Christmas Mail

When going through cultural information from the past, it’s often interesting seeing the information that was deemed interesting or important at the time. Case in point, the article in the Newspaper serving to tell the public about the deadlines for which to send Christmas cards to various specific European locations if they wish for the letters to be delivered in time for Christmas. However, the information itself isn’t what interests me, but rather the first sentence in particular. The article opens with the statement “Our readers will no doubt be interested to know…” While the information is quite bland and rather meaningless, the context of the information tells a much more interesting story; This is one of the only articles in the issue with an opening such as this. In modern culture, an article like this would be passed over without a second thought; it’s just not as important to us anymore. In Alexandria, 1905, however, it was apparently so important for Christmas cards to go out on time that the newspaper found the information and published an entire article about when to mail cards out if they’re to arrive in the U.K. or Europe by Christmas or the New Year. Furthermore, there is a table in the newspaper occuring in the Saturday issues which provides the day on which a letter, parcel, or money order mail will arrive in a specific destination (such as Europe, Greece, Malta, etc.) if they’re delivered to the office by a specific date and time.