the receipt of letters
from a distance was a heavy tax on those who had many friends and much
correspondence.

The penalty of being the recipient of much correspondence may, perhaps,
have been lightened by the wording of the seal; for many old letter
seals conveyed sentimental messages which to the receiver from that
particular sender might have meant much. The following is a selection of
the characteristic sentiments of the day: "Break the seal, read the
letter, and keep the secret"; "You have a loyal friend"; and "Life is
naught without a friend." We cannot tell what was the result of sending
a letter bearing such a seal legend as:--

"Mine is a heart that loveth thee;
So, ladylove, do thou love me."

Collectors' hobbies now and then are increased by the introduction of
something entirely new, something never known before, and the world
rejoices over a genuine novelty. The cynic declares that there is
nothing new under the sun, but the introduction of the penny postage in
1840, at the instigation of Rowland Hill, laid the foundation to stamp
collecting, which has become the most popular of all collectors'
hobbies. The philatelist is found in every civilized country, and the
collection of postage stamps, used and unused, grows apace. A bundle of
old letters in entire envelopes, posted forty or fifty years ago from
one of the British Colonies, discovered when ransacking an old library,
will probably prove the most valuable relic of the past found in it.

XII

THE SMOKER'S CABINET

CHAPTER XII

THE SMOKER'S CABINET

Old pipes--Pipe racks--Tobacco boxes--Smokers' tongs and
stoppers--Snuff boxes and rasps.

The slave of the pipe and the moderate smoker of years gone by have left
behind them relics in nearly every home. Such curios are found when
pulling down old houses, and clearing out rubbish heaps; and even when
making excavations in the vicinity of once occupied ground remains left
behind by smokers of olden times are discovered.

Many are marked as curios on account of their curious forms; others have
been regarded as such because their uses have become obsolete, and some
because of their great beauty and the costliness of the materials of
which they are made.

The collectable curios of the smoker's cabinet consist of clay pipes,
varying from the earliest form known to the later types not far removed
from the modern clays still smoked by workmen; of pipes of curious form