eight in
the morning
BY MARY JOANNA PORTER . The family mail-bag was made of black and white straw arranged in checks . It was flat and nearly square , was lined with gray linen and fastened at the top with narrow black ribbon . It had two long handles , finely made of straw , and these handles Luella and Francis were accustomed to grasp when , twice a day regularly , at half-past eight in the morning and at half-past three in the afternoon , they went for the family mail . Their instructions were always to go back and forth to the post-office without stopping , always to tie the bag securely after putting the mail inside , and never to open it after it was thus fastened . They were to take turns in carrying the bag , and upon returning to their home were always to take it at once to the study of their father , Rev. Mr. Robinson . So important a personage as a public mail-carrier had never been seen in the small village in which they lived .