word Wurtemburg yellow
Popular passages
Page 103 - ... nearer and still nearer, and the flutter of the hoofs comes faintly to the ear — another instant a whoop and a hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider's hand, but no reply, and man and horse burst past our excited faces, and go winging away like a belated fragment of a storm...
Page 102 - He rode fifty miles without stopping, by daylight, moonlight, starlight, or through the blackness of darkness — just as it happened. He rode a splendid horse that was born for a racer and fed and lodged like a gentleman; kept him at his utmost speed for ten miles, and then, as he came crashing up to the station where stood two men holding fast a fresh, impatient steed, the transfer of rider and mailbag...
Page 102 - IN A LITTLE WHILE all interest was taken up in stretching our necks and watching for the "'pony-rider" — the fleet messenger who sped across the continent from St. Joe to Sacramento, carrying letters nineteen hundred miles in eight days! Think of that for perishable horse and human flesh and blood to do! The pony-rider was usually a little bit of a man, brimful of spirit and endurance.
Page 188 - It is ordered that notice be given that Richard Fairbanks his house in Boston is the place appointed for all letters which are brought from beyond the seas, or are to be sent thither...
Page 103 - There were about eighty ponyriders in the saddle all the time, night and day, stretching in a long, scattering procession from Missouri to California, forty flying eastward, and forty toward the west, and among them making four hundred gallant horses earn a stirring livelihood and see a deal of scenery every single day in the year.
Page 103 - Every neck is stretched further, and every eye strained wider. Away across the endless dead level of the prairie a black speck appears against the sky, and it is plain that it moves. Well, I should think so! In a second or two it becomes a horse and rider, rising and falling, rising and falling sweeping toward us nearer and nearer growing more and more distinct, more and more sharply...
Page 102 - The little flat mail-pockets strapped under the rider's thighs would each hold about the bulk of a child's primer. They held many and many an important business chapter and newspaper letter, but these were written on paper as airy and thin as gold-leaf, nearly, and thus bulk and weight were economized.
Page 109 - There must be no other writing or printing on it, nor must there be any writing or printing across the stamp. On the reverse side. any communication, whether of the nature of a letter or otherwise, may be written or printed, but such communication must not extend to the front side.
Page 102 - The pony-rider was usually a little bit of a man, brimful of spirit and endurance. No matter what time of the day or night his watch came on, and no matter whether it was winter or summer, raining, snowing, hailing, or sleeting, or whether his "beat" was a level straight road or a crazy trail over mountain crags and precipices, or whether it led through peaceful regions or regions that swarmed with hostile Indians, he must be always ready to leap into the saddle and be off like the wind!
Page 102 - ... roundabout," and a skullcap, and tucked his pantaloons into his boot-tops like a racerider. He carried no arms— he carried nothing that was not absolutely necessary, for even the postage on his literary freight was worth five dollars a letter. He got but little frivolous correspondence to carry— his bag had business letters in it, mostly. His horse was stripped of all unnecessary weight, too. He wore a little wafer of a racing-saddle, and no visible blanket.